Independent game developer Novaquark announced today they have received $3.7 million in funding from private investors to bring their flagship MMO title, Dual Universe, to a total funding amount of $7.4 million, including crowdfunding. This news comes as the company is preparing to launch their Alpha version; currently expected by the end of Q4 2017.
“Last year, Dual Universe became the third highest funded video game on Kickstarter, collecting more than $670K from over 8,000 backers,” explained JC Baillie, CEO at Novaquark. “With this new round of funding, we have reached a new level of support that will help the project reach its full potential”.
Dual Universe is a new type of massively-multiplayer online experience: it takes place in a vast Sci-Fi universe, focusing on emergent gameplay and content building, with player-driven in-game economy, politics, trade and warfare. The vision for Dual Universe is to create the first virtual online civilization.
At the heart of Dual Universe is a truly innovative proprietary technology, which was developed to lay the foundations of the game. The CSSC (continuous single-shard cluster) manages one single universe with potentially millions of people interacting in it at the same time. A multi-scale voxel engine enables players to physically modify the world; dig a hole, carve up a mountain or build anything they want, from space ships to orbital stations, at any scale they desire.
Novaquark is building a virtual world environment where they hope millions of people will be able to live exciting collective adventures within a vibrant and emergent universe where everything is possible. The company aims at creating a new form of entertainment, where participants are free to create their own stories and environment.
“Our ambition is to become the number one platform for user-generated entertainment, all happening in the same universe, to create an ecosystemic amplification mechanism similar to that of social networks” notes JC Baillie, CEO at Novaquark.”
About Novaquark
Novaquark is a Paris-based game studio formed in 2014 by veterans from Ubisoft, Sony, Apple, Gameloft, with a mission to renew the MMO genre through technological innovation. Dual Universe, their flagship title, fosters massively emergent gameplay in a huge continuous single-shard virtual world. The studio is currently hiring experienced and motivated candidates in technical and business positions.
Jim Franklin is a freelance writer, living in Derby UK with his wife and his player 3. When time allows he likes nothing more than losing himself in a multi-hour gaming session. He likes most games and will play anything but prefers MMO's, and sandbox RPG's.
