A Turkish game studio spent two years perfecting ONE game, then launched it and hit $1 billion in annual revenue. Royal Match is the anti-Silicon Valley approach: no minimum viable product, no rapid iteration, no 12 games launched simultaneously hoping one sticks. Just obsessive polish on a single title until it was undeniably good. Dream Games proved that Turkey is a world-class mobile gaming hub and that patience beats speed in puzzle games. The risk: everything depends on Royal Match. No second act yet.
Founded
2019
HQ
Istanbul, Turkey
Total Raised
$468M
Founder
Soner Aydemir
Status
Private — valued at $2.75 billion. Royal Match is a top-10 grossing mobile game globally.
Website
www.dreamgames.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Soner Aydemir worked at Peak Games, the Turkish mobile game studio that sold to Zynga for $1.8 billion. He saw firsthand how a single well-made puzzle game could generate billions in revenue.
In 2019, he founded Dream Games with a small team in Istanbul and spent two years polishing a single game — Royal Match — before launching. No rushed MVP, no multiple simultaneous games.
Just one game, perfected. Royal Match launched in 2021 and became a top-10 grossing game on both iOS and Android within months.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Mobile puzzle game developer. Dream Games follows the King Digital (Candy Crush) playbook: build one incredibly polished free-to-play puzzle game, acquire millions of players, and monetize through in-app purchases and advertising.
Revenue comes from in-app purchases (players buy extra lives, boosters, and power-ups) and ads. The entire company is built around a single game: Royal Match.
THE PRODUCTS
Royal Match (flagship puzzle game — players solve match-3 puzzles to renovate King Robert's castle), with multiple game modes including Team Battle, King's Nightmare, and seasonal events. The game generates an estimated $1 billion+ in annual revenue.
HOW THEY GREW
LiveOps and player retention. Dream Games updates Royal Match with new levels, events, and features weekly — keeping engagement high for years.
The strategy: extend Royal Match's lifecycle as long as possible while developing additional games. The Turkish development cost advantage (world-class game talent at lower salaries than San Francisco) allows more investment in game quality per dollar.
Expanding into new markets (particularly Asia) drives user growth.
THE HARD PART
Single-game dependency. Dream Games' entire $468 million valuation and business depend on Royal Match continuing to perform.
Mobile game lifecycles are unpredictable — Candy Crush has lasted over a decade, but most puzzle games fade within 2-3 years. If Royal Match's daily active users decline, there's no second game to fall back on.
The company has additional games in development, but replicating Royal Match's success is far from guaranteed.
MONEY TRAIL
Series A
2020 · Led by Index Ventures, Makers Fund
$50M raised
Series B
2021 · Led by Index Ventures, IVP
$155M raised
Series C
2022 · Led by Index Ventures, Balderton Capital
$255M raised
WHO BACKED THEM
Index Ventures, Makers Fund, IVP, Balderton Capital, and Kingsway Capital backed Dream Games.
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