A Big Week For Whenere At GDC
CEO Karen Laur giving a presentation of the Whenere prototype.
It’s no secret that interactive entertainment has been going through some tough times over the last two years, resulting in a great deal of skepticism at this year’s GDC. Investment and publishing funding is scarce, job losses continue across the sector and the prevailing sentiment is that most of the existing “growth drivers” that would lead the industry to success are too crowded.
But this wasn’t our experience. Across a packed week of meetings we found a very receptive audience to our key thesis that linear storytelling enhanced by AI and jet-fueled by a next generation of fan-fiction is a way forward. As we’ve said from the beginning, Whenere is not aimed at a gaming market, nor is it attempting to create something that builds on those foundations. Or, as our advisor Matthew Ball puts it:
"Whenere is not seeking the same player, player hour, or player dollar. Instead it is building - and enabling - an entirely new experience targeting the billions who rarely, if ever, pick-up a controller, but constantly reach for a book, TV series, or film"
This is why we’re happy to report that in such challenging times we met many latent optimists interested to hear about something new. In fact we had an incredible week. So much so that we have two exciting pieces of news to share:
Long Journey Ventures
Not everyone “gets” Whenere when we pitch it because it’s very different from the norm. But Cyan Banister and the team at Long Journey Ventures immediately understood what we’re trying to build, for who, and most importantly why. We’re extremely excited to announce that Long Journey Ventures quickly decided to come on board as a pre-seed investor in Whenere. Long Journey joins our other pre-seed participants Reid Hoffman, Mark Pincus, John Graham and Andy Konwinski and we’re very honored to have them aboard.
EGG
We’re also incredibly honored to have participated in Elbow Grease Games’ inaugural Prototype Mixer. Alongside nine other visionary startups, Karen Laur (CEO of Whenere) presented our first public showing of our prototype. She showed demo videos showing characters in Pride and Prejudice, both working from the script and using the Story Editor to create new story and action, and described how these essential pieces form the basis of a powerful new entertainment medium. The presentation went very well, and we want to especially thank John Graham (CEO of EGG and preseed investor in Whenere) for including us in this new initiative.
What’s Next?
We’re energized, encouraged, and more confident than ever in the path ahead. Thank you to everyone who met with us at GDC and to those who are starting to imagine a new kind of storytelling right alongside us.
