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Tencent makes major investment into former Forza Horizon lead's Lighthouse Games studio

Lighthouse Games CEO Gavin Raeburn says the investment from Tencent will allow Lighthouse Games to fulfill its ambition for a new AAA IP in the works.

TJ Denzer

July 5, 2023 11:05 AM

Image via Lighthouse Games

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It wasn’t that far back that Playground Games co-founder Gavin Raeburn ventured out from his original studio to form a new one in Lighthouse Games, but now the new group has attracted substantial investment from Chinese video game giant Tencent. Lighthouse Games recently shared word of the investment and said it will aid greatly in allowing the team to pursue its vision of a new AAA IP while maintaining its independent direction and freedom.

Tencent’s investment into Lighthouse Games was reported via GamesIndustry.biz, with Playground telling GI.biz that it would maintaining “full control over its creative and publishing decisions.” The amount invested by Tencent was not disclosed, but Raeburn confirmed it was of large enough scale to substantially aid Lighthouse in its efforts to create a new AAA title.

“The investment is financial, and we retain control over our game and destiny as a studio, though we are also looking forward to forging strong links with Tencent,” Raeburn said. “We’ve always prided ourselves on building excellent and trusted relationships with the publishers that we work with, and this will continue to be a priority moving forward. Our goal is to be the best at everything we do, and Tencent’s investment along with their continued support, will enable us to fulfil that ambition.”

It was back in March 2023 that Gavin Raeburn unveiled Lighthouse Games for the first time.  More than that, over 30 of Raeburn’s colleagues joined him from various studios (including Playground) to aid in the new studio’s efforts.

Currently, Lighthouse Games is said to be working on a new AAA title in a brand-new IP that has not been revealed at this time. With investment from Tencent, Lighthouse may be on track to revealing a new game sooner than later. Stay tuned to Shacknews as we wait to see a reveal and new details.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.