Film studio Lionsgate provided an undisclosed amount of series D funding to US-based game developer and publisher Telltale Games yesterday reported by Venturebeat to be about $40m.
The funding will support the co-development of episodic games based on properties owned by Lionsgate and televisions shows based on games developed by Telltale. Lionsgate has launched similar partnerships with gaming companies Next Games, Kabam, and Starbreeze Studios over the past year.
Telltale currently offers games based on television shows including Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, as well as films such as Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. Its Walking Dead game has sold more than 8.5 million copies.
Telltale previously raised $7m in a 2011 series C round backed by IDG Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of technology research and media company International Data Group, as well as venture capital firm Granite Ventures and a range of unnamed angel investors.
Granite Ventures led a $6m series B round for the company in 2007 that also featured IDG, Telltale secured $1.4m from angel network Keiretsu Forum in a 2006 seed round, but has not disclosed details concerning series A funding.
Lionsgate chief executive Jon Feltheimer said: “Telltale is one of the premier storytellers in the gaming world today.
“Their leadership in narrative-driven episodic games, together with our investment and the potential opportunities created by our premium content expertise, will continue to strengthen their ability to offer exciting new avenues of storytelling to their next generation audiences across a broad range of platforms.”