Moon Beast Productions secures $4.5m in seed funding

Moon Beast Productions has secured $4.5m in seed funding.

The independent game studio – founded by Phil Shenk, Peter Hu, and Erich Schaefer – was supported by “a network of notable angel investors” that includes Gaingels, Cohh Carnage, and Mark Pincus. 1AM Gaming led the round, joined by 1UP Ventures, The Mini Fund, Overwolf, and Versus Ventures.

The studio said the funding round marked “a critical moment,” enabling it to expand whilst “maintaining the lean, focused approach that has defined it since inception.” It will also support Moon Beast’s development of an action RPG that “challenges conventional design paradigms.”

“In today’s challenging funding environment, we’re incredibly fortunate to have investors who understand our vision,” said Peter Hu, president and co-founder. “Our approach has always been about working smarter, not just harder. We’re building reusable, data-driven systems that allow us to iterate rapidly and create more with less.”

“We’ve never been content to follow the crowd,” added Phil Shenk, CEO and co-founder. “Throughout our careers, we’ve always pushed to redefine genres. We were there at the start, helping to invent ARPGs with Diablo and Diablo II. In the years following, from Hellgate: London to Torchlight, and Marvel Heroes Online, we’ve consistently sought to expand what players expect from the genre.”

Moon Beast expects to share more about its upcoming project in “early 2025.”