Former Zynga employees, who came together to co-found Outpost Games have recently managed to get themselves a big booty of $ 6 million as backing from Benchmark and is determined to build PC games that are as much fun to watch as they are to play.
The startup, which will launch its first game late next year, is different from dozens of other gaming startups in that it will also create a platform for gamers to broadcast their games similar to what is now broadcast on Google’s YouTube and Amazon.com’s Twitch.
The big difference, and the reason noted games investor Benchmark general partner Mitch Lasky is backing the year-old company, is that Outpost will create more casual games that showcase skill and creativity, and appeal to the masses.
“This is games as a performance space,” said Lasky, describing the first game as pulling elements from Lost and Survivor TV shows. “This is aligned with an important trend I’m seeing, which is the consumption of video game content as linear entertainment.”
From YouTube and Twitch to Vivendi’s Dailymotion, the number of viewers and amount of video game content watched on such platforms has only grown exponentially in recent years. New startups such as Kamcord and Mobcrush have emerged to make broadcasting available to mobile gamers as well.
For Outpost, the focus will remain on PCs. Although it is not growing as quickly as mobile gaming, the PC platform remains the largest world-wide, commanding $33.7 billion of the $91.5 billion in global gaming revenue in 2015, according to an April report by games market research group Newzoo BV.