Turkish 'Royal Match' becomes world's top-grossing mobile game

Istanbul-based Dream Games’ puzzle app "Royal Match" has emerged as the new leader in global mobile gaming revenue, surpassing even the Microsoft-owned Candy Crush Saga.

The triumph arrives against the backdrop of a challenging 12 months for the gaming industry, signifying a notable milestone for the small Turkish development team.

With a staggering revenue of $82.62 million, "Royal Match" has claimed the title of the world's highest-grossing mobile game.

Dream Games, a unicorn with a valuation of $2.75 billion in 2021, has solidified its status as one of Türkiye's premier gaming companies, achieving the remarkable feat of doubling its revenue this year.

"Royal Match" managed to dethrone the reigning champion, Candy Crush Saga, which had held the top spot for the past decade with a revenue of $76.13 million.

The Istanbul-developed puzzle app has not only surpassed the industry giant in terms of revenue but has also garnered attention as the most downloaded free puzzle game globally on both Google Play and the App Store in July.

In the same period, "Royal Match" secured a remarkable 16 million downloads across both platforms, reinforcing its position as the leading puzzle game.

Meanwhile, Candy Crush Saga trailed behind with 13.8 million downloads, landing in the second spot on the list of most downloaded puzzle games.

Royal Match is an engaging "match-three" puzzle game, inviting players to strategically align tiles or icons in order to clear a grid and unlock exciting challenges.

The game has nearly 55 million active users who spend more money on average than Candy Crush’s 160 million users.

Dream Games heavily invested in advertisement to attract more new players.

Dream Games plans to launch a sequel titled "Royal Kingdom" next year, currently undergoing testing in the UK and selected markets, to extend the storyline and universe of Royal Match's lead character, King Robert, by introducing his brother, Richard, to the gaming narrative.

“We are focusing on building an [intellectual property] and characters and a universe, with a well-crafted product to create a high-quality game with long-term and mass appeal,” Aydemir said.

‘Turcorns’ are promising

Dream Games was established in 2019 by executives of Peak Games, another Turkish mobile game company that was sold for $1.8 billion to the US-based entertainment giant Zynga.

The deal, which signed in 2020, included about $900 million in cash and approximately $900 million in Zynga common stock.

Two Peak games – Toy Blast and Toon Blast – were among the top games in the US and Japan and reached 12 million active users daily.

Peak Games was the first Turkish unicorn, meaning a startup company valued at over $1 billion.

Being one of the largest acquisitions in Turkish history, Peak agreement was a milestone for the country's startup ecosystem.

While there was not a single startup in Türkiye with a valuation exceeding $1 billion before 2020, today, six startups have exceeded the one-billion-dollar valuation and become Turcorn, a term used for Turkish unicorn companies.

Within four years, former game startup developers have ventured into creating their startups, leveraging their expertise and previous experiences. Capitalising on their knowledge, they swiftly attracted investments, achieved rapid exits, and attained unicorn status. By mid-2022, the Turkish gaming ecosystem had already witnessed the emergence of two new unicorns.