Hidden Leaf Games
Our mission is to create core PvP games that focus on power progression and social play.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor investor | €0.0 | round |
$3.2m | Seed | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
Hidden Leaf Games is a Los Angeles-based game development studio established in 2019 by co-founders David Li (CEO) and Bao Lam (President). The company's inception was driven by the founders' shared history of building friendships through competitive online gaming and a desire to create socially engaging Player-vs-Player (PvP) experiences. Both Li and Lam bring significant industry experience, having held product management roles at prominent gaming companies like Riot Games, PUBG Corp, Zynga, and Super Evil Megacorp. Their background in managing successful game titles informs the studio's focus on competitive mastery and core progression systems.
The studio secured $3.2 million in a seed funding round in 2021, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from other strategic investors. This capital has been instrumental in assembling a global team and developing its first title. The company operates on a free-to-play model for its games, which are designed for the PC market. This business model relies on optional in-game purchases to generate revenue, a strategy David Li honed during his time at Riot Games, where he focused on creating monetization systems that players would feel good about supporting.
The company's debut project was FANGS, a fast-paced 4v4 action MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). A key feature of FANGS was its augment system, which allowed players to customize hero abilities each round, adding a layer of strategic depth and personalization to the gameplay. The game was designed to be accessible for newcomers to the genre while still offering a high skill ceiling for veteran players. The design team for FANGS was notably led by Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, a well-known designer whose work on a Warcraft III mod was foundational to the MOBA genre itself. However, in late 2023, Hidden Leaf Games announced it was sunsetting FANGS to pivot to a new project, codenamed "Project Soulforge." The company stated that while this new title is a spiritual successor and retains some core elements of FANGS, its gameplay has shifted to focus more on build fantasy and power spikes.
Keywords: Hidden Leaf Games, David Li, Bao Lam, FANGS, Project Soulforge, MOBA, PvP games, game development, Lightspeed Venture Partners, free-to-play, PC gaming, online multiplayer, competitive gaming, social gaming, character customization, action MOBA, Steve Feak, Guinsoo, player progression, games-as-a-service