‘Golf Clash’ Makers Launch U.K. Mobile Games Studio ForthStar With $10M in Funding

Georg Szalai
·2 min read

The founders of U.K.-based mobile games studio Playdemic, known for the Golf Clash franchise, have unveiled ForthStar, a new mobile free-to-play game studio based in Manchester. Paul Gouge and Alex Rigby are launching the new company after Warner Bros. Games’ $1.4 billion sale of Playdemic to Electronic Arts in 2021 with $10 million in funding from venture capital firm Griffin Gaming Partners.

The reveal of the studio’s first game is “more than a year away,” the company said Monday. It added that the founders have been “joined by many of the key figures from Playdemic who helped Golf Clash reach more than 150 million installs,” while ForthStar is also actively recruiting further creative and technical talent.

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“Our mission is clear; to make great games that millions of people love to play, every day for years,” said ForthStar CEO and co-founder Gouge. “It’s an objective we have achieved before and one that we know we can meet again by building exceptional games that captivate millions of players and become essential daily entertainment.”

Added Rigby: “We have been fortunate enough to lead and build studios populated by some of the most accomplished and creative talent in our industry. With the opening of ForthStar, we are able to leverage all we’ve learnt in more than two decades of mobile gaming.”

Rigby and Gouge founded their first mobile studio BattleMail in 2001, which they sold to (M)Forma in 2002. They then launched Rockpool Games and sold it to Eidos/Square Enix in 2007 before creating Playdemic.

Griffin Gaming is focused on the global gaming market and has more than $1 billion in assets under management. The firm, founded by Peter Levin, Phil Sanderson and Nick Tuosto, has LionTree as a strategic partner for its fund. Second Dinner, the game development studio behind digital collectible card game Marvel Snap, recently unveiled a $100 million Series B investment led by Griffin.

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