The Return of Real-Time Strategic Simulation (RTS): Frost Giant Studio’s New Game Stormgate

Photo = Official YouTube capture by Frost Giant Studio

Will the era of real-time strategic simulation (RTS) return? The players who created the success stories of “StarCraft” and “Warcraft” are about to release a new game to prove it. They are showing strong confidence, calling the game they are developing “the next generation RTS that will drive the next 10 years.”

According to the 3 game industry, the new RTS PC game ‘Stormgate’ is currently undergoing closed beta testing (CBT) for some users. After considering the feedback gathered from this test, we plan to release the game in Early Access in the third quarter of this year.

In Stormgate, users can play a total of three races. Basically, the game is provided for free, but regularly added story campaigns will be sold for a fee. In addition to the campaign, there are contents such as ▲1 vs 1 ▲3 vs 3 ▲3 player cooperative mode (co-op), and an editor system is also provided to freely edit the map.

“Frost Giant Studio”, which is making the game, is a development company founded in 2020 after the developers of Blizzard Entertainment left the company. Currently, Tim Morten, former production director of “StarCraft 2”, serves as CEO, and Tim Campbell, former senior campaign designer of “Warcraft 3”, serves as game director.

CEO Tim Morten (left) and game director Tim Campbell. Photo = Frost Giant Studio

As such, Stormgate has been called a “spiritual successor” to the StarCraft and Warcraft series since its initial release. The remaining domestic and foreign RTS enthusiasts are still enthusiastically supporting Stormgate.

In fact, through the sponsorship on Kickstarter, carried out for two months starting last December, with approximately 28,000 participants, 2.38 million dollars (approximately 3.2 billion KRW) were raised. This is the largest video game crowdfunding conducted on Kickstarter in 2023. Notably, it was reported that the target amount ($100,000) was reached within 15 minutes of funding starting.

Kakao Games, which noticed the potential of Frost Giant Studio in 2022, made a strategic investment worth $20 million (24 billion won). With Kakao Games focusing on “global expansion” as its business strategy for this year, Stormgate should serve as something of a measuring stick.

Another factor worth noting is whether the virtually extinct RTS genre can recover thanks to the release of new games. In addition to Stormgate, domestic game company Twobyte is developing a new RTS “Space Gears,” and NCSoft, which is diversifying its portfolio, also plans to unveil “Project G” this year.

Today’s financial reporter Chae Seung-hyuk

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