Dream Games

Dream Games is a mobile gaming company founded in 2019 with offices in Istanbul and London. It develops match-3 puzzle games and states that its objective is to combine technology and creativity to build mobile games with long lifespans. Its portfolio consists of two titles set in a shared "Royal Universe": Royal Match, in which players solve puzzles to help King Robert, Winston and Duke renovate the Summer Castle, and Royal Kingdom, in which players help King Richard and his family explore kingdoms and defeat the Dark King.

Royal Match, the studio's debut title, launched in March 2021 and reached the top 20 grossing games in the US, UK and Germany within its first three months. By early 2025 it had accumulated 327 million downloads and $3.1bn in revenue since launch, and in 2024 it exceeded the net in-app purchase revenue of King's Candy Crush Saga, the second-highest-grossing title in the genre, by 35%. Royal Kingdom entered soft launch in April 2023 and launched in November 2024, accumulating 13 million downloads and $33m in revenue by February 2025 according to AppMagic data cited by InvestGame.

The company raised five financing rounds between 2019 and 2025, culminating in a roughly $2.5bn debt-and-equity transaction announced in May 2025 in which CVC Capital Partners became its sole equity investor, buying out earlier venture backers, with debt financing provided by funds managed by Blackstone.

Founding story

Dream Games was founded in 2019 by former executives at Peak Games, the Turkish mobile gaming company acquired by Zynga for $1.8 billion. Co-founder and CEO Soner Aydemir had previously worked on Peak's Toon Blast title.

Business model

Dream Games develops and operates free-to-play mobile puzzle games monetized through in-app purchases, with platform fees taken by Apple and Google. As of January 2022 Royal Match generated around $31 million in monthly net revenues after platform cuts, and the CEO stated that 99% of company revenue came from outside Turkey.

In-app purchases within free-to-play mobile puzzle games, net of Apple and Google platform fees.

Traction

Royal Match reached the top 20 grossing games in the US, UK and Germany within three months of its March 2021 launch and had 13 million monthly players and roughly $31m in monthly net revenue by January 2022. By early 2025 the title had 327 million lifetime downloads and $3.1bn in cumulative revenue. Royal Kingdom reached 13 million downloads and $33m in revenue by February 2025. Headcount grew from 30 at the time of the Series A to 80 in early 2022, with plans to add 120 more staff that year.

Latest developments

In February 2025 the company was reported to be preparing to raise $2.5bn in debt and equity, comprising $1.25bn of debt from private credit lenders and $1.25bn of equity, to buy out existing investors, with founders expected to retain a 70% stake and the valuation rising from $2.75bn to about $5bn. On 1 May 2025 Bloomberg reported the deal had closed at about $2.5bn, making CVC Capital Partners the sole equity investor, with debt financing from funds managed by Blackstone.