W4 Games, an Irish COSS (Commercial Open Source Software) startup based on the open source game development technology of the Godot Engine platform, announced today that it has successfully closed a US $8.5 million seed funding investment round led by OSS Capital, the world’s first and only early-stage COSS company investor and platform, and LUX Capital, a leading Silicon Valley VC specialized in emerging science and technology ventures. The funding process was also joined by industry veteran Bob Young, the founder of Red Hat, and Sisu Game Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on games.

The funds will be used to expand W4 Games’ core team and accelerate the development of a suite of products and services for the Godot ecosystem, enabling all developers to create and publish games and applications on all major platforms. The company will present its product roadmap at GDC 2023.

W4 Games will also directly support the Godot project with donations, talent and code contributions.

Juan Linietsky, CEO of W4 Games and co-creator of Godot Engine said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to help Godot and the game development community realize their potential, and to significantly contribute to the Open Source ecosystem. The video game industry has lagged behind the rest of the software industry for a long time in regards to Free and Open Source technology adoption and we want to help change this with a quality offering of services our community and the game industry as a whole can leverage.”