The Strategy Behind Aonic’s $70M Acquisition of Mega Fortuna

Turkish Ad Tech startup Mega Fortuna boasts 10 million MAUs for its mobile gaming discovery and loyalty platform. Aonic, a fast-growing video gaming and technology group, has completed a $10M minority investment in Mega Fortuna. The deal includes an option for Aonic to acquire the entire share capital of Mega Fortuna for a valuation of up to $70M. The WHY behind the investment Paul Bowen This acquisition is logical in the highly fragmented Play & Earn (P&E) ecosystem, which is experiencing unprecedented growth. With 27 companies listed in the Incentivized Advertising Database offering gift card reward services, consolidation is inevitable as larger players and their owners absorb smaller companies to expand their P&E portfolios. However, key questions remain, particularly around the total addressable market (TAM) for users interested in earning gift cards by playing games. I anticipate we'll see further consolidation […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 16

Journal

Mobile Gaming 2022 to 2025

Mobile Gaming grew in 2024 by 5.3% YoY (Sensor Tower, worldwide data excluding China) 📲 . But downloads are lagging both on Android and iOS... are we seeing a shift towards smaller number of bigger games? At the same time concentration among top publishers is not necessarily growing🤔 ... Genres that had significant scale and high growth rates were Board, Casual, Strategy, Puzzle - they were growing both in 2024 (2024 vs 2023) and in 2023 (2023 vs 2022). All details how mobile gaming was behaving in 2024 you can find in my report 📕 📕 📕 - almost 60 pages with different data analyses, data points around mobile gaming (from various data sources).#mobilegaming #data #insights #gaming #market #mobilegaming2025

Mariusz Gąsiewski January 15

Journal

Game Development Renaissance

Extremely happy to have contributed to Metaplay’s most recent survey and e-book on the “Game Development Renaissance”. It’s really cool to see my name and Kwalee’s game assets in this book surrounded by so many interesting data points and expert opinions!If you’re in mobile gaming and thinking of doing live ops (which you categorically should) then make sure to download the report via the link today!

John Wright January 15

Journal

Brutally Honest #147

Hey, FAM! What’s up? 🥃 Drink talk So much stuff happened in the last few days. We started the year strong! A few days ago, we hosted our first Play Global event of the year in Seoul in collaboration with Airbridge, Moloco, and Sensor Tower. Over 150 attendees joined us for a half day with valuable insights and networking opportunities. Sign up to our Korean Channel now! two & a half gamers MERCH is live. Go and grab it here! Yes, that's it! 🦩 🦄 🕺 Have you signed up to Gamesforum already? SIGN UP WITH MY OWN PROMOCODE - Unicorn20. Register now! 🦩Tip of the week In 2025, UA is set to undergo a transformative shift with a pronounced emphasis on creative excellence. The convergence of storytelling and motion design will become pivotal in crafting compelling narratives that captivate […]

Matej Lancaric January 15

Journal

The harsh reality of Mobile Game Dev in 2025

The harsh reality of mobile game dev in 2025: 97% of mobile games fail. Over the past 3 years, 139,396* games were launched. Only 3,704 reached at least 1 million downloads. ↳ That’s a success rate of less than 3%. Most games don’t even cover their development costs. Does that mean success is impossible? No. But it’s very difficult, even for experienced teams. Plus, the mobile market isn’t growing like it did during the pandemic.Here are two main paths forward for new teams:𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 & 𝗜𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 • Build a strong testing pipeline. • Keep learning from multiple failures. • Have a very long runway (>2 years) until success𝟮. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 • Think about PC, UGC, or web games. • They might offer smaller revenue, but better chances. • It’s a different risk-to-reward ratio.One thing is clear: There’s no easy […]

Anton Slashcev January 14

Highlights

Mobile Gaming Today: 42

Hey Fam ☃️ Hope you had a healthy, nice start to 2024! Let’s start with my favorite NY post on LinkedIn :)) Sweet work by Supercell Let’s start with a big THANK YOU. Already reached 6.4K followers on LinkedIn 🕺 Super grateful for all the love and support. Thank you, Gaming People! Game of the Week Magic Sort by Grand Games Magic Sort is an innovative sort puzzler that tries to disrupt the whole Sort genre, driven mainly by Ad Revenue. It applies the typical Royal match high production formula, together with some innovation regarding the core gameplay, such as fail state monetization. This is all validated by the 30M$ raise. Will be on Two & Half Gamers’ podcast this week. Mobile Marketing » How to Create Playables 🎨 Importance of Mixing Creatives in Meta 🏆 2024 Top Hypercasual Mobile […]

Gamigion January 13

Journal

Best of 2024: Top Numbers

📊 Revenue, players, and strategy: meet the 2024’s mobile champions. Cheers! PS: AppMagic for data.

Gökhan Üzmez January 13

Highlights

Mobile Game Leaders: 2024 Analysis

Market Performance Global consumer spending on Mobile Games declined for the second consecutive year, reaching $107 billion in 2023. Mobile game downloads fell for the first time, totaling 88 billion. Emerging Trends Casualization: There's a notable shift towards more Casual Gaming experiences, with Mid-core games facing challenges connecting with their audiences. Brands & IPs: Brands are increasingly engaging in partnerships to attract new audiences, leveraging well-known intellectual properties to enhance appeal. Regional Developments Chinese gaming companies have significantly expanded their global presence, with China-based publishers capturing a third of global revenue. They've successfully entered markets like Japan & U.S. through quality production and localization efforts. WeChat Minigames Are Crushing It in China Technological Innovations Advancements in cloud gaming and AI integration have been pivotal. Big Studios like Tencent and NetEase are leading with cloud gaming platforms and AI-driven game features, […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 9

Journal

Dark and Darker by Krafton

Dark and Darker mobile ⚔️ published by Krafton Inc. is on its way to launch in the first half of 2025. We couldn't wait, so we reviewed the PC version of the game and looked at the different monetization models that the mobile game will probably have. The game got taken down from Steam and after a victory in lawsuit over Nexon's copyright claim in January 2024 it is back on Steam from June 2024. The PC version relaunched as a free to play game with a very unique model, reminiscent of Path of Exile "pay for convenience". As you see in the image, by being free to play you can only enter the Normal dungeons, have 1 character slot and can't sell items on the marketplace. After a $30 purchase the game basically goes from demo mode into full […]

Jakub Remiar January 9

Journal

How diversified are the largest game publishers?

How diversified are the largest game publishers? Here’s a breakdown:𝟭. 𝗧𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 – $𝟲𝟭𝟬𝗠 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 • Honor of Kings – 30.8% • PUBG Mobile – 19.4% • Other games – 49.9% • Tencent keeps things balanced, with almost half its revenue coming from a broad portfolio.𝟮. 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗲 – $𝟭𝟲𝟵𝗠 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 • Identity V – 15.7% • Onmyoji Arena – 12.4% • Other games – 72% • NetEase shows solid diversification 𝟯. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗿𝗶𝘅 – $𝟭𝟮𝟴𝗠 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 • Gardenscapes – 27.1% • Township – 22.4% • Homescapes – 21.4% • A more even spread across its popular franchises.𝟰. 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗹𝘆 – $𝟭𝟭𝟱𝗠 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 • Monopoly Go! – 73.9% • Marvel Strike Force – 5.9% • Other games – 20.2% • Scopely’s strategy revolves around a single blockbuster—Monopoly Go!.𝟱. 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 – $𝟭𝟭𝟭𝗠 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 • Candy […]

Anton Slashcev January 9

Highlights

Grand Games secures $30M Series A

Istanbul-based Turkish Mobile Game Studio, Grand Games raises $30M Series A to build genre-defining mobile games. Grand Games, the trailblazing gaming studio behind the widely loved Magic Sort mobile game, has raised a $30M Series A round marking its arrival as the latest up-and-coming studio to emerge from Istanbul, the gaming powerhouse that brought forth Dream Games and Peak Games. Balderton led the round with participation from existing investors Bek Ventures (formerly known as Earlybird Digital East), Laton Ventures and angel investor Mert Gür. Suranga Chandratillake - General Partner, Balderton 👇🏻 Istanbul is producing some of the world’s finest gaming studios and within that ecosystem the founders of Grand Games stood out with their vision to create world-class genre-defining casual games that players love to play. The speed with which they have built a brilliant team culture and achieved success with their […]

Ömer Yakabagi January 9

Journal

Mobile Gaming & Apps in India

Sharing new report about Mobile, Mobile Gaming and Mobile Apps in India!!! 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 (based on Sensor Tower, Statista, Emarketer, GWI, Stat Counter). The report provides a comparative analysis of major mobile gaming and non-mobile categories across 2022, 2023, and 2024, 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝘕𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 2024 𝘢𝘯𝘥 2029 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 300𝘔. 𝘔𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘴-𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵. There are many other such elements in that country. Since a lot of data points about mobile technology, gaming, and apps are scattered across various sources, I decided to compile them . It is version 2.0 of the report I did about India some time ago (based on latest data). - Mobile in India - in-app and subscriptions - in-app and in-game advertising […]

Mariusz Gąsiewski January 8

#GamingBusiness

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