[From the industry] Frost Giant Studios Raises $5M and Hires Former StarCraft II Lead Engineer

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Frost Giant Studios, an independent game development studio founded by Blizzard veterans Tim Morten and Tim Campbell, announced today it raised an additional $5M investment from prominent Korean venture capital fund Kona Venture Partners; internationally operating Global Founders Capital; co-founder of RXBAR nutrition bars, Jared Smith; and game backend entrepreneur, Eden Chen. As a follow-on to their $4.7M seed round in October, this new investment will be used to scale the development team to continue building a new RTS.

Frost Giant also welcomes James Anhalt, Former StarCraft II Lead Engineer, as the studio’s Chief Architect, where he will oversee Frost Giant’s engineering initiatives as the team brings real-time strategy (RTS) games to a broad audience. During his tenure at Blizzard, James contributed to many different divisions, including Battle.net, World of Warcraft, and the central technology group. Additionally, James worked on the “Galaxy” engine that powered StarCraft II, where he helped architect StarCraft II’s lock-step network model, developed best-in-class high unit-count pathfinding, and helped shape the vision for many other aspects of the engine. Most recently, James has been part of Blizzard’s central technology group, responsible for shared code and new engine development.

“I am excited to work with this outstanding and talented team to bring fun RTS gameplay to as many fans as possible,” said Anhalt. “Frost Giant’s strong foundation gives us the ability and opportunity to create RTS games that appeal to more players than ever before.”

“With over 30 years of experience building games, James is one of the most talented engineers I’ve worked with, and he will be integral to our continued growth. With his leadership and depth of knowledge, I’m confident that Frost Giant will be able to set a new benchmark for RTS games,” commented Tim Morten, Frost Giant Studios CEO.