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The Wildcard Alliance, a new gaming studio focused on interactive entertainment, has raised $46 million in Series A funding round.

The deal was led by Paradigm, with support from Griffin Gaming Partners, Polygon, and Sabrina Hahn.  

 The project’s new game is the brainchild of Paul Bettner, veteran video game developer renowned for producing games including Age of Empires, early VR hit Lucky’s Tale and mobile-based app game Words with Friends, together with his brother David. The fundraise marks Bettner’s debut in the world of web3 gaming.

Wildcard is set to launch on Polygon as a “hybrid multiplayer online battle arena” game including a collectible card game where players compete live in front of spectators who can interact with play.

“Despite this opportunity, the current focus of web3 game development tends to be on finance over fun, economy over engagement, currency over community,” said Bettner. “With Wildcard, we’re focused on fun first, building a next-generation ‘spectator sport’ to welcome the entire community of competitors, collectors, sponsors, and fans to play together.”

Wildcard Alliance is a subsidiary of independent game studio Playful Studios based in Texas.

Paradigm, which has made investments in influential web3 companies like Coinbase, FTX, and OpenSea, believes that “interactive entertainment will be a primary driver of growth in web3,” according to a statement.

The venture is the latest example of veterans of the traditional gaming sector pushing into web3. Last year, Justin Kan, the co-founder of the video game livestreaming service Twitch, and other gaming industry entrepreneurs launched a Solana-based marketplace designed for gaming non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Fractal.

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