Magic Sort Analysis: Grand Games’ New Treasure

Here’s what’s covered in this analysis article on Magic Sort: The Rise of Magic Sort: Financial Success and Funding Gameplay and Monetization: Relaxation Meets Revenue User Acquisition Challenges Visual Appeal and Player Experience Grand Games: A Unique Player in Casual Gaming Future Opportunities: LiveOps, Progression, and Global Expansion Magic Sort: Impressive Earnings, But Can It Scale Globally? The buzz surrounding Magic Sort has been undeniable. With the game already raking in impressive daily revenues between $80K to $100K and securing $30 million in Series A funding, things are looking bright for the puzzle game. However, there’s an interesting question lingering: Can the game sustain this momentum with its current user acquisition (UA) strategy? And more importantly, is it really set for scaling on a global level? Magic Sort’s initial performance, especially in markets like Türkiye, has been nothing short of […]

Aylin YAZICI January 16

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Huuuge Games Lays Off 122 Employees

Poland office faces 89 layoffs as studios in the Netherlands and Finland shut down. Huuuge Games Restructures, Laying Off Nearly a Third of Its Workforce Huuuge Games is downsizing its global workforce by 29%, letting go of 122 employees as it shifts focus back to social casino titles. The layoffs include 89 positions in its Poland office, representing 21% of that branch's headcount. The company is also closing its Netherlands and Finland studios, known as 'Huuuge Pods,' and halting new game development. Additionally, funding for Bananaz Studios will cease, leading to a $3.5 million write-down. Huuuge expects the restructuring to be completed by February 2025, asserting it will not negatively affect revenue. Despite an 18.2% year-over-year decline in net income to $15.3 million in Q3 2024, the company remains profitable, holding $125 million in cash reserves and exploring potential mergers […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 16

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Ex-King and Ex-Apple Team Raise $9 Million Seed Round for Metica to Revolutionize Gaming Growth with AI-Powered Personalization and Monetization

Metica, a cutting-edge technology company building AI-driven customer engagement and personalization solutions for the gaming industry, has announced the successful raise of $9 million seed round. The round was led by top-tier venture capital firms Play Ventures, 13books, and Firstminute Capital, with participation from renowned angel investors including Riccardo Zacconi, founder and ex-CEO of King (makers of Candy Crush), Caro Krenzer, CEO of Trailmix, Klaas Kersting, CEO of Phoenix Games, Michail Katkoff, Founder of Deconstructor of Fun, Roland Rudd, Chairman of FGS Global, Nigel Morris, former CEO of Dentsu, and René Rechtman, founder of Moonbug Entertainment. Metica is on a mission to help games grow faster by uniting user acquisition (UA), in-game monetization, and AI-driven personalization. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Phil Mohr and Puli Liyanagama, Metica marks their third successful venture together. Their previous startups include Comufy, acquired by King, […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 16

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Former Space Ape Exec Simon Hade launches NextBeat

The creators of Space Ape Games’ popular music rhythm game Beatstar have spun the title out into a dedicated music-gaming company called NEXTBEAT. The move follows Supercell‘s full acquisition of Space Ape Games in November 2024 – a deal which is expected to close in the spring. Beatstar was launched globally in 2021 after five years of development within Space Ape Games by a team that included Simon Hade as COO and co-founder of the studio, and Olly Barnes, who led music strategy and rights acquisition. Barnes is the co-founder of Voisey, a music-making app that Snapchat acquired for $70 million in 2020. Snapchat later offloaded Voisey in 2022 as part of Snap Inc.’s wide-scale restructuring. Beatstar is a free-to-play mobile game often compared to Guitar Hero. It features over 850 global music hits secured through music licensing deals with major labels, indie publishers, and dozens of rightsholders. In September 2022, MBW reported that Beatstar shared USD $16 million of its revenue with music labels and […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 16

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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

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Mobile Gaming Today: 42

Hey Fam ☃️ Hope you had a healthy, nice start to 2024! Let’s start with my favorite NY post on LinkedIn :)) Sweet work by Supercell Let’s start with a big THANK YOU. Already reached 6.4K followers on LinkedIn 🕺 Super grateful for all the love and support. Thank you, Gaming People! Game of the Week Magic Sort by Grand Games Magic Sort is an innovative sort puzzler that tries to disrupt the whole Sort genre, driven mainly by Ad Revenue. It applies the typical Royal match high production formula, together with some innovation regarding the core gameplay, such as fail state monetization. This is all validated by the 30M$ raise. Will be on Two & Half Gamers’ podcast this week. Mobile Marketing » How to Create Playables 🎨 Importance of Mixing Creatives in Meta 🏆 2024 Top Hypercasual Mobile […]

Gamigion January 13

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Jobs in Mobile Gaming: 27

🎨 900 Jobs in Mobile Gaming » 3-10 January 👉🏻 Data from Gamigion.com/jobs 🕺🏻 Dev 💻 Art 🎨 Product 📱 Marketing 🎯 Business 💰 Data 📈 QA ⚒️ 💻 Dev Client Engineer Scopely 🇨🇳 Senior Software Engineer Scopely 🇪🇸 Senior Engineer - Monopoly GO! Scopely 🇪🇸 Senior Fullstack Engineer - LiveOps Automation Team Scopely 🇪🇸 Game Client Programmer, Clash Royale Supercell 🇨🇳 Senior Game Programmer, Squad Busters Supercell 🇫🇮 Software Engineer Zynga 🇨🇦 Software Engineer 2 Zynga 🇮🇳 Senior Software Engineer 1 Zynga 🇮🇳 Senior Software Engineer Zynga 🇮🇳 Software Engineer (Live-ops) - Gram Games Zynga 🇬🇧 Senior Software Developer - Small Giant Games Zynga 🇫🇮 Principal Software Engineer - Zynga 🇨🇦 Senior Performance Engineer - Echtra Games Zynga 🇺🇸 Senior Game Developer - Gram Games Zynga 🇹🇷 Unity Developer Playtika 🇵🇱 Technical Account Manager Playtika 🇵🇱 Senior C# Developer […]

Gamigion January 10

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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

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Royal Kingdom’s Big Gamble: Is It the Next Match-3 King?

Here’s what’s covered in this deep analysis article on Royal Kingdom; Royal Kingdom’s Launch & Early Challenges Core Mechanics & Features Financials & Monetization Strategies Royal Kingdom vs. Royal Match Retention & Player Engagement Tactics The Future of Royal Kingdom User Acquisition & Marketing Total Downloads & Revenue Royal Kingdom’s Big Gamble: Can It Usurp the Throne? The mobile gaming landscape is more competitive than ever, with developers constantly testing new waters. Enter Royal Kingdom, a bold new entry in the match-3 puzzle space. But is it poised to take over the crown from the mighty Royal Match? You’ll find an intriguing combination of mechanics that separate it from the usual suspects like Candy Crush and Royal Match. This game is much more than just a pretty face with an addictive core loop. Let’s dive deep into the nuts and bolts of this game and its […]

Aylin YAZICI January 9

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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

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Mobile Gaming Today: 41

Hej Fam! Curious about how you celebrated the New Year! Hope you had a great one 🕺 For me, this one has been the worst. Why? 👇🏻 NYE Germany: Several killed after Fireworks Chaos Is it just about people dying? So many injuries… Animals & Plants, Halloo? 🇩🇪 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Though, here’s a COOL update from 2024: 🥁 tooo-too-too-toooom! 🥁 Made it to the Top 10 Mobile Gaming Content Creators! 🌍 Super grateful for all the love and support. Thank you, Gaming People! Weekly Quote Mobile Marketing » User Acquisition & Creative Learnings 2024 🌊 Soft-launch Sonar #7 📱 Mobile Gaming in 2024 🔧 LiveOps Full Breakdown 📈 Evolution Pull-The-Pin Trend 🎁 Interesting Offer in Coin Master 📉 Decrease the CPIs. Whatever it takes! 👾 iOS Games: Top Free ASO & ASA Tools 🤔 User Reactions to Gen AI-created Content? 💐 […]

Gamigion January 6

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Jobs in Mobile Gaming: 26

🎨 First Week - Jobs in Mobile Gaming 👉🏻 Data from Gamigion.com/jobs 🕺🏻 Dev 💻 Art 🎨 Product 📱 Marketing 🎯 Business 💰 Data 📈 QA ⚒️ 💻 Dev Technical Director Unannounced Title Scopely 🇪🇸 Senior Analytics Engineer Scopely 🇪🇸 Staff Engineer - Monopoly GO! Scopely 🇪🇸 Senior Engineer - Monopoly GO! Scopely 🇪🇸 Senior Gameplay Programmer, Squad Busters Supercell 🇫🇮 Software Engineer Zynga 🇨🇦 Mobile Game Engineer Zynga 🇹🇷 Lead Technical Product Manager Zynga 🇨🇦 Senior Game Developer - Gram Games Zynga 🇹🇷 Technical Operations Specialist Moon Active 🇮🇱 Game Developer Moon Active 🇵🇱 Solutions Engineer MobilityWare 🇺🇸 Ad Tech Product Manager MobilityWare 🇺🇸 Director of Engineering, Ad Tech MobilityWare 🇺🇸 Full Stack Developer - Match Hotel! (Istanbul & Ankara) SciPlay 🇹🇷 Unity Team Leader SciPlay 🇮🇱 Senior Software Engineer Plarium 🇮🇱 Unity Developer CrazyLabs 🇪🇸 Freelancer Creative Ads […]

Gamigion January 6

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