Ruckus Games has raised $19 million in funding to disrupt the multiplayer gaming landscape with an RPG shooter.
Still under wraps, the debut title will be a third-person, cooperative, session-based RPG shooter, with a unique blend of style, humor and explosive action. It’s a game about a “suburban invasion,” which I guess can mean a lot of things.
Ruckus Games was founded in 2021 by a spirited team of award-winning industry veterans led by CEO and game director, Paul Sage. Known for his work as creative director on the multi-billion-dollar Borderlands franchise and the massively popular Elder Scrolls Online, Sage brings know-how to the helm.
Building a dream team
From the people who brought you Borderlands and more.
Joining Sage is the art director, Scott Kester, whose visionary work was key in transforming the original Borderlands aesthetic into the iconic graphic novel style that defined the series. Together with founders Carl Shedd, Kevin Penrod, Keith Schuler, Chris Strasz, and Jesse McIntyre, this game dev team hails from gaming giants like Gearbox, Riot Games, Blizzard, Epic Games, and more. Ruckus Games is based in Frisco, Texas, the same city where Borderlands maker Gearbox is based.
“They’re all very big heavy hitters coming from the triple-A gaming sphere,” said Devann McCarthy, senior community and public relations manager, in an interview with GamesBeat.
Ruckus Games’ new title will offer co-op for up to four players in an evolving world that will be updated with new emergent content over time. The game is deliberately not part of the first-person shooter genre, which is crowded. Rather, it’s intentionally in the co-op third-person shooter space, which Ruckus believes is underserved.
Alexandra Takei, business director, said in an interview with GamesBeat the game will be a live ops title, but it’s not free to play. Rather, the team wants it to be a universe where people want to return to repeatedly, where people can have and build shared experiences and shared community.
“On the scale of premium being God of War and then the creative play on Fortnite, we would probably be somewhere in the middle,” Takei said.
Suburban invasion
These characters don’t look like suburbanites.
Featuring a large roster of playable characters and thousands of unique make-shift weapon combinations — like a toaster kitted to shoot saw blades or a modded power washer turned flamethrower — players will “smash, grab, and grow” as they blast their way through thrilling suburban invas …