Two years after raising $15 million in outside capital, a video game company in Raleigh is laying off staff and evaluating its options. Lightforge Games, cofounded by Epic Games veteran Matt Schembari, appears to be closing up shop, possibly for good.
This week Schembari said development on the project was “pausing” and the majority of Lightforge’s staff would be laid off at the end of the month. On LinkedIn, Lightforge posted that, despite regular meetings with potential investors and game publishers, it was unable to secure the necessary funding to complete its flagship game.
“The remaining skeleton team will regroup to see what a viable future for the studio may be,” Schembari said on his personal LinkedIn account. “While today is a sad day for Lightforge, I'm very proud of the work we've done and the team we've built over the past four years. We always knew this was an ambitious longshot of a project, but we pursued it because of a shared passion in collaborative storytelling and with a fearlessness to do something different both as a project and as a studio.”
Schembari asked his LinkedIn followers to reach out with job opportunities for his team, many of whom already have "Open to Work" monikers on their profiles.
Nathan Fairbanks, co-founder and studio director, said on Linkedin the current priority is “getting our talented team the best shot at their next opportunities.”
“We have some amazing folks here and if you are hiring, I would love to get in touch,” he wrote.
Lightforge launched with bold ambitions. “It’s this idea of how do you make a video game where what you’re saying and imagining is as important as what you’re doing on the game pad?” Schembari said in March.
The concept had its roots in table-top role playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, where you are a character, part of a story that changes with your actions. He described it as providing prompts for “players getting together and having fun,” sort of like Cards Against Humanity.
At the time, the company had 35 employees.
Schembari was previously director of user interface at Epic Games. Prior to that, he served eight years at Blizzard Entertainment, acting as lead software engineer, UI, and working on games such as “Heroes of the Storm” and “StarCraft 2.”
Lightforge incorporated in March 2020 under the name Double 20 Games Inc. The firm changed its name to Lightforge later that year, state records show.
Backers included NetEase Games, Dreamhaven, Maveron and 1UP Ventures.
It's been a tough year for the local gaming industry in general. Epic Games, based in Cary and known for its "Fortnite" title, disclosed layoffs last September after CEO Tim Sweeney told staff the firm had been “spending way more money than we earn." The move impacted 170 employees locally.