Ex-Tencent Games global CTO joins Liquidnitro to scale AI live-ops platform against Keywords and Virtuos
Summary
Liquidnitro Games hired ex-Tencent Games Global CTO Cedric Collomb weeks after a $19.1M Series A, taking total funding to $24.3M
Mandate: scale Geoplay, the studio's agentic AI platform, to compress live-ops timelines for publishers running $25M-$50M live titles
Positions against Keywords, Globant, and Virtuos as an outcome-accountable co-dev partner, not a volume outsourcer
Headcount grew from zero to 140+ in two years, targeting 200+ by fiscal year-end
"What I saw in what Sandeep showed me was really real in terms of taking a live service and really transforming the timelines, compressing the timelines, reducing the operating cost."
01
Collomb's hire exploits Western publisher hesitation on AI that Tencent already bypassed
Collomb was most recently CTO of Tencent Games Global, prior CTO of EA Mobile, with earlier roles at AMD, Kabam, LucasArts, and Sony
He frames Western publishers as held back by AI stigma while Tencent pushed aggressively on the same technology
Liquidnitro's India base sidesteps that stigma and had two years of proprietary AI infrastructure already built when he joined
"Western publishers might have been afraid to develop that kind of technology because of the perceptions and the stigma related to AI. Tencent, my previous company, might have been more open to AI, and I think they are pushing a lot."
02
Geoplay operationalizes the Tencent AI production model at co-dev scale
Proprietary stack has four layers: Geoplay agentic OS, Nitro Forge, Nitro Brain, and Nitro Blocks
Designed as a self-learning loop across first build, launch, live-ops, and regional expansion
Collomb's incoming focus is deeper agentic AI workflow integration inside Geoplay
Rivals scale headcount; Liquidnitro claims its platform scales judgment and decision speed
"Our technology allows us to really have games of different shapes and sizes, with agentic teams working and operating, finding unlocks."
03
Target is declining $25M-$50M live titles, not greenfield AAA
Primary mandate is sizable live games that are stalling and need KPI restoration
Studio takes full pipeline ownership and commits to measurable outcomes, unlike volume outsourcers
Kowdley previously reversed multiple near-abandoned EA projects, the track record Collomb cited for joining
AI depth is publisher-configurable, letting the model onboard AI-cautious clients without friction
"We are engaged with games that are sizable, and we stay focused on the difficult parts of what publishers are trying to solve. We basically translate business intent of large publishers into strategy, execution, and deliver on outcomes."
04
India base is a market-access play, not cost arbitrage
India, MENA, and Southeast Asia are named growth vectors where Liquidnitro claims cultural and operational edge over Western co-dev firms
Positioned as geographic intelligence for publishers chasing the next billion players in high-growth regions
Headcount scaled from zero to 140+ in two years, targeting 200+ by fiscal year-end
"Every publisher wants to extract more value of everything they have. Very often, they're not very efficient at doing it."
Events
Companies
Games
—
Locations
India
COMPILED BY GAMES ATLAS EDITORIAL
RELATED ARTICLES
EXPLORE MORE
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!