This article has been revised and corrected from the original version.
Griffin Gaming Partners, a venture firm in Santa Monica that focuses on the gaming industry, unveiled one of its newest portfolio companies in August.
Chamo Games, a novice gaming studio in Sweden, launched last week with an undisclosed amount of funding. The company is composed of 25 people scattered across Europe, Brazil, South Korea and Canada who were plucked from some of the biggest gaming institutions in the word – including Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red and Sawtelle-based Riot Games.
“It’s about the team, making sure that they’ve got the right DNA and they’ve been able to execute in the past,” said Peter Levin, cofounder and managing director at Griffin. “But also what’s very exciting – and I’m not going to disclose too much here because I don’t want to give away any secret sauce – is coming up with unique form factors that we think there’s a need (for) in the market. Looking at what subgenres are maturing or plateauing, where is their opportunity to reinvigorate and inject some new energy.”
Chamo Games will focus on PC and console gaming. The company has a first-person shooter game in the works. Griffin Gaming Partners co-invested in Chamo Games along with European firms Lakestar and Sisu Game Ventures.
Levin, a Los Angeles native, has a long history in games. In 2009, he founded the media platform Nerdist Industries, which sold to Legendary Entertainment in 2012. He was the president of interactive ventures, games and digital strategy at Lionsgate, and had a hand in developing several games into movies and television shows.
“I play a ton of games that are made by companies that I can’t invest in,” Levin said.
“With all the genres, there’s going to be a flavor for everyone. It’s just, as a venture fund, not everything is venture friendly,” he added.
Based on assets under management, Griffin Gaming Partners is the largest gaming fund in the world. The firm has more than 70 companies in its portfolio, including Discord. It also invested in Culver City-based Scopely, a mobile games company it exited in 2023 when it sold for $4.9 billion. Though Griffin Gaming Partners is stage-agnostic, the venture firm invests in several early-stage game startups. And while all three cofounders are big gamers, Griffin Gaming Partners largely relies on data and key performance indicators to make investments.
“If you know what to look for in gaming, there’s so much data to be gleaned. But you just have to be very disciplined, and it’s a challenge,” Levin said. “It’s an ongoing struggle because you can get caught up in the artistry of it. But you need to make sure that experientially, you’re giving people that holistic ride, and that includes making sure that you’re paying attention to these data sets.”
