Former IMG Global Head of Esports TOBIAS SHERMAN is launching a new video game development shop with two of his former coworkers and backing from MGM Resorts. The new company, Foundry IV, primarily will be a studio devoted to creating new games explicitly designed as esports. Sherman said Foundry IV will seek to distinguish itself as a more nimble platform for game makers. “So many of these guys, they’ve got great ideas but these companies move like cruise ships. We’re a speed boat,” Sherman said. The timeline for getting a new game to market would be two to three years, he said. They will focus on making games that appeal to sponsors, he said, and they intend to grant equity in the game’s intellectual property to teams that compete in leagues built around their game. “We care about esports first,” Sherman said. “We’re not some offshoot of a publisher that’s told, ‘go do something in esports.’" Sherman and three colleagues left WME-IMG in July, and two of those colleagues will join him at Foundry IV -- LILIA RUSSO and SIMON ABITOL, who will be CTO. MGM Senior VP/Entertainment RICK ARPIN called esports an important strategic initiative. “Through our partnership with Foundry IV, we will develop additional esports ventures that solidify our position in the esports community,” Arpin said. The company’s advisory board includes Paramount Pictures Senior VP & Head of New Media TOM HAYES, producer BRIAN WITTEN and Hollywood producer and TV personality CHRIS NUNEZ.
