Dallas-based Psychedelic Games has closed a $3.5 million funding round to develop Golden Tides, a pirate-themed 4v4 multiplayer online battle arena that scraps the genre’s lane-based formula in favor of open-world exploration and ship-to-ship naval combat.

Psychedelic Games Co-founder and CEO Devin Richman [Courtesy photo]

The round, announced in late March, was led by Krafton, the South Korean publisher behind PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, and joined by esports organization FlyQuest and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures.

Golden Tides, as the company describes it, drops two four-player crews into a sprawling world of islands and open sea for 20-to-25-minute matches that play nothing like a traditional MOBA. There are no lanes to defend and no towers to push. Instead, crews chart their own course—hunting buried treasure, fighting bosses, ambushing rivals, and clashing in skillshot-driven ship combat. The game currently features more than 12 playable characters across tank, support, and damage roles.

“The MOBA genre created some of the most beloved competitive games of the past fifteen years, but the formula has grown stale,” Devin Richman, CEO of Psychedelic Games, said in the announcement. “Golden Tides asks what a MOBA looks like when you strip away the constraints and rebuild around freedom, exploration, and the chaos of naval combat.”

Richman and his brother Mason, the company’s COO, founded Psychedelic Games in 2021. The studio has grown to more than 50 developers working remotely around the world, with a presence in Los Angeles and corporate headquarters in Dallas, where the CEO is based. The team includes veterans of League of Legends, Fortnite, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, Call of Duty: Warzone, Smite, and ARK: Survival Evolved, according to the company.

Some of the Psychedelic Games team [Courtesy photo]

Backers built for the long game

Psychedelic Games built its investor roster around strategic partners who each bring operational value, assembling three backers from different corners of the gaming ecosystem.

Psychedelic Games Co-founder and COO Mason Richman [Courtesy photo]

Headquartered in Seoul, Krafton is a well-known video game holding company that brings publishing expertise and a track record with genre-defining games. PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, for example, has reached more than 500 million players worldwide, according to the company.

Los Angeles-based FlyQuest, known for fielding competitive teams across League of Legends and VALORANT, is making its first direct investment in a game studio in a move its CEO framed as a new model for the esports industry.

“We believe the future of esports will be built through teams and developers working together early—starting in development, continuing through launch, and growing alongside the game as it matures,” said Brian Anderson, CEO of FlyQuest, calling the investment a “first-of-its-kind” partnership he hopes “sets a new standard for how esports organizations and game studios collaborate.”

San Francisco-based Arbitrum Gaming Ventures rounds out the trio as a fund focused on backing studios willing to challenge established conventions. Partner Dan Peng said the fund is “proud to champion founders who are driving new advances in gameplay, technology, and the spirit of fun.”

Against an industry backdrop that includes waves of layoffs and funding pullbacks in recent years, the raise is a notable milestone for the young gaming studio.

“Game development is tough, and getting to this point took late nights, hard decisions, and a passionate team that refuses to quit,” Dalex Smith, art director at Psychedelic Games, wrote on LinkedIn, adding that “the game industry has been going through a difficult stretch, with talented people facing layoffs and uncertainty.” Smith called the milestone a reminder that “great teams are still building” and “new ideas are still being funded.”

Golden Tides is currently in development for PC, with plans for broader platform expansion following launch. At the time of this publication, players can sign up for playtest access.

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