The money will be used to expand its international reach and development studio.

Ultizen's 150-strong operation in Shanghai provides a variety of outsourcing services including design, porting, programming and testing, art and sound FX, localisation and asset creation to North American, European and Japanese developers.

The company is currently designing its first Xbox 360 game and plans to offer a mobile games development service next year.

Interestingly from a mobile perspective, casual games are an interest for the studio - it already operates its own casual game platform, U-Pal, used on some Chinese websites.

The investment round was led by Dragonvest Partners - its  co-founder and co-managing general partner Jesse Parker will join Ultizen’s board of directors to assist the company in launching its service across China.

Ultizen Games CEO Lan Haiwen said: "Dragonvest Partners is not simply an investor—it’s a partner that recognises our intrinsic value to the game development ecosystem. We look forward to their continued assistance in developing new directions and new opportunities for Ultizen Games."