First introduced at VivaTech 2024 as Blacknut’s laboratory for exploring new possibilities in cloud gaming, LeLab is evolving into a global experimentation and discovery platform for publishers, developers and emerging creators. With LeLab 2.0, game makers can bring demos, betas and Early Access titles directly to players, gather insights and explore how their games perform across cloud environments and devices.
“ With LeLab, we are opening the door to a new generation of gaming experiences. Publishers and developers can bring their games directly to Blacknut players earlier, from first playable demos to betas and Early Access, while building a real connection with their future audience. It is a place to discover new ideas, share them with the world and help great games reach their full potential.”
— Nabil Laredj, VP New Business, Blacknut
The ambition is to create a direct connection between creators and players at different stages of a game’s development. With LeLab, publishers can run playtests, share playable demos and put early versions of their games directly into the hands of their communities, the press, publishers, investors and other audiences — without the need to manage Steam keys or distribute individual builds. Whether introducing an upcoming title, testing an early version, experimenting with a new experience or gathering feedback ahead of a wider release, LeLab gives publishers a flexible way to get their games played and collect relevant usage data and player feedback, providing valuable insight into how their games are discovered and experienced through the cloud.
LeLab 2.0 builds on Blacknut's global distribution footprint, giving publishers an opportunity to put their games in front of players across more than 65 countries and on a broad range of supported devices. From Smart TVs and streaming devices to mobile and web, LeLab enables creators to explore their games in real-world cloud gaming conditions rather than limiting testing to a single hardware environment.
The program also creates a new discovery space for games that are still taking shape. Demos can give players access to a limited portion or playtime of a game, while Betas and Early Access experiences allow publishers to define their own conditions and development timelines. These formats give players an opportunity to discover what is coming next, while giving creators a new channel through which to build awareness and collect valuable insights.
For Blacknut, this evolution is about more than testing existing games in the cloud. LeLab is designed to help explore what becomes possible when creators start considering cloud gaming as part of the development process itself. As cloud technology continues to evolve, developers can experiment with new approaches to game design, distribution and player interaction, opening the door to experiences that would not necessarily be possible through traditional hardware-based models.
Cloud gaming is not simply about bringing games to the cloud. It opens up new possibilities for how games can be designed, experienced and shared with players. With LeLab, we want to give creators a space to experiment with new ideas, test emerging concepts and explore experiences that can only truly be understood by putting them in the hands of real players. By bringing ideas, experimentation and players closer together, LeLab can help creators learn faster, iterate and discover what cloud gaming can truly bring to the future of gaming. – Thierry Teyssier
This ambition extends beyond established publishers and studios. LeLab 2.0 can also provide a space for independent developers, emerging studios and future game makers, including students and young creators, to experiment with cloud-native concepts and bring their ideas to real players. By connecting experimentation with an existing distribution platform, Blacknut aims to help shorten the distance between an idea, a playable experience and an audience.
With more than 1,000 games and 150+ licensing partnerships, Blacknut has built a global ecosystem connecting game publishers with players through cloud gaming. LeLab 2.0 extends that ecosystem further, creating a dedicated environment where new games can be tested, discovered and experienced while giving their creators meaningful insights into their performance in the cloud.