Media company Legendary Entertainment has invested millions into YouTuber-focused startup 3BlackDot in a new partnership deal that will see the pair collaborating on various entertainment ventures, including a "feature film" that's currently in development.
The game industry has a notable interest in this deal, since 3BlackDot's stable of YouTubers are predominantly concerned with playing and promoting video games.
The startup also considers game publishing part of its remit (it published the horror game Dead Realm [pictured] on Steam Early Access last year) and many of its "influencers" have dabbled in game production, though they haven't always clearly disclosed that to their (often very large) audiences.
Legendary's investment in the startup (amount unspecified beyond "multi-million") is well in line with its previous forays into the game industry, which include inking a deal to produce a Myst TV show and buying up video game and "geek culture" media outlets like Geek & Sundry.
However, it's worth noting that Legendary was bought by Chinese multinational Dalian Wanda Group earlier this month in a roughly $3.5 billion deal. It's unclear what influence, if any, that deal had on this partnership with 3BlackDot.
Going forward, 3BlackDot plans to use Legendary channels like Geek & Sundry to promote its products, including various merchandise and video games it aims to release later this year.