Midnight Star tablet shooter raises $5M, set to launch this summer

Halo creator Alex Seropian's current studio Industrial Toys raised $5 million in funding from venture equity firm Accel Partners to developed its free-to-play online tablet shooter, Midnight Star.

VentureBeat reports that Accel — whose previous investees include Angry Birds creator Rovio and Clash of Clans developer Supercell as well as Playfish, Mind Candy and Gameforge — are investing in Industrial toys, led by former Bungie founder Seropian and his co-founder Tim Harris.

"This investment is about the game," said Accel Partners' Vas Natarajan. "They have a vision and focus on quality. They made their first product on a scrappy budget, but it is going to be very polished.

"We have been humbled by our successes in gaming," he added of company Accel. "We are very active from a gaming perspective and saw the opportunity to take advantage of bringing core gamers into mobile gaming. It is an underserved market."

Industrial Toys also noted on its website that it is preparing to end the closed beta over the next few weeks for Midnight Star as full launch approaches. Open beta for Midnight Star is expected to launch worldwide this summer, with the title's prequel comic Midnight Rises set to launch shortly before the game.

"It's a figurative light, and we see it here at Industrial Toys," notes the post, titled "Light at the End of the Tunnel." "A final round of Closed Beta players is being ushered into the game this week, and we will feverishly pursue that growing light."

Sci-fi mobile shooter Midnight Star was announced as Morning Star in late 2012. The game was renamed last fall after developers found another trademark for "Morning Star". Check out our feature on Seropian and his plan to bring a console-quality shooter to the tablet space.

Disclaimer: Accel is also an investor in Vox Media, Polygon's parent company.