Leslie Benzies’ Build A Rocket Boy Announces Acquisition of PlayFusion with Plans to Deliver Next-Generation Immersive Gaming Experiences

By: RedBird Capital Partners LLC via GlobeNewswire

December 10, 2024 at 06:30 AM EST

EDINBURGH, United Kingdom, Dec. 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- International game developer and publisher, Build A Rocket Boy, led by iconic game director Leslie Benzies, has announced their acquisition of PlayFusion, a multi-award winning, independent, UK based game developer and publisher.

The combination of these two pioneering independent studios will accelerate growth as Build A Rocket Boy continues to develop three core flagship products:

AAA narrative-driven action thriller game MindsEye;
The next-generation immersive gaming and entertainment open world platform EVERYWHERE; and
A suite of remarkably easy-to-use AAA UGC design and publishing tools ARCADIA.

PlayFusion CEO & CTO, Mark Gerhard, will join Build A Rocket Boy as Co-CEO alongside Benzies who founded Build A Rocket Boy in 2016.

Gerhard, a pillar in the gaming industry, will focus on Build A Rocket Boy’s upcoming pipeline of AAA games, UGC tools, and drive business growth, with broader ambitions to expand the platform into multiple entertainment spaces. Along with the founding team, Gerhard founded PlayFusion in 2015, and was previously CEO & CTO of Jagex, best known for RuneScape, which holds multiple Guinness World Records for the largest Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game with over 250 million player accounts.

Benzies is recognised for his genre-defining contributions to video game creation. His decades of experience in developing, producing, directing, and designing video games have made him a pioneer in the industry. He will continue to serve as CEO and Game Director of Build A Rocket Boy, maintaining his vision of creating compelling and immersive entertainment content and a new era of gaming.

“We’ve always admired PlayFusion’s creativity and innovative approach to transmedia entertainment, and joining forces with them will ascend Build A Rocket Boy to our next level of excellence. Our vision has always been to put creativity into the hands of the players and PlayFusion’s shared passion for gaming will help us create a robust offering for our community to seamlessly build their own AAA quality games and create compelling original online experiences soon,” said Leslie Benzies, CEO and Founder of Build A Rocket Boy.

“It’s truly an honour and a privilege to join forces with Leslie and the legendary team at Build A Rocket Boy at such a formative time for the video games industry. We have immense drive for delighting our players and we share an exciting vision for the future. This next chapter of our combined studios will deliver on that promise as well as disrupt the industry by democratising premium game development. The core team at PlayFusion has been working together for nearly two decades and we are excited to be at the forefront of ushering in a new era of gaming.” said Mark Gerhard, CEO & CTO of PlayFusion.

Build A Rocket Boy announced in January 2024 that it had closed on an over $110 million Series D fundraising round, led by RedBird Capital Partners and existing and new investors, including Alignment Growth, Endeavor, Galaxy Interactive, GTAM Partners, NetEase Games, Woodline Partners, and others.

“We are thrilled that Mark Gerhard and the PlayFusion team are joining Build A Rocket Boy, strengthening the already talented team and enhancing our capabilities as a next-generation media and entertainment company. The PlayFusion team has a long track record and history of gaming, engineering, and creative expertise that pair perfectly with the innovative entertainment ethos spearheaded by Leslie. We are excited for the Build A Rocket Boy team to continue to push the boundaries of immersive entertainment.” said Julia Wittlin, Partner at RedBird Capital.

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ABOUT BUILD A ROCKET BOY
Founded in 2016 by game director Leslie Benzies, Build A Rocket Boy is an independent video game developer and entertainment company headquartered in Edinburgh, with studios in Budapest, and Montpellier. Build A Rocket Boy’s team includes hundreds of the industry’s brightest development talents with the shared vision to create new and innovative entertainment experiences.

ABOUT MINDSEYE
MindsEye is a story-driven, action-adventure thriller, set in a fictional near future Americana. Featuring best-in-class cinematics, high octane driving, and explosive combat, this highly anticipated console and PC game will be published and distributed by IO Interactive.

ABOUT ARCADIA
Anyone with an idea can create amazing games and immersive experiences using ARCADIA, our proprietary no-code-required powerful User Generated Content building tools, self-publishing system, and library of assets that will revolutionise the video game experience.

ABOUT EVERYWHERE
EVERYWHERE is an entertainment platform where players and builders can unleash their creativity to build, remix, and play with others in a vast connected world. Currently in Builders Beta testing with a specific focus on the building the most initiative and powerful UGC toolset in the world.

© 2024 Build A Rocket Boy Limited. MindsEye^® and EVERYWHERE^® are trademarks or registered trademarks of Build A Rocket Boy Games Ltd. in the US, the UK, the European Union and other countries and territories. All rights reserved.

ABOUT PLAYFUSION
PlayFusion is an independent studio pioneering the development of next-generation video games and entertainment. Founded in 2015, by a team of passionate game developers with decades of experience working at multiple award-winning studios on a vast range of titles on PC, console and mobile. PlayFusion is a based in Cambridge, England, and is currently in Closed Beta for highly anticipated 2025 release of ASCENDANT.com.

For more information, visit https://www.ascendant.com/.