Mythical Games Sues Former Executives for Secretly Raising $150M for New Firm

The Web3 gaming studio alleges that the former executives, who departed the firm in November, used knowledge gained from raising funds for Mythical to acquire capital for their new firm, Fenix Games.

AccessTimeIconDec 23, 2022 at 6:20 p.m. UTC
Updated Dec 23, 2022 at 7:52 p.m. UTC
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Cam Thompson is a news reporter at CoinDesk.

Yat Siu
Co-Founder and Executive Chairman
Animoca Brands
Where is Web3 headed? Take a look to the future with this pioneering investor in the metaverse and NFTs.
Yat Siu
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Animoca Brands
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Where is Web3 headed? Take a look to the future with this pioneering investor in the metaverse and NFTs.

Mythical Games has filed a lawsuit against three former executives of the Web3 gaming studio for breaching fiduciary duty while employed at the firm.

According to the case filed Thursday, Senior Vice President Chris Ko, Chief Operating Officer and head of games Matt Nutt and co-founder Rudy Koch, stole Mythical’s plans for raising capital, funneling $150 million into their new firm Fenix Games while still employed by the company.

Last year, Ko, Nutt and Koch were tasked with acquiring investors for Mythical’s venture capital wing, Mythical Ventures. After each separately announced their departure from the firm in November, the executives announced that Fenix Games raised funds from Cypher Capital, a lead investor the executives had previously been working with to obtain capital for Mythical Ventures.

“We believe very strongly in the protection of our intellectual property and corporate assets,” Nate Nesbitt, head of communications at Mythical told CoinDesk. “In this instance, it was necessary to take these steps to rectify this situation and protect the company’s corporate interest, as is our duty to our employees and investors.”

The firm is suing Ko, Nutt and Koch on 10 counts including fraud and breach of contract. In addition, the suit requests that the executives return the stolen funds, and asks for restraint against its use as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

Last year, Mythical raised $150 million in a Series C round led by crypto VC Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). However, last month, the firm let go 10% of its staff, citing the current crypto winter as a catalyst for the layoffs.

Fenix Games did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment by publication time.

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Cam Thompson is a news reporter at CoinDesk.


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Cam Thompson is a news reporter at CoinDesk.