With a commitment of $600 million, A16z launches its first gaming fund

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Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm, has announced its first gaming fund, with intentions to invest $600 million in game studios, gaming-related consumer apps, and infrastructure.

"Today, we are pleased to announce GAMES FUND ONE, a16z's debut fund dedicated to advancing the games industry's future." In a blog post, a16z team members Andrew Chen, Jonathan Lai, and James Gwertzman wrote, "Having been investors in this space for more than a decade, it's clear to us the industry has entered a new era, and there is no better time than now to build a fund focused on supporting the next generation of games builders."

Games Firm ONE is "based on the premise that games will play a vital role in defining how people socialize, play, and work throughout the next century," according to the company. It also believes that gaming infrastructure and technology will be crucial building pieces of the Metaverse in the long run, a potential that might be considerably bigger than the current $300 million game business.

David Baszucki, founder of Roblox; Jason Citron, founder of Discord; Marc Merrill, co-founder of Riot Games; Mike Morhaime, co-founder of Blizzard; Aleks Larsen and Jeffrey Zirlin, co-founders of Sky Mavis; Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch; Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga; and Riccardo Zacconi, founder of King are among the notable gaming industry investors in the fund.

Although A16z is not a crypto-only company, it has grown to become one of the most well-known in the industry. The firm set aside $2.2 billion for its third crypto fund last summer, making it the largest crypto fund ever until Paradigm launched their $2.5 billion vehicle in November.

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