The story
Soner Aydemir was Head of Product at Peak Games, the Istanbul studio later sold to Zynga for $1.8 billion, before co-founding Dream Games in 2019 with four other industry veterans. Their first title, Royal Match, launched in 2021 and relied heavily on paid advertising: in 2023 Sensor Tower estimated that about 61% of its downloads came through paid channels. To keep players coming back, the studio released roughly 200 new levels a month. By July 2023 Royal Match had overtaken Candy Crush Saga in downloads and revenue. The next game, Royal Kingdom, tested well, but a feature that let players attack friends' castles worried the team, so they pulled it, changed the mechanic and relaunched. In May 2025 private equity firm CVC bought out Dream Games' early investors at a valuation of about $5 billion, with the five co-founders keeping a majority stake.
By the numbers
Their company
TurkeyGamingDream Games
Istanbul mobile games studio behind Royal Match and Royal Kingdom
