While the game industry in Türkiye is still relatively young compared to other countries, did you know that local studios have been active for over a decade? Let’s explore the success stories of these studios, which have made significant contributions to the game industry, including experience and reliability.
TaleWorlds Entertainment
Founded in 2005 by Armağan Yavuz and İpek Yavuz, TaleWorlds Entertainment is likely the first name that comes to mind when discussing Turkish game studios. Their 2010 release, “Mount and Blade: Warband,” achieved global success, ranking 91st on PC Gamer’s list of the top 100 games ever. TaleWorlds continued their success with the sequel, “Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord.” Moreover, in 2016, the studio was the first Türkiye-based game company to participate in the E3 gaming expo!
Peak Games
Established in Istanbul in 2010 by Sidar Şahin and Hakan Baş, Peak Games is one of Türkiye’s successful mobile game developers known for games like “Toy Blast” and “Toon Blast.” Their games stand out with colorful and captivating graphics and user-friendly interfaces. In June 2020, Peak Games achieved a significant milestone by being Türkiye’s first billion-dollar gaming venture, acquired by American game developer Zynga for $1.8 billion.
Fugo Games
Founded in Istanbul in 2010, Fugo Games is one of Türkiye’s well-established game developers. Their simple and casual games like “Words of Wonders: Crossword to Connect Vocabulary” and “Words of Wonders: Search” have been downloaded over 230 million times across seven entertaining mobile games.
UDO Games
UDO Games, formed within ODTÜ ATOM in 2013, was established in Ankara by Gökhan Güngör, Türker Karahan, and Andaç Altak. Their game “Incredible Toys” won the Game of the Year and Best Game Design awards at the Crystal Pixel Awards in Türkiye. They were also nominated in the Best Mobile Game category at the Game Connection Europe and Casual Connect Europe conferences held in Europe.
Gram Games
Operating with 90 employees in London and Istanbul, Gram Games is a company that stands out with its fun and casual mobile games. Known for puzzle games like “1010!” and “Six!,” Gram Games has acquired over 180 million players. In 2018, Zynga acquired Gram Games for $250 million, preserving the studio’s creativity and culture while continuing to enable it to run independently.
Panteon Games
Panteon Games, founded in 2012 in Ankara and operating within the ODTÜ Teknokent, is one of the famous companies in the mobile gaming world. Panteon is known for its games like Home Restoration, MoBu, and Sling Plane, which have reached millions of downloads, and its Panteon Akademi program, which trains aspiring game developers who are taking their first steps into the game industry. Their upcoming game, set in the Middle Ages and supported by mythological elements, looks quite ambitious with the $10 million funding it has received.
Alictus Games
Alictus Games, founded by Emre Taş and Ecem Baran within ODTÜ Teknokent In 2013, continued its journey for a long time without receiving any investments. However, in 2022, it was acquired by the American game developer SciPlay Corporation for 100 million dollars. Alictus Games, which develops games in the hyper-casual and io genres, managed to enter the top 20 of the most downloaded rankings in the United States with almost all of its games, and five different games have reached first place.
Stormling Studios
Established in 2005 by Onur Şamlı, Oral Şamlı, and Garip Kartoğlu under the name Zoetrope Interactive, later renamed Stormling Studios, this developer has gained fame with their horror games. They earned significant recognition for their games Conarium and Darkness Within, known for their Lovecraftian atmosphere and immersive narrative. Stormling Studios continues its success in the Lovecraftian genre with the game Transient, which blends Lovecraftian and Cyberpunk genres.
Nowhere Studios
Istanbul-based Nowhere Studios is known for its dystopic puzzle-platformer game Monochroma. Monochroma was developed between 2011 and 2014, brought by a great Kickstarter campaign, and funded more than $80.000. Monochroma has a unique approach to narrative in game design and tells its entire plot without any written or spoken words, which makes it a pretty interesting indie game.
In 2020, Nowhere Studios released Circadian City, a role-playing game with pixel graphics. Circadian City gives a unique experience to players. Your story can change based on simple things like the hobbies you choose or the food you eat. It also has a mechanic that lets you manage both your dream world and your real world, which feels as if Circadian City is two different games at once.
Motion Blur
Motion Blur, formerly known as Son Işık, is known for their cult video game Kabus 22 or K22: Demolition Day. Kabus 22 is a 3D horror-action game set in Istanbul, where the player controls three characters to fight against a despotic order in an alternate near future. It was known and loved by many Turkish gamers and became one of the classic games.
Even though it has been some time since Motion Blur released its last game, they are currently recruiting new members as the creator of Kabus 22, a game beloved by many Turkish players.
Honorable Mention #1: Sobee Studios
Sobee Studios was founded by Mevlüt Dinç, known for being one of the first Turkish game developers and having previously worked at world-renowned game companies like Ubisoft and Activision. Sobee, the producer of Türkiye’s first MMORPG, “İstanbul Kıyamet Vakti,” in 2007, has been one of the companies that made significant contributions to the development of Türkiye’s game industry. In 2009, Sobee Studios was sold to Türk Telekom by Mevlüt Dinç. The company gained a large fan base in its early years and achieved important milestones. Even after being closed by Türk Telekom in 2017 after releasing the last update for “İstanbul Kıyamet Vakti,” it is still remembered for its contributions to the Turkish gaming world.
Sobee Studios has achieved success in the industry, achieving success in local and international markets with their games. With over a decade of experience, their future projects will make more significant greater impact. Hopefully, they will continue to shine and make Türkiye proud in gaming.
Honorable Mention #2: Crytek
Maybe it wasn’t founded in Türkiye, but the Yerli Brothers and their studio Crytek, which offers a different horizon to FPS games with Far Cry, is a company that deserves to be mentioned here.
Let’s admit that very few of us knew Far Cry until it came out. Despite all the screenshots, no one realized what they were about to face until the day it came out. Gorgeous graphics, a sense of freedom that the industry had never seen in an FPS game until then, a story that draws you in until it gets out of control somewhere, and a gameplay model that laid the foundation for the Crysis series.
Nowadays, Crytek continues to bring us Hunt: Showdown, another highly qualified game, as a competent live service game.
Honorable Mention #3: Momentum DMT
Maybe they don’t produce games today, but Momentum DMT, the producer of Culpa Innata, perhaps the most successful adventure game to come out of Türkiye, still exists and deserves to be honored in this list. Culpa Innata, developed by a team led by Burak Barmanbek, not only met expectations but also created a lot of expectations for the sequel.
Introduced in 2008, Culpa Innata: Chaos Rising went through a long and painful development process just like the first game, but this time the story did not have a happy ending, and the game was canceled in 2013.
Although Momentum DMT has moved away from the game industry today, it maintains its presence.