Fateless Video games founders on Godforge, community-led building and elevating $14 million

• Fateless has raised $14 million with main reinforce from its network.
• The studio grew from a creator-driven ecosystem right into a 50-person world group.
• Godforge has been formed by means of direct comments from greater than 2m network contributors.
• Many Fateless group contributors in the past labored at Microsoft, Rise up, EA and Scopely.
• Godforge blends darkish fable storytelling with strategic PvE and PvP battle.

In an unique interview with Fateless founders Simon Lockerby, Dan Francis and Hisham Saleh, we take a more in-depth have a look at Godforge, the darkish fable RPG being constructed by means of a creator-founded studio that has now raised a complete of $14 million. 

The trio talk about how their backgrounds as content material creators constructed the root for a completely far flung 50-person studio, why network enter guides each building milestone, and the way this monetary momentum helps them ship a player-shaped RPG revel in.

PocketGamer.biz: Let us know somewhat about Fateless. How did your backgrounds as content material creators affect your technique to construction a recreation studio? 

Simon Lockerby: I first began enjoying Raid Shadow Legends on my telephone on my strategy to paintings, quickly thereafter deciding to make content material on YouTube concerning the recreation. The network grew briefly with me, and I made up our minds to hand over my process 3 months after beginning my channel and hit 100k subscribers inside of a yr. 

With the assistance of Dan Francis, we constructed HH Gaming, a network website online for Raid Shadow Legends and different RPG Hero Collector gamers. Round this time, we were given numerous requests from the network to construct a recreation of our personal. To start with this felt like the sort of loopy concept!

However the extra we heard this, Dan and I began to have extra critical conversations and ultimately made up our minds that if we had been ever going to do that, then this will be the highest time to take action. 

This in the end resulted in the introduction of Fateless. Our ambition has at all times been to construct a recreation that, as fanatics of the RPG/Fable style, we might wish to play ourselves whilst additionally making sure that we stay our network entrance and centre to all our choices and milestones.

Dan Francis: I met Simon simply as he used to be beginning out as a full-time content material author, and in combination we had been in a position to ascertain HH Gaming as the largest platform on the earth for Raid Shadow Legends and different western group hero creditors. I had a background in advertising and dealing with other manufacturers, however I’ve been a gamer my complete existence. Getting the chance to construct a gaming studio of our personal used to be actually thrilling. 

Hisham Saleh: I used to be the Founder and CEO of indie building studio Skeleton Hand, and joined Simon and Dan to co-found Fateless in 2023. The chance to lend a hand construct a brand new studio and recreation this is utterly community-driven used to be tremendous thrilling for me and it’s simply been one of the crucial thrilling ventures I’ve taken on. 

What number of team of workers do you presently make use of and the place are they founded? 

Lockerby: Fateless is principally founded in the United Kingdom, with myself and Dan operating from right here, and Hisham Saleh from Illinois, USA. The studio is totally far flung, and we get to satisfy in-person thru occasions, however differently all of us be in contact thru Discord.

Our group has grown to 50 during the last two years, attracting proficient execs from far and wide the arena together with contributors of our group who’ve in the past labored with Microsoft, Rise up, EA, Scopely, and extra. 

We’re extremely fortunate to had been in a position to rent skill with such treasured trade wisdom and revel in. Numerous the group had been in reality really useful to us or approached us at once to sign up for the studio and paintings on Godforge. 

Which is loopy while you consider it, however I believe it’s an actual testomony not to best the volume of networking we’ve been in a position to do, but additionally the ethos of the studio and the possibility of the sport.

Other people wish to come and paintings on Godforge and are keen on the colourful network ready to play it. It’s extremely thrilling for all people. We’ve learnt such a lot from the group, and with a bit of luck we will be able to continue to grow as a studio. 

You’ve described Fateless as a “community-led studio”. What does that imply in apply, and the way does it form daily building choices? 

Francis: Being a community-led studio method, actually what it says at the tin: we began the studio as a result of the network and we proceed to function with that mentality of repeatedly enticing and bringing them alongside for the experience with us. We acquire their comments and ideas on playtests, content material concepts, and what they hope to peer within the complete unencumber of Godforge. 

We unencumber common movies showcasing the newest content material from the sport, common podcasts discussing our concept procedure, and weekly screenshots on our Discord server, all of which enable us to obtain comments from the network with out the depth of keeping up a public playtest.

In brief, our network influences nearly all of interior conversations on gameplay options, UI choices, and our total way, as a result of on the finish of the day, for those who aren’t making your recreation for the gamers, who’re you making it for?

Along with this, we wish to be sure that we’re giving one thing again to network contributors who’ve given their time to serving to with checking out and offering that comments.

Our most up-to-date Alpha Wave noticed over 36,000 gamers jointly log round 355,000 hours of gameplay. We would have liked to praise the highest 1000 gamers with a commemorative Godforge Golden Medal, however we needed to prolong this to at least one,100 because of the sheer quantity of gamers who finished one of the crucial in-game demanding situations. 

Saleh: Additional to that, we’re flying out seven of our stand-out contributors to sign up for the group in Vegas subsequent yr to have a good time the release of Godforge. We’re additionally operating with fashionable YouTuber Squidmar to create a full-scale diorama that might be exhibited in Verko’s Vault.

This diorama will commemorate the group with the perfect rating throughout the Alpha Wave. It’s a actually cool strategy to have a good time the release of the sport, and we’re tremendous excited to take action with our network.

Fateless has now raised a complete of $14m, with network investment enjoying a big function to your early segment. What courses did you be informed from that have and would you way it the similar approach once more? 

Lockerby: It’s no secret that fundraising in our trade turns into more and more difficult once a year, given the collection of video games launched. Main Angel buyers are extra wary than ever, and undertaking capitalists are pushing numerous their sources into AI-based projects.

Regardless of this, once we launched a video to our network pointing out Fateless used to be born, we gained over 100 emails asking us about the potential of funding. 

After seeing us construct HH Gaming, a number one useful resource platform for Raid: Shadow Legends, those folks had been assured in our skill to construct one thing new. Since then, we’ve been operating exhausting with the reinforce of our network in shaping what is going to develop into Godforge.

We’ve discovered that transparency is essential to forcing funding and that traction and momentum are necessary to making sure the ball simply assists in keeping on rolling. Those are surely key components in what drives our community-first focal point.

Communicate to us about Godforge. How does this recreation have compatibility into your studio’s long-term imaginative and prescient? And the way do you intend to put the name in a crowded RPG marketplace ruled by means of extra established IPs? 

Francis: Godforge is a turn-based RPG set in a depressing fable universe, the place gamers can accumulate iconic Gods, myths and legends, and fight thru PVE dungeons and PVP arenas.  They are able to growth thru deep customisation, demanding situations, and epic boss fights.

We’ve made positive to take care of persevered interactions with our network from the very starting of the improvement procedure, particularly thru our Alpha Wave checking out. Because of this, the gamers themselves have mainly assisted in shaping the improvement of Godforge. 

We additionally consider that Godforge gives our network contributors a real alternative to return in combination and actually attach as they triumph over more than a few in-game demanding situations. Other people attach when enjoying video games in combination and that’s one thing we’re seeing around the board since we began this adventure.

That’s what I consider units us aside, the network that has been with us from the start and has noticed Godforge develop into one thing actually particular. 

We’re actually excited for them to be in the end in a position to play the completed recreation at release. The long-term imaginative and prescient is to emphasize participant company, immersive storytelling and honest monetisation. Whilst our present focal point is Godforge, we also are dedicated to construction a brand new roughly studio, one the place gamers actually have a seat on the desk.

What are one of the vital largest technical or inventive demanding situations you’ve confronted in bringing the similar core revel in throughout a couple of platforms? 

Saleh: The flexibility and flexibility of Cohesion as a recreation engine has made our technical and artistic demanding situations fairly transferable between each PC and cellular.

Our major demanding situations actually lie within the smaller main points, which can be basically clarity of the UI throughout gameplay, along making sure efficiency is easy and constant without reference to software.

With release deliberate for Q1 2026, what do you suppose makes your recreation stand out, and what a part of the revel in do you maximum need gamers to experience? 

Lockerby: We recently have an engaged network of over two million gamers throughout our Discord, social media platforms and the site. That network existed prior to the sport used to be even in Alpha, which is de facto insane and speaks volumes concerning the trust they have got in us as a studio.

Avid gamers are ceaselessly checking out Godforge and offering treasured comments, which has actually helped the group create some actually attention-grabbing personality designs. 

A few of my favorite designs come with Ra, Egyptian God of the solar; Terracotta Warrior; Lamasthu; Medusa; Oda Nobunaga, I may just cross on; it is tricky to pick out a favorite!

Our hope is that during the strategic intensity of the sport, cinematic visuals in addition to treasured network comments, Godforge is helping redefine what’s imaginable within the hero collector style. 

We would have liked boss battles to have an air of nostalgia to them, numerous our gamers used to play large MMOs, and we would have liked that larger-than-life boss revel in to return to Godforge.

Of all our epic boss fights and demanding situations, I believe the network facet stays the a part of the revel in I maximum need gamers to experience, and discover a area to return in combination as a network and experience a recreation they helped construct.

If this appears like one thing different gamers who’re but to find Godforge wish to be part of, then they’ll be at liberty to understand that sign-ups for early get entry to are already open!

Past Godforge, what’s the long-term imaginative and prescient for Fateless as a studio? Do you notice yourselves construction a couple of video games or that specialize in one flagship name? 

Saleh: We’re totally concerned about Godforge presently, with out even bearing in mind what the following recreation may just seem like. We’d like to make every other recreation ultimately, however we’re utterly concerned about Godforge presently, and stay up for additional supporting the sport with new content material post-launch.

The entire group can’t wait to deliver the sport into the arms of our network and the broader global subsequent yr, quicker fairly than later.