New gaming firm Lila Games raised $2.8 million to develop a new first-person shooter game for mobile devices, led by gaming investors Bitkraft Ventures.
The upcoming mobile game will be titled “Project B.L.A.C.K.” “We are building the most ambitious mobile F2P shooter game ever designed (and) we face massive challenges against incredible competitors,” Lila’s website notes.
Bitkraft led the investment round and angel investors participated including Mike Sherrill, co-founder of Palo Alto-based mobile game developer Machine Zone; Kristian Segerstrale, CEO of mobile publisher Super Evil Megacorp and Ludovic Bodin. Lila Games will use the funding to continue expanding its development team and release its first game.
Further details about the upcoming game — including its launch window — are sparse. The company reports eight open positions, several for game developers, and it appears the upcoming “Project B.L.A.C.K.” game will be made using the Unity game development software.
Lila’s CEO Joseph Kim is based in Santa Clara, but the company’s headquarters is in India. The company says its name derives from the Sanskrit word meaning “divine play.”
Bitkraft founding partner Jens Hilgers said in a statement, “while we’ve seen many iconic games spawn in the FPS genre on PC, the mobile market is young and extremely popular and will follow” the trend of growth.
Mobile gaming (especially free to play games) is currently the fastest-growing vertical within all of video gaming — so far mobile has generated $86.3 billion in worldwide revenue this year, gaming analysis firm NewZoo reported in early November.
“There is a significant opportunity to build out new sub-genres and ample room to explore. The (mobile) audience is eagerly waiting for new gameplay mechanics and alterations, and that is exactly what Lila Games is building,” Hilgers stated.
