Emergent obtains $12 million funding

Emergent Game Technologies, developer of Gamebryo Element middleware, has secured USD 12 million in series D funding led by Jerusalem Venture Partners and Worldview Technology Partners.

"The games market is evolving quickly, with cross-platform production scalability and online migration becoming ever-increasing challenges to game creators," said Emergent CEO Geoffrey Selzer.

"This recent round of funding and our organisational changes will enable us to continue to deliver the most progressive development solutions available to the game industry."

Emergent has promoted executive vice president Scott Johnson, formerly with Vivendi Games and Universal Interactive, to president of the company.

John Goodale was named vice president of marketing and business development and will guide Emergent's efforts to expand its presence in Asia, Lisa Wenniger was named vice president of product management, and David Gregory will assume the duties of vice president of engineering and systems architecture.

As part of its organisational changes, Emergent has closed its Walnut Creek, California studio and relocated its staff to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Other investment partners in the latest round of funding include Adena Ventures, Walker Ventures, Copan, and Cisco Systems.

Emergent's Gamebryo has been used to develop more than 70 titles on consoles and on the PC including The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Pirates!, Civilization IV, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.