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Eleventh Hour Games

Independent ARPG studio developing Last Epoch

Overview

Eleventh Hour Games is an independent, fully remote game studio that develops ARPGs, with Last Epoch as its flagship title. The game combines time travel, dungeon crawling, deep character customization, and a robust loot and crafting system. It uses a buy-to-play model funded by cosmetic microtransactions to avoid pay-to-win dynamics. The game offers 15 mastery classes, 120+ skill trees, and a dual faction system (Merchant's Guild for player trading and Circle of Fortune for better drops), plus seasonal content that resets and expands the gameplay each season. The company started as a grassroots project after a successful 2018 Kickstarter and operated with a small, passionate team assembled via Reddit. In 2025 Krafton acquired 100% of Eleventh Hour Games' shares for $96 million, while permitting full leadership and creative autonomy, with the aim of expanding its global player base, enhancing live-service capabilities, and extending to consoles.

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About Eleventh Hour Games

Simplify's Rating
Why Eleventh Hour Games is rated
B-
Rated B on Competitive Edge
Rated B on Growth Potential
Rated C on Differentiation

Industries

Consumer SoftwareEntertainmentGaming

Company Size

51-200

Company Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Boerne, TX

Founded

2017

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What believers are saying

  • Season 5 launched October 2, 2026 with Morditas, new skills, and items.
  • Krafton funds console expansion, live services, and global publishing after July 2025 acquisition.
  • Steam player spikes around Season 5 show return potential despite 2026 review softness.

What critics are saying

  • Steam reviews dropped to 58.9% in October 2026, signaling franchise fatigue.
  • Last Epoch depends on one game; a weak 2027 season kills growth.
  • Blizzard’s Diablo V reveal at BlizzCon 2026 intensifies ARPG competition immediately.

What makes Eleventh Hour Games unique

  • Last Epoch’s 120-skill, dual-faction ARPG systems stay unusually deep in 2026.
  • Judd Cobler kept creative autonomy after Krafton’s July 2025 $96 million acquisition.
  • Mike Weicker’s September 2026 promotion preserves veteran leadership built since 2017.

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Funding

Total Funding

N/A

N/A

Industry Average

Funded Over

1 Rounds

Acquisition funding comparison data is currently unavailable. We're working to provide this information soon!
Acquisition Funding Comparison Coming Soon

Company News

Chris Slate
Oct 2nd, 2026
Last Epoch Season 5 brings Frostborn combat to Steam.

Last Epoch Season 5 brings Frostborn combat to Steam. Last Epoch Season 5 is now live on Steam. It adds the Rage of Morditas activity, new bosses, skills and gear, while a 30% discount on the base game runs until 02:00 JST on 9 October 2026. Last Epoch has entered its next live season with a new combat activity and a change in the team leading the game. Season 5, 'Rage of the Frostborn', went live on 2 October 2026. It adds Rage of Morditas, new bosses, skills and equipment for players returning to Eterra. Season five arrives. Eleventh Hour Games launched the update on 2 October 2026, with KRAFTON, Inc. as publisher. The update is tied to Patch 1.5. It changes more than the seasonal cosmetics. Pre-launch coverage pointed to faction changes, new class skills and a server shutdown window before release. Its main addition is Rage of Morditas, a seasonal activity built around Blood Crystals. Players activate the crystals, fight through waves of enemies and collect rewards. Each run gives them choices about the risks they take and the loot they want to pursue. The activity does not use a fixed reward track. Players gather resources and rituals during runs, then use them to shape the type and quality of their rewards. That gives the season a clear build-focused purpose. Players can guide the activity toward equipment and outcomes that fit their preferred playstyle instead of accepting a fully predetermined haul. Japanese and Korean coverage both describe the Blood Crystal system and the enemy-wave structure. The base game is also 30% off on Steam during the launch promotion. A PR Times report lists the discounted price in Japan as 2,730 yen. It says the sale ends at 02:00 JST on 9 October 2026. That gives new players a limited entry window. Existing players receive the seasonal content through the latest Last Epoch update. Morditas sets the test. Season 5 adds Morditas as a new boss encounter. It also adds Pinnacle Morditas as the highest-level challenge. The source material does not give detailed mechanics, recommended levels or a specific reward table for either fight. The confirmed picture is narrower but still useful. Established characters get two new combat goals, with the strongest fight placed at the top of the activity's progression. Three new skills expand the available build options. New Unique and Set items add more room for character planning. The supplied announcement does not name the skills or explain how classes will use them. It would be too early to say that the update favours one archetype or replaces existing endgame builds. That caution matters in an action RPG. New skills and item sets can change how players handle damage, defence and loot targeting. Their real value depends on tuning and on how they interact with the wider build system. Season 5 provides new tools for experimentation, but not the balance data needed to say which combinations will lead the game. A new direction at EHG. Mike Weicker became Game Director of Last Epoch as the new season launched. Korean outlet Nate Sports News identifies Weicker as a cofounder of Eleventh Hour Games. He has worked on the game for more than nine years, starting during its early development in 2017. According to the announcement, Weicker will continue the development approach established by Judd Cobler, the studio's CEO. He will also take responsibility for future development and live operations. His own comments, paraphrased rather than quoted here, stress continuity with the game's core and a closer focus on player feedback and improvement. The change looks like a handover within the team that built Last Epoch, not a break with its previous direction. It puts someone with long-term knowledge of the project in charge of the seasonal structure that now guides much of the game's ongoing development. The leadership update comes while Last Epoch is competing for attention in a crowded action RPG market. Its seasonal model depends on giving players reasons to return. This package links a repeatable reward activity with new bosses and tools for making builds. Its earlier frost report covered a very different frozen RPG project. Last Epoch's release is more concrete: playable seasonal content is now available, rather than a project announcement. What players can judge. The release details are clear. Season 5 launched on 2 October 2026. The Steam discount runs until 02:00 JST on 9 October 2026. The update adds one named seasonal activity, two named boss tiers, three new skills and new Unique and Set items. Mike Weicker now leads the game as Game Director. Several details are still unavailable. The announcement does not say how long the seasonal activity takes, how its rewards are weighted or what changes were made to existing classes. It also does not say whether the new bosses require particular gear. The release includes no independent performance testing, frame-rate measurements or technical comparisons. It cannot be treated as evidence of a specific optimisation result. For players deciding whether to return, the strongest case is practical. Rage of Morditas offers a new loop for farming and shaping rewards. Morditas, Pinnacle Morditas, new skills and new gear give characters clear progression targets. Newcomers have a limited discount window. Japanese sale information lists the price as 2,730 yen and the end time as 02:00 JST on 9 October. The available information does not support promises about the season's long-term balance or endgame depth. Reward customisation is the system to watch. It changes the purpose of repeated runs because players are not only fighting for drops. They are also influencing what those drops can become. This has nothing to do with performance modes or frame-rate targets, none of which have been disclosed here. Season 5 is best understood as a substantial live update with a solid build-crafting hook and a director who knows the project well. It does not prove that every open balance question has been solved.

Gamer Headlines
Sep 19th, 2026
Mike Weicker takes over as Last Epoch Game Director.

Mike Weicker takes over as Last Epoch Game Director. Eleventh Hour Games has named Mike Weicker as Game Director for Last Epoch, stepping in for Judd Cobler, who shifts focus to his CEO duties. Eleventh Hour Games, the studio behind the action RPG Last Epoch, named Mike Weicker as its new Game Director in a Steam Community announcement on September 18, 2026. The change is effective immediately. Weicker steps in for Judd Cobler, who is not leaving the studio and will still help shape the direction of the game. The announcement opens by addressing players as Travelers, and it includes a video so players can hear directly from both Weicker and Cobler. The studio titled the post A New Chapter for Last Epoch, and players can read the full announcement on the game's Steam page. A familiar face steps up. Weicker has been with the game since the start, and the announcement says he wants to build the greatest ARPG ever made. It points to how he talks about design and balance as proof of that goal, and it notes that he is not new to any of this. Weicker has been a regular presence in the game's Discord community. He has also hosted the studio's Friday Dev Q&A stream for more than 200 episodes, week after week. The announcement says he will continue that work in his new role as Game Director. Judd Cobler moves to CEO duties. Judd Cobler is not leaving the studio. He will shift his attention to his CEO duties, but the announcement says he will still be around to help shape where Last Epoch goes next. The video gives players a chance to hear from both leaders about the handover. Cobler's move to CEO duties leaves the game direction to Weicker. Commitment to players unchanged. In the same announcement, the studio said its commitment to players and to open communication about the game is unchanged. It thanked players for their unwavering support and passion for Last Epoch, and it wrote that none of the changes would happen without the community. The team added that it cannot wait to keep creating the greatest ARPG ever together, and it signed off by promising to see players in Eterra. Blizzard revealed Diablo V at BlizzCon 2026, the next entry in the same action RPG genre.

WorthPlaying
Jul 25th, 2025
Krafton Acquires Eleventh Hour Games for $96M

KRAFTON, Inc. has acquired Eleventh Hour Games, the developer of the action RPG "Last Epoch," for $96 million. The acquisition aims to strengthen KRAFTON's position in the global Action RPG market and support EHG's growth, including console development and expanded content. EHG will retain creative autonomy while benefiting from KRAFTON's resources. "Last Epoch" is praised for its innovative systems and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

VentureSquare
Jul 25th, 2025
Krafton Acquires Eleventh Hour Games

Krafton, led by CEO Kim Chang-han, is acquiring 100% of Eleventh Hour Games, the developer of the action RPG "Last Epoch." This acquisition aims to strengthen Krafton's franchise IP and global market presence. Eleventh Hour Games will focus on expanding to console platforms and enhancing seasonal content for long-term growth. Krafton will support with infrastructure, global publishing, and live services, while the existing management will remain. CEO Judd Cobler expressed excitement about joining Krafton.

Gadgets 360
Feb 24th, 2024
Gadgets 360 With Technical Guruji: News of the Week [February 24, 2024]

On the gaming side, Eleventh Hour Games launched Last Epoch on PC.

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