Company launches first game alongside Menlo Ventures-led seed financing

Today Barnyard Games (www.barnyardgames.com), a team of seasoned game developers with a 25-year track record of game development success, announced the company alongside a $3.4M seed financing round led by Menlo Ventures with participation from BetaWorks, Alumni Ventures, Charge VC and key strategic angels including Eden Chen and Nate Mitchell. Barnyard Games is composed of Matthew Armstrong (creator of Borderlands), John Blakely (Sony Online, Zynga), Mark Cieslar (Sony Online, Daybreak Studios), and Christopher Sturr (THQ, Sony Online). Together they will use their storied expertise to create innovative, fun, and high-quality social game experiences starting on the UEFN Platform.

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The next major launch from Barnyard Games is Mega Golf Fun Zone, a nine-hole golf adventure and game zone where players compete in arcade-styled mini-games. Mega Golf Fun Zone marks the original Borderlands’ Director, Matthew Armstrong’s, first dive into the user-generated content (UGC) world. See Mega Golf Fun Zone in action (here) and start to play (here).

Keeping the community at its core, Barnyard Games has created a dedicated Discord server allowing players to engage in a back-and-forth dialogue with the development team to influence, shape, and improve games over time. Players can join the conversation by visiting the Discord channel.

“UEFN is an array of untapped and exciting possibilities; a relatively unexplored landscape that allows us to experiment while also giving players a central role in shaping their virtual worlds,” said Chief Executive Officer, John Blakely. “We’re excited to see how gamers resonate with Barnyard’s fun and quirky style of game-making, and we’ll continue to iterate with our players as we learn more about what delivers uniquely amusing game experiences and cultivates strong social connections.”

Barnyard is the first gaming investment from Menlo Ventures’ Partner Amy Wu, who was hired in June to build the firm’s consumer technology and gaming practice. "The Barnyard team has both a successful track record of building franchises from 0 to 1 and scaling games. That combined with our excitement about the future of UEFN is why we're thrilled to partner with John, Matthew, and the team."

In addition to Mega Golf Fun Zone, Barnyard Games has released four unique UEFN game experiences including Driftboard Gun Game (Island Code: 1468-5105-6162), Launchapalooza (Island Code: 2545-1770-9151), Taco Time (Island Code: 8396-4010-0684), and Volcanic Rails (Island Code: 4453-0668-2549). For more information about Barnyard Games, follow us on Discord, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube. The press kit can be found here.

About Barnyard Games

Barnyard Games, a new breed of AAA game developers, delivers high-quality gaming experiences in the rapidly expanding user-generated content (UGC) market. Headlined by a team of seasoned game professionals with a 25-year track record of game development success, Barnyard Games will push the boundaries using their storied experience to deliver all-new game experiences for leading UGC platforms. Barnyard Games was established in 2023 and is backed with $3.4M in seed financing from Menlo Ventures, BetaWorks, Alumni Ventures, Charge VC, and key strategic angel investors.

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