New studio TreesPlease Games unveiled today
TreesPlease Games, a studio founded in 2019 to make meaningful games that can be good for the planet and are loved by millions, has been officially unveiled alongside the reveal of their debut game, Longleaf Valley, and $8m of seed investment.
TreesPlease believes in creating games that players love that also make a difference while they play. The team of 15 combines experience from a breadth of studios, bringing together Free to Play and Casual Gaming experts from across the industry, united by a common goal to use their experience to enact change for the planet.
Led by CEO and co- founder Laura Carter, the ex NaturalMotion, Square Enix and PlayStation veteran has founded the studio with the vision of inspiring gamers to become a force for good. Driven by the huge scale and potential of the games industry to drive positive change, Laura saw the opportunity to bring together her own passion for protecting animals and the environment with her experience in the games industry. The studio believes in giving players the chance to do something meaningful and impactful with their playtime.
Investment has been led initially by Lakestar at pre-seed, with a further funding round led by March Gaming with Lakestar supporting, raising an additional $3.5m in funds. A round of angel investors from across the games industry (including David Helgason (Unity) , Chris Lee (Activision/Media Molecule), Shaun Rutland (Hutch) and Will Stephens (Fusebox)) bring both investment and industry expertise to the new studio.
Founded in late 2019, the studio launched their debut game Longleaf Valley in stealth last year and have since planted over 300 thousand trees ahead of the game’s official announcement. They’re on track to plant over a million trees before the end of 2023.
Working in partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects to plant players trees where they’re needed the most, the game proposition follows a ‘Play It, Plant It’ principle. The gameplay style sits within the rapidly growing merge category, with a core mechanic of merging seeds to make saplings and saplings to a tree, working as an expression of the core idea of growing and restoring nature and rescuing animals along the way. Longleaf Valley focuses on restoring a once thriving park that has suffered the effects of corporate greed and climate change. As players progress through the game they are able to plant trees in the real world simply through playing, fulfilled by Eden Reforestation Projects.
TreesPlease will use the funding to invest in the success of their debut game through user acquisition, growing the team and ongoing development of the game.
Laura Carter, CEO & Co-Founder of TreesPlease Games, said: “I’ve been determined to make a difference for animals and the environment from as young as three years old. A childhood passion for fundraising and supporting charities like Greenpeace followed through into adulthood where I volunteered with various animal and environmental charities and became an activist, joining protests during my lunch hours whilst working in the games industry. I was making a difference, but I knew there was so much more to do and I wanted to dedicate more time to these critical causes. I decided to combine my passion for building games with my drive to help save animals and the environment to create a studio that made a difference at its central mission. As we come out of stealth to announce TreesPlease Games and Longleaf Valley, I couldn’t be more excited and proud of our incredible team’s achievements with both our first game and the impact we are making for our planet and all life.”
Eden Reforestation Project, said “Through landscape restoration, we are able to offer communities increased livelihood opportunities to restore their natural environment through nature-based solutions to climate change. The vision and drive behind the TreesPlease team led to conversations with Laura about sponsoring our restoration work. Through their partnership, we are able to facilitate landscape restoration and community development for communities across the world. We look forward to our continued partnership with TreesPlease.”
Mika Salmi, Managing Partner at Lakestar VC, said: “We met Laura when she first started TreesPlease and was yet to raise money. When we heard about her concept to create a game where playing caused a positive impact on the Planet, we were quickly excited. The kicker for us was that Laura and her early team were world class game developers. As investors, we knew that creating a good game must come first but the big win is that the games they create are doing good and make the players feel good about their playtime.”