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Nexon, Wargaming, Zynga CEO back mobile startup fund
Venture capital firm London Venture Partners is offering initial funding for mobile game development startups. The firm plans to invest between $50,000 and $500,000 into developers that are primarily in Europe. LVP General Partner Paul Heydon told TechCrunch that the firm plans to invest in 20 to 25 projects "of up to half a million dollars each over the lifetime of the fund." The money is coming from Asian publisher Nexon, World of Tanks creator Wargaming and Zynga CEO Don Mattrick. London Venture Partners includes former Atari CEO David Gardner with Microsoft's Corporate VP Phil Harrison serving as a special advisor. Harrison joined Gardner's firm in May 2010. LVP's previous investments include Clash of Clans developer Supercell, the now-Zynga-owned Backbreaker studio NaturalMotion, as well as development platform Unity. [Image: London Venture Partners]
Phil Harrison: The 'next generation' of games is the web browser
Speaking at the Italian Videogame Developers Conference, former Atari head and current co-founder of London Venture Partners, Phil Harrison, discussed his vision of the future of video games. Harrison believes that "the next generation platform for games" will be powerful web browsers, programs that will "deliver console level 3D graphics, video and audio." Such a browser will be able to deliver a title on par with Modern Warfare 2 noted Harrison, saying, "I think in the next five-to-ten years we will easily get this level of game inside a web browser, on your mobile platform, on your iPad, and we will be able to deliver that level of immersion to any kind of screen." He added further that the boxed retail industry is being replaced by "a service industry where everything is delivered digitally on the internet." He pointed to the music industry as an example of this shift, saying that it's indicative of what's happening to the game industry. The crux of Harrison's speech, lest you haven't gathered, is that the future is online, a point he illustrated by noting that online games garner 68 percent of the industry's venture capital. Head over to Develop for the full scoop on Harrison's keynote.
Phil Harrison returns in: 'London Venture Partners'
Phil Harrison is joining former Atari CEO chum David Gardner at London Venture Partners, an investment firm looking to fund "disruptive new technology in the online, social, mobile and web game space" -- you know, the type of stuff that was supposed to happen over at Atari during the pair's "extreme makeover" of the publisher. Develop reports that Harrison and Gardner will join former Electronic Arts VP David Lau-Kee and investment banker Paul Heyden as founders of the company. The firm's business will allegedly have something to do with the Unity engine. As for what type of Atari full-circle executive board member Nolan Bushnell inherited from the two former show runners? We'll find that out when the publisher announces its earnings May 28.
