Sacramento-based computer gaming studio Azra Games Inc. is nearly doubling its office space in Old Sacramento, renovating historic buildings dating from the Gold Rush.
Azra Games is developing immersive science fiction fantasy role-playing games for mobile and personal computers, with its first title set for broad release in September 2025.
“We’re pretty cramped in here,” said Dave Scurfield, Azra's chief financial officer, commenting on the company’s current offices in 4,600 square feet at 106 K St. in the historic district.
The company has about 50 employees, with about 25 of them in the office at any given time, Scurfield said.
Azra Games is building out more office space to comfortably be able to get up to 50 employees in Old Sacramento, and likely cap out at a total of about 75 employees, between office workers and those working remotely, by sometime early next year. The company is ramping up hiring of artists and developers as it creates a rich fantasy world for its strategic game.
The new offices will help give more employees and more teams individual office spaces and meeting spaces, Scurfield said.
The 7,500 square feet of new offices will be modern on the inside, but historic from the outside. Azra will leave its current space to move into the new space when it's done early next year.
Azra was launched early last year by CEO Mark Otero, an experienced game director who was at the forefront of mobile free-to-play games with the franchise Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
In the spring of 2022, Azra raised $15 million from the gaming groups of Menlo Park-based Andreessen Horowitz, one of the largest venture capital firms in the world. In February this year, Andreessen Horowitz led a follow-on $10 million investment.
As late as this spring, Azra was developing a title to be called Legions & Legends, but the company has pivoted from that. The as-yet-untitled game is tentatively going under the name Project Legends, said Neel Upadhye, vice president of production.
The game’s perspective has also shifted. When Azra started, designers wanted players to be commanders controlling various armies and units. Now they are bringing the game closer to the commander, Upadhye said. It’s not going to be a first-person shooter, but the view into the game will be from closer to the player’s perspective rather than from a top-down view of a field of play, he said. That perspective makes the game more compelling, he said.
The designers are now working to make the game’s graphics, sounds, stories, strategies and characters compelling to users from the first time they explore the game. The game will be free, but upgrades will cost players money. It will not have ads during play or in the game, Upadhye said.
When first announced, Azra was planning to use blockchain technology and feature collectibles like non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. It still has those, but their significance is less important than the actual game and gameplay itself, Upadhye said.
Otero started KlickNation in 2009 in Sacramento, before selling it three years later to Redwood City gaming giant Electronic Arts Inc. Otero worked as an executive with Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) for another four years.
Part of the renovation for the new offices includes installing highly insulated windows on the east side of the buildings, which are just yards away from southbound Interstate 5 as it shoots through Downtown Sacramento.
The new offices will be on the top floors of the Heywood’s Building at 1001 Second St. and the neighboring historic P.B. Cornwall building at 1013 Second St. Heywood’s was built in 1857 and Cornwall dates to 1865.
Though the buildings are separate at street level, the upper floors are being renovated into one space on the top floor, Scurfield said.
The renovation is adding an elevator to the new offices, as well as stairs and decks at the back of the building. The company will also have access to decks along Second Street in the historic district.
