The Strategy Behind Aonic’s $70M Acquisition of Mega Fortuna

Turkish Ad Tech startup Mega Fortuna boasts 10 million MAUs for its mobile gaming discovery and loyalty platform. Aonic, a fast-growing video gaming and technology group, has completed a $10M minority investment in Mega Fortuna. The deal includes an option for Aonic to acquire the entire share capital of Mega Fortuna for a valuation of up to $70M. The WHY behind the investment Paul Bowen This acquisition is logical in the highly fragmented Play & Earn (P&E) ecosystem, which is experiencing unprecedented growth. With 27 companies listed in the Incentivized Advertising Database offering gift card reward services, consolidation is inevitable as larger players and their owners absorb smaller companies to expand their P&E portfolios. However, key questions remain, particularly around the total addressable market (TAM) for users interested in earning gift cards by playing games. I anticipate we'll see further consolidation […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 16

Highlights

Mobile Game Leaders: 2024 Analysis

Market Performance Global consumer spending on Mobile Games declined for the second consecutive year, reaching $107 billion in 2023. Mobile game downloads fell for the first time, totaling 88 billion. Emerging Trends Casualization: There's a notable shift towards more Casual Gaming experiences, with Mid-core games facing challenges connecting with their audiences. Brands & IPs: Brands are increasingly engaging in partnerships to attract new audiences, leveraging well-known intellectual properties to enhance appeal. Regional Developments Chinese gaming companies have significantly expanded their global presence, with China-based publishers capturing a third of global revenue. They've successfully entered markets like Japan & U.S. through quality production and localization efforts. WeChat Minigames Are Crushing It in China Technological Innovations Advancements in cloud gaming and AI integration have been pivotal. Big Studios like Tencent and NetEase are leading with cloud gaming platforms and AI-driven game features, […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 9

Highlights

Grand Games secures $30M Series A

Istanbul-based Turkish Mobile Game Studio, Grand Games raises $30M Series A to build genre-defining mobile games. Grand Games, the trailblazing gaming studio behind the widely loved Magic Sort mobile game, has raised a $30M Series A round marking its arrival as the latest up-and-coming studio to emerge from Istanbul, the gaming powerhouse that brought forth Dream Games and Peak Games. Balderton led the round with participation from existing investors Bek Ventures (formerly known as Earlybird Digital East), Laton Ventures and angel investor Mert Gür. Suranga Chandratillake - General Partner, Balderton 👇🏻 Istanbul is producing some of the world’s finest gaming studios and within that ecosystem the founders of Grand Games stood out with their vision to create world-class genre-defining casual games that players love to play. The speed with which they have built a brilliant team culture and achieved success with their […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 9

Highlights

DoubleU Games Acquires Turkish Studio Paxie Games

DoubleU Games Acquires Turkish Studio Paxie Games in a Deal Valued at Up to $67 MillionStrategic Entry into the Fast-Growing Merge-2 Puzzle Market South Korean mobile gaming giant DoubleU Games has agreed to acquire Paxie Games, a leading Turkish gaming studio renowned for its hit title Merge Studio: Fashion Makeover. This strategic acquisition, valued at up to $67 million, marks DoubleU Games’ entry into the high-growth Merge-2 puzzle genre and strengthens its global portfolio. Under the agreement, DoubleU Games will acquire a 60% stake in Paxie Games for $27 million at closing, with the remaining 40% to be purchased over three years, contingent on achieving financial performance milestones. The transaction, financed through treasury shares and cash, will close in Q1 2025. Founded in 2021 by Direnç Çelik, Hüseyin Anıl Özmen, Refik Anıl Bulut, and Sarenur Başel, Paxie Games has achieved […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 26

Journal

Apple: Most-downloaded Games of 2024

As 2024 ends, Apple has revealed the most downloaded games and apps in the U.S. You can find the year-end charts on the App Store’s Today tab for iPhone and iPad. These charts highlight the top Apple Arcade games and the most popular free and paid apps and games. This list follows the 2024 App Store Awards announced last week. It’s interesting to see a mix of new games and long-time favorites, like Monopoly Go, Roblox, Minecraft, Royal Match, Subway Surfers, Stardew Valley, and Among Us. Top Apple Arcade Games NBA 2K24 Arcade EditionSnake.io+Hello Kitty Island AdventureSneaky SasquatchBloons TD 6+Sonic Dream TeamNFL Retro Bowl ’25Disney Dreamlight ValleyCooking Mama: Cuisine!Solitaire by MobilityWare+ Top Free iPhone Games Block Blast！Monopoly Go!RobloxCall of Duty: Warzone MobileTownshipLast War:SurvivalRoyal MatchBrawl StarsSubway SurfersMy Perfect Hotel Top Paid iPhone Games Minecraft: Play with FriendsHeads Up!Geometry DashPapa’s Freezeria To […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 18

Highlights

Agave Games, Creator of Find the Cat, secures $18M

A Turkish startup, Agave Games, known for its hit mobile game Find the Cat, has raised $18 million in Series A funding. The game, inspired by Where’s Wally-style puzzles, has players search for hidden cats in increasingly complex drawings. The funds will help Agave grow its team and develop at least two new games within the next year. The casual mobile gaming market, including puzzle and farm-building games, remains highly profitable. Find the Cat has been a massive success, surpassing 10 million downloads just three months after its August release, with revenues of $10 million on Android alone, according to SensorTower. Investors see it as “the next Tripledot,” a successful casual game studio. The funding round was co-led by Felix Capital and Balderton Capital, with participation from E2VC. All three firms were early investors, with Balderton also leading Agave’s seed […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 17

Highlights

AONIC AB Receives €152M Investment

The Games Group includes nDreams, TutoToons, Red Games, Exmox, Gravite, and more. Swedish gaming group AONIC has secured €152 million in funding to drive mergers and acquisitions and to bolster ongoing projects across its studios. European investment firm Metric Capital Partners contributed €100 Million to the funding round, while AONIC's majority shareholder, Active Ownership, added €52 Million by converting an existing shareholder loan into equity. Advisory support for the transaction was provided by UBS and DLA Piper for AONIC and Active Ownership, while Metric was advised by Dechert, 8Advisory, and Grant Thornton. Expanding games portfolio Since its establishment in 2021, AONIC has acquired a range of companies involved in development, publishing, and gaming services. Its portfolio includes VR developer nDreams, user acquisition platform Exmox, ad monetization tools provider Gravite, and mobile gaming studios Red Games Co and TutoToons. Other notable […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 16

Journal

Multiplayer Mini-games on Playables by YouTube

Available for just 2 titles now. YouTube expands how you can interact with games on its free in-app platform, Playables. They announced that users can now try out a multi-player function that allows them to game with other players in real time. However, that doesn't extend to YouTube Playables' entire 100-plus catalogue of titles. "We’re beginning to test a new multiplayer feature for a few select games on YouTube Playables. Multiplayer on Playables lets you play games in real-time with other users," YouTube said in a release. "We're just getting started testing out new features for YouTube Playables with more to come in the future." Now, multiplayer is available on two games, Ludo Club and Magic Tiles 3, on both desktop and mobile devices. They first announced Playables in September 2023 and it was originally available to select participants before expanding to all […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 10

Highlights

Mobile Game Leaders: November 2024

Helloii! Welcome to the November version of Mobile Game Leaders. To compare the data with the previous month, check our October Report. Data source: AppMagic Global Leaderboard: Game Publishers Something Major? Pokémon TCG Pocket is dominating! We're talking about 140M$ IAP & 26M Downloads in November. Just started on October 29th, crazy... Hypercasual Studio Rankings Out of 171,535 Creatives on iOS Top GEOs by Impression U.S: 26% Japan: 6% U.K: 5% S.Korea: 5% Brazil: 5% France: 4% Canada: 4% Turkey: 3% Saudi Arabia: 3% Top Ad Networks by Impression AppLovin: 35% Facebook: 19% Unity: 11% YouTube: 7% Mintegral: 7% Tiktok: 4% Out of 351,705 Creatives on Android Top GEOs by Impression India: 11% U.S: 7% Brazil: 6% Mexico: 6% Turkey: 5% S.Korea: 5% Indonesia: 5% Ukraine: 4% Top Ad Networks by Impression AppLovin: 37% YouTube: 17% Facebook: 17% AdMob: 9% Mintegral: 7% […]

Ömer Yakabagi December 5

Highlights

AppLovin’s Adjust Faces Layoffs

Adjust Faces Layoffs Amid Leadership Changes Adjust just laid off 40% of its workforce. Adjust, the mobile app measurement and marketing firm acquired by AppLovin in April 2021, is undergoing significant changes, including staff layoffs and leadership restructuring. Adjust laid off 40% of its workforce, while AppLovin is reporting record profits. Why? Consolidation rocks. » AppLovin Monopoly Layoff Reports Surface Reports of layoffs at Adjust have surfaced across social media, although specific details regarding the number of employees or departments affected remain unclear. A WARN notice filed in California on November 13th indicated that AppLovin plans to lay off 120 employees. Additional filings suggest earlier layoffs, including 58 employees in October, 65 cuts in early October, and 61 layoffs in August. It is uncertain whether these layoffs are part of the same restructuring effort or separate rounds of job reductions. […]

Ömer Yakabagi November 25

Highlights

AppLovin Empire: Monopoly in Mobile Gaming?

Everyone is talking about Applovin. They have been reshaping Mobile Gaming, building an ecosystem that covers everything. It's become a one-stop shop spanning Ad Tech, UA, CTV, Monetization, Creatives, and even its own Games! Alright - Let's start with the fun part - NASDAQ! +625% since Jan. YES, your 100K would have been 625K in a year. How? Special thanks to Brian Truman for putting his 2 cents out here: Since ATT, on iOS Meta has had trouble with attribution. Yes, APP has a great team and killer ML chops. Their prediction algorithms are remarkable. But what makes APP truly the best is winning the attribution game. They have benefited tremendously from Apple’s shift toward privacy and SKAN.When serving an ad that they created via their own SDK they are collecting strong data points that are passed to the MMP […]

Ömer Yakabagi November 25

Journal

Game District Acquires a Majority Stake in Gleam Games

Game District, a game studio based in Southeast Asia, has taken a majority stake in Gleam Games, a Turkish company recognized for its puzzle game EverBlast. Southeast Asia-based Game District, with over 2 billion downloads, has acquired a majority stake in Gleam Games, one of the fastest-growing local players in the mobile gaming industry. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Gleam Games, founded by Eser Yoğurtcu, Berkay Bekil, and Furkan Bekil and recognized as one of the fastest-growing startups in the casual gaming industry, completed an investment round led by IstCapital in April 2023. Investors such as Fatih İşbecer, Fırat İşbecer, Ludus VC, and Tera Portföy also participated in the round, and the total investment of the company, which received an investment of 1 million dollars, reached 2 million dollars. “This acquisition is a big step towards our mission to become […]

Ömer Yakabagi November 19

Ömer Yakabagi

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