The past decade has seen Turkey rise to prominence in the mobile games industryand we have seen the country solidify its position as one of the leading mobile games markets worldwide.
In fact, according to a list of the top 100 internet companies in the country in 2021 by Fast Company, mobile games firms are some of the country’s top earners.
Strikingly, the three highest earning mobile games in the country are all subsidiaries of US mobile games publisher Zynga: Peak Games, Rollic, and Gram Games.
The highest placed mobile games company on the list was Peak Games with annual earnings between eight and nine billion Turkish Lira last year. Although Peak Games placed 12th on the list overall it has fallen from its ninth place position in 2021.
Best known for its casual puzzle games Toy Blast and Toon Blast, Zynga acquired Peak Games in August 2020 for a total of $1.85 billion.
Zynga’s eye for talent
Rollic placed 13th on the list with annual revenue between four and 4.5 billion Turkish Lira, moving up from 20th place the year prior. Best known for Hair Challenge, High Heels, and Tangle Master 3D, Zynga acquired hypercasual developer Rollic in October 2020 for $180 million.
Gram Games generated between three and 3.5 billion Turkish Lira thus retaining its title of 14th place on the top 100 list. Best known for its merge titles, such as Merge Dragons, Zynga paid $250 million for Gram Games back in May 2018. At the time Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau spoke with PocketGamer.biz about why the acquisition made sense to Zynga.
With Zynga now on track to be acquired by Take Two Interactive for $12.7 billion, these three mobile studios will once again fall under new management which could lead to higher positions next year.
Zynga subsidiaries weren’t the only Turkish mobile games firms on the list and other companies that made the cut included Good Job Games, Gamegos, and Narcade, in 60th, 84th, and 87th, respectively.
We recently analysed how in recent years, despite a suffering economy, the Turkish mobile games industry has experienced meteoric growth, with insight from some of the country’s industry leaders.
