There’s one thing new and shocking from the individuals who introduced us Phrases With Buddies and Fortunate’s Story.
1000’s, a revolutionary Web3 protocol that transforms word-of-mouth advertising right into a common attribution infrastructure – along with sister firm The Wildcard Alliance – at this time introduced a joint $9 million fundraising spherical.
Arbitrum Gaming Ventures and Paradigm co-led the spherical. The McKinney, Texas-based firms, based by co-CEOs Paul and Katy Drake Bettner whose previous work consists of Phrases With Buddies, Fortunate’s Story, and Age of Empires, have secured $6.5 million up to now and anticipate to shut the remaining funding over the following 60 days.
Wildcard is a third-person, 2v2 Collectible Card Motion Recreation (CCAG) that seamlessly blends fast-paced enviornment fight with strategic deck-building. As a champion, you battle in real-time, summoning highly effective creature-companions out of your deck to battle alongside you. Grasp dynamic talents, outplay opponents with skillful motion mechanics, and harness the ability of your summons in an exciting fusion of collectible card technique and third-person motion fight—all set in a stay, interactive enviornment.
This new funding builds on the businesses’ $46 million Collection A raised in 2022, and might be usedto speed up growth of their built-in ecosystem of merchandise, using the Thousandsprotocol and 1000’s.television platform to unlock new channels of creator-centric person acquisitionand assist launch their very own upcoming recreation, Wildcard.
“It’s simple,” mentioned Paul Bettner, co-CEO, in a press release. “Wildcard only succeeds if its creators and community succeed. So we need a better way to reward these incredible contributors who drive immensevalue to the game. Thousands gives us the on-chain ‘rails’ to solve this problem, to record and reward user acquisition and conversion at every step of the funnel.”
The synergy between Wildcard and 1000’s has already demonstrated explosive development.
The 1000’s community recorded over $800,000 in income in Could 2025 alone, with a mean revenue-per-stream of $50,000, common viewer-to-payer conversion of 77%, and a brand new all-time-high income file at $134,000 — metrics that far exceed trade requirements.
The 1000’s community addresses an untapped, trillion-dollar word-of-mouth economic system, by making affect and attribution clear, programmable, and incentive-aligned. The 1000’s community allows creators and communities to earn immediately when their content material drives conversions, whereas IP house owners profit from considerably decrease buyer acquisition prices in comparison with conventional channels.
Wildcard Alliance has been within the works a very long time.
“Thousands is redefining how games and content reach audiences,” mentioned Rick Johanson, founding associate at Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, in a press release. “Their web-native streaming layer – think Twitch meets WalletConnect – allows every connected viewer to become an active participant in an on-chain economy, transforming spectators into engaged users.”
“We believe in this game, and we believe in this team,” mentioned Dave White, analysis associate at Paradigm, in a press release. “Paul, Kate, and team have created one of the most eagerly anticipated games in crypto and we’re very excited for what comes next.”
Since their preliminary funding, each platforms have achieved important milestones. Wildcard was lately accredited for launch on Steam, the place the 100k+ neighborhood at the moment are playtesting Alpha builds of the sport weekly, in preparation for Wildcard’s Early Entry launch later this yr.
These playtests are broadcast on 1000’s.television a number of occasions every week, serving to to exhibit the 1000’s’ community’s capability to maintain engagement and monetization, with a mean income per viewer of $141 {dollars}.
Wildcard Alliance is coming from the makers of Phrases With Buddies and Fortunate’s Story.
“Thousands doesn’t feel like streaming. It’s no longer a one-way street.”, mentioned Payton Kaleiwahea, content material creator and founding father of WolvesDAO, in a press release. “Fans and creators are interacting; you’re not just watching the game. You’re connected to it. You’re inside it. With Thousands, being there matters, and that changes everything.”
The businesses have 30 full-time staff and one other 30 or so contractors.
