Why 17 mobile game studios ended up in Limassol
Limassol has a population of about 250,000 and at least seventeen mobile game studios, several of them employing more than 200 people. Almost none started there. Playkot began in Saint Petersburg, Nekki in Moscow, and Belka, Crazy Panda, Scorewarrior, RJ Games and Veraxen all moved in from elsewhere. They came for the tax treatment, which changed on 1 January 2026 when Cyprus raised its corporate rate to 15%.
Türkiye refunds half of what a software company or game studio spends on advertising, app store commissions and hosting when it sells to customers abroad, and up to 70% when those customers are in one of twenty target markets. It is paid in cash, against invoices you have already settled. Try it with your own numbers.
01Which game studios are based in Limassol?
Sorted by size, largest first. Tap the Founded or People columns to sort.
| Studio | Founded | People |
|---|---|---|
| GDEV Inc.A global gaming and entertainment holding company based in Limassol, Cyprus. | 2023 | 590 |
| AXLEBOLTAn international mobile game developer founded in 2015 by a group of passionate gamers. | 2020 | 280 |
| PlaykotA global mobile and social game development company founded in 2009 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with its… | 2009 | 250 |
| NekkiA global game publisher and developer known for its high-quality action… | 2002 | 240 |
| Belka GamesA prominent mobile and social game developer and publisher, established in 2010 and based in Limassol,… | 2010 | 210 |
| ScorewarriorA game development and publishing studio based in Limassol, Cyprus, founded in 2015. | 2015 | 190 |
| Crazy Panda GamesAn international mobile and social game developer and publisher, established in 2010 and… | 2010 | 76 |
| VeraxenA private mobile game developer and publisher founded in 2015, with headquarters in Limassol/Nicosia,… | 2016 | 72 |
| Helio Games | n/a | 52 |
| AppsyouloveWe're an IT company, that develops and publishes inspiring mobile games and apps. | 2016 | 49 |
| RJ GamesAn international mobile game developer and publisher, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. | 2012 | 48 |
| PlaynetaA game development studio specializing in mobile and social games. | 2016 | 39 |
| HYPERHUGA mobile games publisher and developer based in Limassol, Cyprus, founded in 2019. | 2019 | 33 |
| Brickworks GamesWe are Brickworks Games, an independent game development company in RPG/MMO/Survival/Action genres, with a passion for… | 2022 | 24 |
| XDEVS LTD | n/a | 21 |
| Mobirate / ABE Entertainment LimitedFounded in 2003 by father and son. More than 20 games has been made and released on the PocketPC, Palm, iOS, Android,… | 2003 | 21 |
| Monkey I-Brow StudiosIndependent mobile gaming studio specialized in casual and soccer titles. | 2011 | 7 |
Headcounts are third-party estimates and companies count staff differently. Apollo company data, exported 20 August 2026
02Why do studios base themselves in Limassol?
What actually pulled them there
- A corporate tax rate that was 12.5% for years and is 15% from January 2026, still among the lowest in the EU.
- An intellectual property regime that deducts 80% of qualifying profits, taking the effective rate on game income to about 3%.
- EU membership, so a studio keeps European banking, European contracts and the ability to hire across the union.
- A large Russian-speaking community, which mattered enormously to the teams that left Russia and Belarus after 2022.
- Once six or seven studios were there, the rest followed the talent. Clusters feed themselves, which is how one small city ends up with seventeen.
| Corporate income tax | 15% from 1 January 2026It was 12.5% until the end of 2025. The increase was passed as part of a wider reform aligning Cyprus with the OECD global minimum tax.source |
|---|---|
| Intellectual property regime | 80% of qualifying IP profits are deducted, giving an effective rate near 3%source |
The Limassol cluster is the clearest evidence in this whole directory that studios will move country for money. These are not tax-haven shell companies. They are real offices with hundreds of people in them, and they relocated because the arithmetic was better somewhere else.
What Cyprus optimises is the tax on profit you have already made. That is a good trade for a studio with a hit, and a poor one for a studio still buying its way to scale, because a low rate on a small profit is worth very little while the marketing bill is enormous and payable either way. The January 2026 increase narrows that gap further.
Türkiye trades the other way round. Corporate tax on income earned from customers abroad is not the pressure point, because that income is already untaxed under the export regime. The money comes back on the spending side: 50% of what a studio pays for ads, app store commissions, hosting and trade shows, rising to 70% when the players are in a target country. That suits a studio in the middle of buying an audience, which is most of the seventeen on this page.
What Türkiye would pay back on your spending
Türkiye runs a government programme that refunds part of what a software company or game studio spends on reaching customers abroad. It covers advertising, app store and platform commissions, and hosting. The refund is paid in cash against invoices the company has already settled, so it does not depend on the company making a profit. The standard rate is 50%, and it rises to 70% when the customers being targeted are in one of the twenty countries on the Turkish Ministry of Trade's target list.
Put your own yearly figures in below. The rates and the annual caps come from the same file as our full calculator, and the total updates as you type.
03Questions we get asked
Is Cyprus still the obvious choice for a game studio?
For a profitable studio with a stable hit, the IP box is still hard to beat, and the cluster effect is real. The headline rate went from 12.5% to 15% in January 2026, so the gap to other European options is narrower than it was. For a studio spending heavily to grow, the saving stays small in absolute terms, because a low rate on a modest profit is worth much less than half of a large marketing bill.
Can a studio be in both places?
Yes, and plenty are. A Turkish company can run the marketing, hosting and platform relationships that the incentive programme reimburses while the group keeps its existing structure. What matters is that the Turkish company genuinely holds those contracts and pays those invoices.
Where does this data come from?
A commercial company database, exported in August 2026, filtered to mobile game developers and publishers. Headcounts are third-party estimates and companies count staff differently, so treat them as size bands rather than exact numbers.
Why a consultancy keeps a studio directory
CyberScope Solutions is an Istanbul consultancy that manages Türkiye's IT export incentive claims for software companies and game studios. We track where studios are because the question we are asked most often is who else has done this, and a list is a better answer than an assurance.
- Every figure is sourced. Each number links to the page it came from and carries the date we last checked it.
- We do the filing. Claims run through DYS, the ministry's own system, and we handle the evidence pack, the deadlines and the follow-up questions.
- You find out early if it is not for you. The first call is thirty minutes and we will say plainly if your spend pattern does not suit the programme.
Turn that number into money
Send us the rough shape of your spend. You get back what it is worth, what setting it up involves, and how fast the first claim can go in. Companies already operating here treat this as routine, and the six month window means the clock is running on invoices you have already paid.
- A reply from a person within one working day
- No mailing list, no drip sequence
- Thirty minutes, and you keep the numbers either way
Got it.
We will read it properly and reply within a working day. If you would rather get it over with now, pick a time that suits you.
Book a 30 minute call04Where these numbers come from
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/cyprus/corporate/taxes-on-corporate-income checked 2026-08-20
- https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/cyprus/corporate/tax-credits-and-incentives checked 2026-08-20
- Apollo company data, exported 20 August 2026 checked 2026-08-20