Future Trash announced today that it has raised $5 million in its seed round of funding. It plans to put the money towards developing and launching its original IP, FOAD, on the UEFN platform within Fortnite. FOAD centers around various party games featuring anthropomorphic explosive devices, “aesthetically inspired by 90’s rebel teenage nostalgia,” according to the company’s founders. TIRTA and General Catalyst led the round, which is aimed at launching the IP as a UGC-native franchise.
The studio has made several UGC games already, including Bomb Tycoon and Boom: Boss Fight, and these games have accumulated 20 million unique players and 1 billion minutes of playtime. According to Future Trash, it plans to make 15 games for UEFN over the next year across multiple genres and game types popular with Fortnite’s audience. The developer also plans to expand FOAD’s community on social media, including Discord, YouTube, and TikTok.
Ben Feder, TIRTA managing partner, said in a statement, “Future Trash is a passionate creative development team that has significantly impacted the UEFN ecosystem. Using UEFN’s sophisticated development tools to create and distribute content in weeks or months rather than years, Future Trash iterates rapidly on creative ideas to build new entertainment franchises for gamers around the world.”
Kevin Marciano, Future Trash CEO, spoke with GamesBeat about what it’s like creating an IP for a UGC platform as opposed to a standalone title: “Creating a standalone game is really a blank canvas, whereas there are some limitations in UGC, but we believe limitations foster creativity. For us, striking the perfect balance between players’ expectations and adding our own innovative twist is the key. We learned to craft experiences that are familiar to the audience but reinforce our IP constantly in new and refreshing ways.”
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Marciano added, “UGC platforms provide the infrastructure and tools that typically make game development long and expensive… As a developer, it allows you to focus on what matters most, the content. The biggest challenge of building original IP in Fortnite is educating the audience that this is a unique world within Fortnite. The majority of the current player base is still there for traditional Fortnite, but we are excited to be a leading part of the evolution of the platform and its players to enjoy diverse experiences.”
