Ramen VR, the studio behind the upcoming VR MMO Zenith: The Last City announced today that it has raised $10 million in venture capital. The game is set to launch later this year on all major headsets.
Zenith: The Last City got its start with a successful Kickstarter back in 2019. Despite raising $280,000—significantly more than its $25,000 goal—that isn’t much budget to create a full-blown MMO. Luckily the game just got a huge boost that is sure to carry it to launch and secure its near-term future.
Following several closed alpha tests held earlier this year, the studio behind the project, Ramen VR, announced today that it has raised a $10 million Series A investment with participation from VC firms Makers Fund, Anthos Capital, and Dune Ventures.
As far as individual VR games go, $10 million is a huge budget by most standards. While much of the funding will go toward scaling the company rather than directly into the game, it’s a rare opportunity for an indie studio like Ramen VR to be backed with so much cash before even launching their first title.
The VCs must have been impressed with the metrics from the game’s alpha tests, with Ramen VR claiming that “player retention numbers in Zenith: The Last City resemble those of the most popular F2P games,” with some players spending as much as 40 hours a week in the game.
The studio says it will use the cash injection to scale its development team and to get Zenith off the ground at launch later this year. A specific release date for the game has yet to be announced but it’s planned for release on PC VR, Quest, and PSVR, covering all major VR platforms. Understandably, Ramen VR is now hiring for several development roles.