Lightbulb Games receives funding from Nordisk Film

Last year Microsoft shut down their Danish studio Press Play (Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, Max and the Magic Marker, Kalimba), and soon thereafter part of the core team reformed as Lightbulb Games, working on a vehicle construction game called Pioneers.

Now this upstart company has received a massive boost as Nordisk Film Games (part of the Egmont media house) has invested 10 million DKK (approximately €1.34 million / £1.14 million) for an unknown stake in the company. Nordisk Film Games is speerheaded by former Massive boss Martin Walfisz, and the idea is to make investments in smaller gaming companies, but only holding a minority share (their ambition is to hold 20% to 40%). This appears to only be the start as a lot of money has been made available for investments.

"Normally we're not meant to invest in startups in such an early stage, but this is an experienced crew that comes from a good company and they have several titles along with them," Walfisz told Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri who broke the story.

An interesting takeaway is that Lightbulb Games owns the rights to the games developed at Press Play, something that made it easier for Nordisk Film Games to invest in the company.