Polyient Labs, a startup incubator helping blockchain-adjacent businesses succeed, announced it’s investing in one of today’s leading blockchain game development studios, Blockade Games. This investment further solidifies Polyient’s ongoing expansion into the growing blockchain-gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto-art sectors. It also brings NYC-based Blockade into Polyient’s already diverse investment portfolio.
Blockade traces its roots to a series of hugely successful crypto puzzles created by CEO Marguerite deCourcelle. The success of those digitized items inspired her to launch Blockade, enabling other puzzle game creators to showcase their work on Blockade’s Pineapple Arcade platform. In 2018, Blockade began production on Neon District, a gritty, cyberpunk role-playing game where gamers earn characters, gear and parts while fighting to survive in a virtual dystopian urban hellscape. Following a closed-alpha release last year, Neon District season one will be released to the public this summer.
Along the way, Blockade has built a talent pool of artists and developers stretched across four continents as well as state-of-the-art technology stacks to support future projects.
Now, with the help of Polyient, Blockade is ready to help take blockchain gaming and digital collectibles into the mainstream. “As we looked over the evolving blockchain-gaming landscape, Blockade Games stood out in terms of its leadership, technology and momentum,” says Polyient CEO, Brad Robertson. “Blockade shares Polyient’s commitment to blockchain innovation and they are already carving out a significant slice of the growing blockchain gaming ecosystem. We’re excited to support that growth.”
