During April 2021, 20 mobile games in top 100 most downloaded titles in the US originated from Turkey.
As outlined by a report from startup monitor startups.watch (via Daily Sabah), several hypercasual games from Good Job Games and Rollic appeared on the list for the month, while Garawel Games topped the group on the iOS platform.
More studios are being founded in the country due to its lower development costs, which are increasing due to the devaluation of the Turkish Lira compared to the US dollar.
Zynga, for one, snapped up multiple Turkey-based companies in 2020, including Toon Blast creator Peak Games for $1.85 billion and the aforementioned Rollic for $168 million.
Growing sector
It was further outlined that 61 startups raised $509 million from investors in Q1 2021 – a new record for the Turkish industry – 49 of which took place in Istanbul.
Turkey grew to become the 10th biggest country for angel and VC investments in Europe during this period and placed second in the Middle East and North Africa (only behind Israel).
Furthermore, Istanbul’s Dream Games – known for puzzle title Royal Match – received the biggest investment in the games sector in one round of investment, when it raised $50 million from a Series A funding round.
Turkish startup Ace Games recently raised $7 million in seed funding, as the studio looks to expand its hypercasual output.
French mobile games publisher Voodoo invested in Istanbul-based studio Fabrika Games late in 2020.
