New developer Brain Jar Games has shored up $6.7 million in seed funding for its debut project.
Founded by Trion Worlds alum Will Cook, Brain Jar is made up of similar triple-A developers. Its staff has previously worked on franchises like Mass Effect and Call of Duty.
Funding was led by Transcend Fund and Menlo Ventures. Working with game industry veterans is old hat for Transcend, which previously funded Ruckus Games, made up of former Gearbox and Riot staff.
Brain Jar’s debut project is the 2025 action game Dead as Disco. Transcend’s general partner Brett Krause said the studio aims to be “a company that is a platform for musicians and creators alike.”
Virility by design in Dead as Disco
Krause went on to say the studio’s debut “combines music, gameplay and tech to easily share moments with virality by design as a key to find and scale audience.”
Dead by Disco is vaguely alluded to be a multiplayer project, by the way the press release notes Cook’s previous history. While light on specifics, Cook noted investors were drawn to a project with modest ambition.
“So many studios want to promise the world and the scopes are always creeping,” he noted. “It was very refreshing for our investors to get something that was so scoped but had a vision for how it would succeed in the long-term.”
Whatever type of game it is, Cook said Dead by Disco will have “a new, spectacular form of gameplay that you love to share with friends.”