Web3 game developer Wildcard Alliance recently completed a funding round co-led by Arbitrum Gaming Ventures and Paradigm, totaling $9 million (approximately £7.11 million). $6.5 million has been received so far, with the remaining $2.5 million expected to arrive progressively this summer.
This funding is primarily aimed at supporting creators, streamers, and community participants in the Web3 gaming sector, promoting a "fan-centered" ecosystem development approach.
The core product being developed by Wildcard is a competitive Web3 game named "Wildcard," which integrates real-time strategy, MOBA, and card collection gameplay, currently in the Alpha testing phase and available for live streaming via the Thousands.tv platform. Meanwhile, Thousands Protocol has built a reward system for the game's promotion, focusing on rewarding those actively involved in expanding the community.
Unlike traditional models that rely on large marketing budgets to attract users, Thousands Protocol records streaming activities and referral behaviors on-chain, and automatically allocates growth budgets to individuals who help spread the game, thus allowing fans to directly become contributors and beneficiaries in the Web3 ecosystem.
This mechanism is showing strong results: in May 2025 alone, the platform generated over $800,000 (approximately £632,000) in revenue, with a viewing conversion rate of 77%, and each viewer on average brought $141 in revenue to the platform. Officials believe these figures demonstrate the huge potential of the creator economy in Web3 gaming.
This funding builds on the $46 million Series A funding completed by Wildcard in 2022, bringing its total funding to $55 million (£43.45 million), showing high market recognition of its product and vision evolution over six years.
Wildcard co-founders Paul Bettner and Katy Drake Bettner are also in the spotlight. Paul was the creator of "Words With Friends," which was acquired by Zynga in 2011 for $150 million. They are now attempting to break the traditional marketing and user structure of Web2 games through Wildcard, transforming players into real drivers and collaborators, injecting sustainability and community drive into the Web3 gaming ecosystem.
