Good Job Video games, a fast-growing cellular recreation firm based mostly in Turkiye, has secured $23 million in a seed funding spherical to construct a legacy leisure firm for gamers of all ages.
That’s some huge cash for a startup, however Good Job Video games was capable of elevate the big seed financing as a result of it has a confirmed observe report of widespread video games, Zen Match, Surprise Blast and Match Villains.
Menlo Ventures and Tripledot cofounder Akin Babayigit’s new video games fund Arcadia led the spherical. It’s uncommon for a recreation firm to boost its first spherical of funding eight years after it began.
However Good Job Video games, based by trade leaders Ilker Ilicali and Nazim Akmandil, hasn’t wanted cash earlier than because it had unbelievable momentum as a developer and writer since its bootstrapped founding.
In its first two years, it turned some of the profitable hypercasual recreation publishers with greater than three billion downloads. The corporate has since bought its recreation Zen Match and lately shifted its focus to innovating the match-3 class and scaled the moment hit Match Villains.
“We are proud to have grown Good Job Games with no external investment thanks to our passionate and extraordinary team,” mentioned Ilker Ilicali, founder and CEO, Good Job Video games, in an announcement. “Our success has always been powered by our team’s creativity, dedication, and craftsmanship to deliver exceptional games. We now also have great partners in Menlo Ventures and Arcadia supporting our next phase to scale our games and grow our player base. Our goal is to build a legacy entertainment company—one that creates genre-defining games with global appeal.”
Good Job Video games stands out within the cellular recreation sector with its dedication to design and high quality, and fosters a tradition that prioritizes teamwork, creativity and development. The staff now has greater than 100 builders, designers, and artists devoted to sustaining, scaling, and increasing its leisure portfolio.
“At Menlo, we invest in gaming craftsmanship —and after playing over 1,000 levels of MatchVillains, I can confidently say it’s the best match-3 game on the market,” mentioned Amy Wu, Associate at Menlo Ventures (investor in Epic Video games, 1047 Video games, and Tripledot Studios). “When you step into Good Job Games’ office, you instantly feel their relentless obsession with detail and player delight.”
Good Job Video games is the primary funding from Arcadia, the brand new cellular video games fund based by Tripledot cofounder Babayigit. Babayigit is also referred to as a quiet pressure advising and backing the highest recreation corporations born from the sturdy recreation growth sector in Turkiye.
“Good Job Games has stormed the match-3 category with Match Villains, which has incredible long term retention metrics that are rarely seen,” mentioned Babayigit. “They are the real deal and will prove to have staying power. Beyond this, Ilker and Nazim are truly generational entrepreneurs and incredible human beings, so partnering with them for the future was an absolute no-brainer.”
Based in 2017, Good Job Video games has set new requirements in hypercasual and redefined the tile-match style. The most effective video games come from the most effective groups, and GJG brings collectively high expertise pushed to make an affect. With each recreation, the objective is to go away an enduring mark on the leisure trade. The corporate has about 120 individuals.
Requested why they didn’t elevate cash earlier, Ilicali mentioned, “In the early days, we didn’t need outside funding—our initial growth was supported by friends and family, which was enough for what we were building at the time. We started with hypercasual games, where success is more about strong ideas and flawless execution rather than massive resources. If you get those right, these games can grow organically without requiring significant external funding.”
Ilicali added, “Now, we’re aiming to scale in one of mobile gaming’s biggest and most competitive genres. Given its size and structure, gaining market share requires substantial investment. At this stage, bringing in the right partners is the best strategic move for GJG.”
And Ilicali mentioned, “We also believe in a natural progression for creative industries. If you look at successful filmmakers, many started with short films or lower-budget projects before moving on to large-scale productions. The same principle applies to gaming startups—proving yourself with smaller productions before stepping up to bigger ones. That should be the main focus in the beginning, not fundraising.”
As for the targets, the founders mentioned, “We want to make sure Match Villains reaches a massive audience. We believe it delivers huge entertainment value, so our primary focus will be on scaling the game and driving its growth.”
They selected the traders as a result of they noticed themselves as a product-driven firm and imagine that the staff is crucial think about constructing an incredible firm. Each Menlo and Arcadia share this mindset, Ilicali mentioned.
“They deeply understand the details that make a great game, what it means to run a product-first company, and the true value of a strong team,” Ilicali mentioned. “We’re not big fans of a purely ‘business is business’ approach. We believe in putting the product and the team first—focusing on the details that drive real growth and long-term success. That alignment made Menlo and Arcadia the perfect partners for us.”
I requested how the corporate got here up with its recreation and the way it grew by the years.
Ilicali mentioned, “For us, it’s a mix of strategy and passion. We love playing match-3 games—it’s what we’re passionate about, and the power of passion should never be underestimated. From a strategic perspective, match-3 has been consistently growing, and we believe it will continue to do so at a steady pace. It’s already a $10 billion market, and it’s not unrealistic to expect it to become the biggest genre in mobile gaming.”
They usually mentioned, “We’ve been experimenting in this space for a long time, gaining valuable experience along the way. When you combine our team’s expertise, passion, and ambition, Match Villains was the natural outcome.”
I requested the corporate if it makes use of AI in making video games. The founders mentioned, “We’re always exploring new technologies and tools to enhance our game craftsmanship. We have AI experiments in place and use it in parts of our pipeline, but it’s not yet a major part of our production. We keep an open mind—testing, observing, and evaluating. Time will tell how it evolves.”
As for the well being of Turkey’s recreation ecosystem, Ilicali mentioned, “What makes Turkey unique, in my opinion, is the high percentage of top-tier talent choosing the gaming industry. We have incredible artists, engineers, product managers, and marketers. As a result, teams here are naturally built with high-caliber people who can compete on a global level.”
Ilicali credited the success of Peak Video games, which was acquired by Zynga (now owned by Take-Two Interactive).
“The biggest factor behind this ecosystem is undoubtedly Peak’s early success—it played a pioneering role, much like Intel did for Silicon Valley, proving that a globally competitive gaming company could be built in Turkey,” Ilicali mentioned. “Culturally, while not every company operates the same way, the most successful ones deeply understand the value of strong teams and high performance.”
Ilicali added, “There’s also a generation in Turkey that grew up immersed in Western entertainment, which has helped develop strong instincts for what works in global markets.”
