A London games studio has raised £3 million to disrupt AAA games through artificial intelligence.
Iconic AI was founded in 2023 by John Lusty and Junaid Hussain and positions itself as an AI-first studio.
It has brought together a seasoned team with backgrounds in game development, creative production and DeepTech R&D from industry giants such as DeepMind, Rockstar, Pixar and Sony.
Iconic aims to democratise game development efficiency, enabling smaller teams to compete on par with industry giants, and pioneer advanced AI applications in game development and gameplay.
The round was led by HodlCo, with participation from FOV Ventures, Interface Capital, Deepwater Asset Management, and scout funds from Sequoia and Atomico. Angel investors included former senior executives at DeepMind, OpenAI, Disney, Tencent and Microsoft.
“With the right talent – and the right culture – a new generation of studios like Iconic can not only benefit from decreasing costs and faster iteration times but they also have a blank slate to experiment with entirely new forms of gameplay that are afforded by generative AI,” said Dave Haynes, founding partner at FOV Ventures.
“For us, the Iconic team was the perfect pairing of prior AAA games experience and technical experience.”
Lusty added: “This funding will enable us to prove we can redefine game development, and challenge the misconception that AI is here to replace, rather than enhance, human creativity. Our goal is to push the boundaries of interaction and immersion for our players, while making work more interesting and secure for developers.
“We believe our approach will create more jobs while elevating each individual on a team to have more impact and influence on the game they are making.
“Our belief is that by harnessing AI, smaller teams can become as efficient as, if not more efficient than, the largest video game developers, allowing them to create dozens of games. We are excited to continue this journey with the support of our new partners.”