Before the COVID-19 pandemic, players logged on to Parsec to play arcade games with friends. Today, workers enter the platform to create new games with colleagues.
“We’re playing a small part in the development of some of our favorite games,” Max Sebela, head of marketing, told Built In.
Developers used Parsec as their work space to develop games, attracted to the streaming startup for its low lag and latency experience. The blur in their personal and professional lives uncovered a new market for the NYC company: In March, the business launched Parsec for Teams, billing itself as a virtual gaming studio, and on Tuesday the company announced it raised $7 million in Series A funding to build out its software.
“[The coronavirus] uncovered a new use case that we were not anticipating and that we suddenly had to react to,” Sebela said.
The company plans to use the funding to build out the features needed for developers to bring the gaming studio home. Parsec engineers are working on improving color rendering, display text, dual screen support, security features and more. In the month since the company launched Parsec for Teams, more than 100 companies have already signed on to the service, including EA, Rainbow Studios, Deep Silver Volition and more.
“A typical remote desktop solution wouldn’t necessarily be able to deliver like 60 frames per second perfect streams of each of those screens at the same time,” Sebela said. “We’re working to do that.”
Long-term, Sebela said Parsec could be used as a virtual event space, and power some of the video game festivals that have been canceled over COVID-19. The company also believes developers could use the startup as a powerful testing environment, a process that traditionally requires many people in the same room simultaneously trying to break a game.
Right now, however, Sebela feels thankful Parsec has helped him stay connected to friends in Chicago and New York, while he shelters in place in Wisconsin. Since March, he said the platform has experienced a more than 100 percent increase in player use.
“When it comes to trying to keep a regular game night going, or some kind of social normalcy, in a small way, we’re helping people,” Sabela said. “They connect with their friends and the people they’re away from for just this simple experience.”
