Runic Dynamics secures $33M to launch a physics-as-a-service pipeline for cinematic games

Gaming · 6 min read

Runic's pipeline streams precomputed physics and crowd simulations, allowing studios to author complex sequences in the cloud and pull deterministic outputs back into their scenes. The system supports mixed-resolution playback and edge caching for iterative review.

The funding round, led by Forge Capital, will help scale compute farms, add native engine adapters, and build pipelines for toolchains used in cinematics and VFX. Runic also highlighted their focus on deterministic reproducibility for collaborative teams.

Studios testing the service valued the dramatic reduction in local infrastructure costs and iteration speed, though visual effects supervisors asked for more interactive real-time iteration support. Runic plans to introduce a hybrid local-cloud mode to enable tighter creative loops.