Turkish mobile game startup Magic Games has raised over $5 million in a seed round to make casual, community-driven multiplayer puzzle games. The funding round was led by Makers Fund; Firat Ileri of Hummingbird Venture also participated in the seed round.
Related: Homa raises $100M in Series B funding round
The studio was formed by former Peak Games veterans Çağrı Öztürk, Rüya Çelikcan, and Mert Kasar. The Istanbul-based studio also has industry veterans such as Murat Özçelik, Anıl Sert, and Orhan Tuç on the team. The team worked on popular high-grossing mobile titles like Toy Blast, Toon Blast, and Star Blast; they aim to utilize their expertise and make new hit games.
Çağrı Öztürk, CEO and Co-Founder of Magic Games believes social interactions in games are key to having deep and rich shared gameplay experiences. Öztürk said, “We believe that in-game communities can transform the way that our users play with and against each other – creating friendly camaraderie out of competition. Social features are integral to our development cycle as we work to build multiplayer games that anyone can enjoy,”
Curtis Urbanowicz, Makers Fund Lead on this funding said, “We were immediately drawn to Magic Games’ ambition of creating match-3 puzzle games that blend community features with multiplayer elements.” and added, “Çağrı and his team have built world-class games in this genre before, and we think the casual games market is going to love the fresh perspective that they’re bringing to this next chapter.”
The company will use this fund to make a new social title with Match-3 in its core and is looking to grow the headcount with new names.