Play Hard Sports Raises $8 Million In Series B Funding

Play Hard Sports, a developer and publisher of online free-to-play sports games including the upcoming Play Hard Football raised $8 million in Series B funds, boosting its total capital raised to $13 million in the past nine months. Valhalla Partners led the round of investment and was joined by TriplePoint Capital and existing investor New Enterprise Associates. As part of the investment, Scott Frederick of Valhalla Partners becomes a member of Play Hard’s Board. Play Hard is currently in development of its first title, Play Hard Football, which is to launch concurrently with the 2009 NFL season, and open for beta within "a few months." The title is to be a Flash-developed, browser-based title where players take the role of a coach/general manager of a football team, competing against other player-owned franchises across the globe. "There is a lot of innovation coming from online entertainment and games companies right now," says Valhalla general partner Scott Frederick. "We are confident that Play Hard Sports’ pioneering ‘freemium’ model will be successful. Add the team of industry veterans, who are responsible for the market’s biggest MMORPGs and sports games, including Madden 05, 06, NFL2K, NBA2K and The Lord of the Rings, and you have an unbeatable combination of strategy and execution."