It has been an eventful year for gaming industry executive Pany Haritatos.

Last month, he successfully closed an oversubscribed $28 million Series A funding round for his new game studio startup, Series Entertainment, as confirmed by both an SEC document and the company itself. Notable investors include Netflix and Dell Technologies Capital, along with follow-on investments from seed backers such as Andreessen Horowitz, BITKRAFT, and F4 Fund. This funding follows a robust $7.9 million seed round led by a16z just a year prior.

In addition to securing funding, Haritatos has already made an acquisition, purchasing the mobile game studio Pixelberry in July, known for its interactive fiction game, *Choices: Stories You Play*.

Series, also referred to as Series AI, aims to revolutionize video game development using large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. The company aspires to be the next Unity, providing powerful tools for game developers. They have developed the Rho Engine, which leverages generative AI to expedite the game development process.

While some may remain skeptical about the transformative potential of LLMs, the gaming sector is increasingly embracing AI technologies. Rather than having to design every aspect of a game—from characters to elixirs—developers can utilize AI to enhance interactivity. Non-player characters (NPCs) can evolve into rich, fully realized characters capable of engaging players in dynamic interactions, and players may enjoy extensive customization options.

To achieve these advancements, developers require AI-enhanced game engines. Series positions Rho as the first AI-native, multimodal, full-stack game creation platform, handling both visuals and audio. Although competitors like Modl.ai Engine and Unity’s Muse Chat exist, Series claims Rho occupies a unique space. While Modl.ai focuses on tasks like bug detection and troubleshooting, and Muse Chat serves as an AI assistant, Rho is designed for comprehensive game development.

A16z investors Joshua Lu and Andrew Chen were so enthusiastic about their seed investment in Series that they wrote a blog post describing the company as "a game studio and technology company that is reinventing the future of game development with generative AI."

A significant part of the excitement surrounding Series stems from Haritatos himself, who has extensive experience in game development and a talent for being at the forefront of industry trends. In the late 1990s, when Adobe's Flash player emerged, he established his first studio focused on browser games, which he later sold to Zynga. He subsequently founded a mobile game studio that was acquired by Kongregate, a platform that gained popularity during the Flash games era. Haritatos later became CEO of Kongregate and eventually sold the company to Swedish gaming studio MTG. In 2020, he joined Snap to lead its games group, focusing on augmented reality and embedded games.

His background has attracted significant names in the gaming investment space. In addition to support from a16z’s game-focused fund, Series has gained backing from BITKRAFT, founded by eSports pioneer Jens Hilgers, who co-founded ESL and G2 Esports, and F4 Fund, led by David Kaye and Joakim Achrén, both of whom have a history of building and selling game studios.

Series has expanded rapidly, growing from 17 employees at the start of 2024 to over 100 today, with team members hailing from companies such as Zynga, Machine Zone, Google, and Snap.

Although Haritatos declined an interview request following the news of the Series A funding, he provided an emailed statement expressing gratitude to his investors and excitement about raising $28 million during a challenging funding climate.

According to Pitchbook, the Series A funding represents about 15% of the company, suggesting a post-money valuation of $190 million, although the company did not comment on the accuracy of that figure.