What happens when you strip a MOBA down to its most exciting moments and add naval warfare, open-world exploration, and the freedom to win your way? 

Golden Tides

Two crews. Four pirates each. No lanes. No towers. No 45-minute slogs.

A sprawling world of mysterious islands and open sea, and one goal: claim the treasure, claim the victory. Engage in strategic combat on land, then clash ship-to-ship in skillshot-driven naval warfare. Matches last 20-25 minutes, and the meta is whatever your crew makes it: hunt bosses, ambush rivals, or sneak past everyone with an invisibility potion.

Where traditional MOBAs lock players into rigid lane structures and lengthy matches, Golden Tides offers dynamic 20-25 minute bouts where crews chart their own course across land and sea to find–and fight over–buried treasure. With a growing roster of 12+ characters across tank, support, and damage roles, aspiring pirates can shoot, swipe, bite, spellcast, and even cook their way through enemy lines. By combining MOBA movement and combat elements with open-world exploration and ship-to-ship naval warfare, Golden Tides delivers a fresh take on a genre whose core structure has remained largely unchanged … until now.

Psychedelic Games announced that they have secured the booty — successfully closing a $3.5M funding round in support of their flagship game Golden Tides.

Led by seaworthy investors KRAFTON / PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, the South Korean game publisher; FlyQuest, the North American esports organization; and Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, a strategic venture capital initiative funded by the Arbitrum ecosystem, this round puts wind in Psychedelic Games’ sails, enabling the continued development and the upcoming launch of Golden Tides.

"The MOBA genre created some of the most beloved competitive games of the past fifteen years, but the formula has grown stale," said Devin Richman, CEO at Psychedelic Games. "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. This funding lets us bring that vision to the players, and we're grateful for partners who see the same opportunity we do."

The Psychedelic Games team brings together developers who have spent years inside some of the industry’s most demanding live game environments, including League of Legends, Smite, Fortnite, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, Call of Duty: Warzone, and ARK: Survival Evolved. They’ve launched games, supported competitive communities, navigated balance chaos, and learned firsthand which decisions age well and which ones sink a project. Golden Tides is the game they’ve crafted after pondering those lessons.

Particularly eager pirates looking to get their hands (and hooks) on some treasure before then are invited to sign up for an exclusive Golden Tides playtest.

KRAFTON / PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS's investment brings publishing expertise and a track record of identifying games that define new categories. The company's portfolio includes PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS, which pioneered the battle royale genre and has reached over 500 million players worldwide.

“Working with KRAFTON / PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS on this deal has been incredible,” said Mason Richman, COO of Psychedelic Games. “Their unwavering focus on creating fun, great games above everything else made the partnership feel natural from day one.” 

This investment marks FlyQuest's first direct investment in a game studio — a strategic expansion for an organization known for fielding championship-caliber teams across League of Legends, VALORANT, and other major esports titles. The partnership extends beyond capital into long-term collaboration, with FlyQuest bringing its competitive expertise and creator network to support Golden Tides through launch and beyond.

"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. “Long-term partnerships like this are essential to creating sustainable competitive ecosystems and driving the industry’s long-term success. We love the competitive potential of Golden Tides and our hope is that this first-of-its-kind investment sets a new standard for how esports organizations and game studios collaborate." 

Arbitrum Gaming Ventures' involvement reflects a shared philosophy: backing innovation over incumbency. As a new type of investor in the gaming space, AGV seeks out teams willing to challenge established conventions rather than iterate on proven formulas.

"We are thrilled to support a team pushing the boundaries of a fresh and compelling style of gameplay," said Dan Peng, Partner at Arbitrum Gaming Ventures. "Golden Tides brings together fast-paced MOBA-inspired controls with a deep and vibrant world for players to explore and plunder. The Arbitrum Gaming Ventures team is proud to champion founders who are driving new advances in gameplay, technology, and the spirit of fun."

Key Features:

• A MOBA With More: The deep, evolving, skill-based gameplay found in the greatest MOBAs, paired with mechanics that actually move the genre forward — like our open world gameplay, ship-to-ship combat, and verticality.
• Every Match Is Unique - Really: Rigid metas can walk the plank. Golden Tides’ unique match structure, open world gameplay, and multi-team PvPvE dynamic means your crew can win on your terms — and every adventure brings new twists and turns.
• Sail the High (Fantasy) Seas: Golden Tides brings together the universal charm of pirates and the imaginative scope of fantasy storytelling to imagine a world filled with drama, adventure and personality (and dragons, and wizards, and magic, and plundering!). We’re starting with a game — but we’ve got big dreams for a big world.
• A Dynamic, Living World: Each match takes place in a massive open world with dynamic events, taking the endless replayability of MOBAs to a ludicrous level — plus, with constant updates, special events, and more game modes in the works, there’s always something new happening in Golden Tides.
• Own Your Treasure - Forever: Players who want the freedom to own and trade the content they unlock have the option to do so — without the sketchy, greedy hijinks some web3 projects have been notorious for.
• The Adventure MOBA: Team up with three of yer hearties, choose from a growing cast of pirates with unique playstyles and personalities, and set sail in 20-25 minute matches in search of the ultimate treasure. Raid and ransack a robust range of rapscallions, level up your heroes, and choose your moment to do battle with enemy crews — on land or at sea. Only the cleverest crew will survive to claim the final treasure. The rest…will tell no tales.

Golden Tides is currently in development for PC (Steam), with plans for broader platform expansion following the game’s upcoming launch.