Final Fantasy VII, Tactics vets bag $7M for their mobile studio

Some of the talent behind popular Final Fantasy games are working on a new mobile RPG.

Independent game developer Kobojo has raised $7 million in a Series B round, led by Oxford Capital Partners with participation from Endeavor Vision and Scottih Investment Bank. The Paris-based studio will use the funding to expand its studios and prepare its upcoming free-to-play role-playing mobile game, Zodiac, coming to iOS and PlayStation Vita in 2015. This will let the touch-based RPG developer make moves beyond its casual roots into the $30 billion mobile games business.

Kobojo was founded in 2008 and its development team features talent that worked on some of Square Enix’s most popular role-playing games, including Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics. It manages the popular mobile RPG Mutants: Genetic Gladiators, which has more than 5 million players. The company will use this experience to produce single-player, Japanese-style role-playing game Zodiac and future unannounced titles. Aside from its Paris offices, Kobojo has teams in Kyoto and Tokyo as well as a new development studio in Dundee, Scotland.

“Kobojo has grown beyond being a social-casual developer and is creating world-class, triple-A video game titles with some of the best talent on the planet,” said CEO Mario Rizzo, in a statement. “This crucial round of funding enables us to forge ahead to create absolutely amazing RPG experiences for a massive global audience of gaming customers that grows daily.”