In late 2020, while hanging out on Dyshlova’s front lawn and reminiscing about office camaraderie, they decided to depart from the gaming giant and create something new: FuzzyBot Inc.
“The first real motivation for us was (about) how can we keep working together,” said Dyshlova, the company’s chief executive. “We realized we also wanted to make the same type of games and had the same shared passion for what we wanted to put in the market.”
FuzzyBot is an independent gaming studio working on a “long-lasting” cooperative game that blends combat with consistent progression of player skill level, the company said in a statement. The 10-person company is comprised of veterans of Electronic Arts; Bellevue, Wash.-based Bungie Inc.; France-based Ubisoft Entertainment; and Austin, Texas-based Retro Studios Inc.
After less than a year in operation, the company scored its first funding round of $3.5 million in late September. The seed round was led by Bitkraft Ventures, which has offices in Santa Monica and San Francisco, with participation from Helsinki-based Sisu Game Ventures and Kirkland, Wash.-based 1Up Ventures.
The company plans to use the funding to speed up development of its first game and expand its team. The company aims to introduce the game on an “early access” basis in 2022, Dyshlova said.
Dyshlova said they will cap hiring for the team at roughly 30 people.
“We’re really looking to expand to bring on talent in audio, UX and animation,” Dyshlova said.
