Ideas beneath
the surface
Investing in Iconic
We’re investing in Iconic via Deepwater Venture Fund II as the company looks to redefine the development of video games by building an AI-native studio that will deliver benefits to players via new types of experiences where they are in control and where stories are tailored specifically to them.
Development of major “AAA” video games has historically been inefficient and costly with inconsistent results for the final product. Similar to what Pixar did with CGI, Iconic can define a new paradigm in video game development. Specifically, the company will leverage advances in AI to enable human game developers to improve on many aspects of the game creation process and, ultimately, the gameplay itself.
Deepwater invested in Iconic’s 2024 $4M pre-seed round. Co-investors in the round included FOV Ventures, Interface Capital, HodlCo, scout funds from Sequoia and Atomico, as well as senior executives from DeepMind, OpenAI, Disney, Tencent, and Microsoft.
By combining experienced human game developers with cutting-edge AI, Iconic believes it can:
- Reduce game development time by half (or more) and lower game development costs to level the playing field towards an environment where independent developers can compete directly with pre-existing large gaming entities.
- Alter and enhance in-game experiences, resulting in games that are not only less expensive to create, but faster to market, and, importantly, more immersive and engaging for the user.
Video games generate more revenue than any other form of entertainment. To put this in perspective, global box office revenue was estimated to be $30B-to-$40B in 2023, while video game revenue was over $180B. We believe Iconic will create a new standard in video game creation through AI-enabled game development that will benefit both the developers and the players.