New studio Closing Theory raises $2.3m investment | Pocket Gamer.biz

A new mobile game development studio, Closing Theory, has secured $2.3m in investment in a round led by games investment firm a16z.

The studio promises to tackle that perenially nebulous but nonetheless valuable audience of “non-gamers” who they believe their two new titles, both seemingly based around housing, will appeal to. The money comes from an all-star line up of investor firms such as the aforementioned a16z (Joshua Lu, formerly of Zynga and Meta), Powerhouse Capital (who have also invested in Playtika and Scopely) and founder of Proletariat games Seth Sivak.

Co-founder Nitin Rajinikanth commented, “Games have traditionally been all about fantasy, a hard fork from the real world. We started Closing Theory because we believe there’s an opportunity for fun that’s closer to the world we live in.”

“Our first two titles, HOUSE RUSH! and NEIGHBORHOOD RUSH! are for the 70M+ people who browse Zillow just for fun,” he adds. House Rush itself is currently available to sign up for playtesting on iOS.

Rushing into the neighbourhood

Although information about Closing Theory is thin on the ground for now, it’s likely that they’ve been working on their two debut titles in stealth mode for some time now. With the titles releasing on mobile we can speculate they might be touching on the hypercasual or hybridcasual market which is where most stereotypical non-gamers can be found.

Many of the companies the investors have previously worked in – or invested in – include a bevy of our Top 50 Game Makers of 2022, such as Playtika or Blizzard. We can safely judge that the appeal of a studio like Closing Theory, where the co-founders note they have already successfully had two of their companies bought when pursuing similar strategies, is likely the possible money made upon exit.

What’s most interesting, however, is that Rajinikanth touches upon the “strategic mix of gaming experts and real estate operators + influencers” that Closing Theory will apparently utilise in their development. It’s an eclectic mix certainly, but just the idea alone of what they may be looking to accomplish is sure to bring significant attention to the company.