- The funding spherical was led by Earlybird Digital East Fund with participation from Laton Ventures
- The studio is utilising AI tech to assist develop its titles
New Turkey-based cell video games studio Grand Video games has raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding spherical.
The funding was led by Earlybird Digital East Fund with participation from Laton Ventures. The financing coincided with the smooth launch of the developer’s first title, Magic Kind, a puzzle recreation designed round matching colors.
Lots to play
Grand Video games founders Mustafa Fırtına, Mehmet Çalım, and Bekir Batuhan Çelebi all beforehand labored at Good Job Video games, the place Fırtına and Çalım led improvement on Zen Match.
Now reunited below Grand Video games, the studio goals to make use of this funding spherical to assist develop the workforce and launch extra titles. The variety of full-time workers has already risen from 4 to 13 for the reason that studio was based simply 4 months in the past.
In addition to soft-launching Magic Kind, the studio is ready to observe that title up with Automotive Match later this month. The corporate’s “flagship title”, in the meantime, is anticipated to launch in early 2025 with a deal with social interplay.
The workforce credited the quick launch cycle of its first two video games to its use of AI. Each Grand Video games title at present in improvement has used the tech, whether or not utilising Midjourney for idea artwork or harnessing AI at a codebase stage. In reality, as much as 30% of every recreation’s codebase has been made with AI.
A “billion-dollar enterprise”?
“We noticed how fragmented cell recreation improvement had turn into and took the chance to construct a radically totally different firm to what we had been seeing available in the market,” stated Çelebi.
“The vast majority of cell video games created now are sometimes poorly executed copies of profitable titles, and we see a possibility to construct a billion-dollar enterprise made doable by adopting the most recent AI know-how which helps us construct and iterate video games sooner.
“Swift execution mixed with innovation might be what separates us from different firms.”
Earlybird Digital East Fund’s Oguzhan Ozer commented: “It’s been an incredible pleasure to carefully witness the stellar improvement of Turkey’s gaming ecosystem for greater than a decade, to turn into a number one international hub, particularly after Peak’s exit.
“We’re fairly selective buyers, and realizing the challenges of the market with the insider view, have approached it cautiously. What set Grand Video games aside and satisfied us was the workforce high quality and their imaginative and prescient, and we’re very excited to assist them of their journey.”
Earlybird Digital East Fund invested in Peak Video games effectively over a decade in the past – again in 2011 – throughout an $11.5 million spherical. That studio, which was acquired by Zynga in a $1.8 billion deal, has launched main hits like Toon Blast, which just lately surpassed $2.5 billion in earnings by a newfound income surge.
