An investment bank on Wednesday launched a $35 million fund to finance development of console and PC games in Britain and give investors a chance to join the treasure trail pioneered by cyber heroine Lara Croft. Noble Fund Managers Ltd, the investment arm of UK-based investment bank Noble Group, said the Fund4Games will work as a kind of project-based venture capital fund and back video game development throughout the UK, home of the hugely successful Tomb Raider series starring Lara Croft.

The fund, based in Edinburgh, is intended to provide the financing required by entertainment software developers, while reducing the need to tie up a publisher's funds until the game has been completed and delivered, representatives said here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo conference, the $20 billion video game industry's annual trade show. For investors, the fund offers the prospect of attractive returns from a booming industry with less risk than conventional venture investment, since payouts will be made as each game goes to market, the fund managers said.