Success stories
7 articles
Türkiye's games industry
How Istanbul ended up making the world's puzzle games
In 2010 Türkiye had almost no games industry. By 2020 an American publisher had spent over two billion dollars buying three studios in one city. The short version of how that happened.
Türkiye's games industry
Why one American publisher bought three Istanbul studios
Gram Games in 2018, Peak in 2020, Rollic later the same year. Zynga spent well over two billion dollars in one city in under three years. What it was actually buying.
Türkiye's games industry
Dream Games: five people, one game, five billion dollars
Founded in 2019 by five ex-Peak employees. One puzzle game, launched in 2021, that went from nothing to a $5 billion company. The clearest example of what user acquisition spending can do.
Türkiye's games industry
Peak Games: the $1.8 billion exit that changed Turkish gaming
Ten years, one pivot, two puzzle games and 12 million daily players. How a hundred people in Istanbul built the first Turkish company to sell for over a billion dollars, and what it would be worth under today's rules.
Türkiye's games industry
Insider: the Turkish software company that is not a game studio
A Turkish company selling enterprise marketing software raised at a $1.22 billion valuation and became the first woman-founded unicorn in the region. The B2B playbook here looks nothing like the games one.
Türkiye's games industry
The hyper-casual wave that came out of Türkiye
Zynga, Rovio and SciPlay each bought a Turkish hyper-casual studio, and not one of the deals was in Istanbul alone. The model also happens to fit the incentive programme better than any other.
Türkiye's games industry
Why so many game studios came out of Istanbul
One exit in 2020 put money and operating knowledge into a small market at the same time. The people who left Peak went on to found Dream Games, Spyke, Ace and dozens more.