Game Developer

Grand Games, a Turkish mobile game studio founded in 2023, has raised $70 million in a Series B round, bringing its total funding to over $100 million and valuing the company at approximately $1.45 billion. The company has fewer than 80 employees but generates nearly $500 million in annual revenue. The startup operates five independent studios of around 15 people each, with decision-making authority decentralised to studio heads. This structure allows Grand Games to maintain agility whilst pursuing quality, positioning itself between Dream Games' perfectionism and Rollic's rapid-testing approach. The company's success stems from identifying underserved market gaps rather than copying successful titles. Games like "Magic Sort", "Block Out!" and "Car Match" have performed strongly overseas. Grand Games now aims to evolve from creating hits to operating them long-term through organisational expansion.

Data digest: Sensor Tower, InMobi and Smartly's big buys, Grand lands $70m, huge AppLovin numbers, more. Every Wednesday we break down the latest data, research and financial results into digestible chunks. This column is sponsored by Xsolla, which can help you to quickly launch your branded web shop to boost revenue and expedite your marketing ROI. Get started here. Sensor Tower has acquired Appmagic, promising to turn its new buy into its "small and medium-sized business offering". Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition comes a little over two years after Sensor Tower completed the acquisition of fellow former rival market intelligence firm data.ai. Istanbul-based hybridcasual studio Grand Games has secured $70m in Series B funding. With six live games and more than 50m downloads worldwide, Grand currently employs around 75 people and two of its titles - Magic Sort and Block Out - recently ranked number one and two on the US iOS downloads chart, the company says. This latest funding round brings total funding to $103m. It was led by Balderton Capital's Growth Fund, alongside Bek Ventures and Laton Ventures. Global tech firm InMobi has acquired MobileAction for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2013, MobileAction describes itself as an AI-powered analytics company, known for its expertise in Apple Ads and App Store Optimisation. Its clients include Google, Meta, Doordash, Square, Zalando, Playtika, and Priceline. "The acquisition strengthens InMobi Advertising's ability to help brands reach new app users across the iOS ecosystem, both through organic growth, and AI-powered optimisation," the company said. Mobile gaming analytics company Kohort has completed a $7m Series A fundraising round to help build UA agents for mobile game makers. The funding, led by The Raine Group, will be used to launch a "full suite of UA agents" to boost campaign optimisation, deep research and automated reporting. Smartly has completed its acquisition of Incrmntal, an AI-powered intelligence and incrementality measurement platform. The partnership pairs real-time causal measurement with Smartly's "creative and media optimisation capabilities", which hopes to drive growth so marketers can act quickly on insights and give brands and agencies greater control. Smartly says it supports over 800 brands and manages over $7bn in ad spend globally. Net income saw even greater gains, up 109% from $576m in March 2025 to $1.2bn as at 31st March, 2026, with April the "largest month for consumer-vertical advertiser spend" in the company's history. The quarter extended "a multi-quarter run of consistent growth, record margins, and strong cash generation", the company said. Action and strategy games account for half of all mobile IAP revenue, according to a new report from Sensor Tower. It claims that while Steam leads the charge on growth, mobile games focus better on monetisation. However, it does suggest that the classic gacha formula - which kept RPGs at the top of the mobile charts throughout 2023 - is "finally losing its steam". "On the mobile side, download numbers are still sliding, but revenue is warming up," the report states. "This shift in strategy appears to be intentional. Instead of just hunting for new installs, publishers are doubling down on the players they already have, focusing on engagement and monetisation from their core player base rather than chasing volume." A huge Brawl Stars comeback and the release of Dungeon Fighter Mobile did drive a temporary 78% growth spike. However, the report suggests "that momentum didn't last, as the category took a 30% dip in 2025". Playtika has reported revenue of $744.7m, up 9.7% on the previous quarter, and 5.5% year-over-year, with record direct-to-consumer revenue of $291.8m - up 62.8% on the same period last year. With the firm performing "ahead of expectations", new CFO Tae Lee - who stepped into the role on May 5 - said the company's performance reflects a "planned, front-loaded investment cadence as SuperPlay scales, which we expect to normalise over the year." This is the result of a boost in average daily paying users and a consistent 4.5% average player conversion rate. "We delivered a strong start to 2026, led by continued momentum in Disney Solitaire and another quarter of record-breaking performance in Direct-to-Consumer," said CEO Robert Antokol. In the same earnings call, Antokol also said Playtika had completed its transition to a casual-first mobile game publisher, and is effectively leaving social casino behind.

Grand Games, an Istanbul-based mobile gaming startup founded in 2024, has raised $70 million in a Series B led by Balderton Capital's Growth Fund, bringing total funding to $103 million in under two years. The company develops hybrid casual puzzle games that have surpassed 50 million downloads globally and generate over $1 million in daily revenue. Turkey's gaming sector has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade, catalysed by major exits including Peak Games' $1.8 billion sale to Zynga in 2020. Istanbul now hosts 757 active gaming studios, making it Europe's second-largest gaming hub after London. Recent ecosystem momentum includes Dream Games reaching a $4-5 billion valuation and Scopely's acquisition of Loom Games for up to $1 billion. Gaming investment in Turkey rebounded to $181 million in 2025 after earlier declines.