Grand Games Studio Raises $3 Million for Development of AI-Supported Titles

Grand Games studio raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding round in order to help it develop AI-supported video game titles.

The new Turkey-based mobile games studio was founded by Mustafa Firtina, Mehmet Calim, and Bekir Batuhan Celebi. All three of whom previously worked at Good Jog Games, where the first two led development on Zen Match.

Grand Games' Pre-Seed Funding

Grand Games Studio Raises $3 Million for Development of AI-Supported Titles — Turkey-based Grand Games studio has raised $3 million for its pre-seed funding that would help it in the development of AI-supported mobile video games.
(Photo : Grand Games / Screenshot taken from official Google Play website)

The recent investment was led by Earlybird Digital East Fund and had the participation of Laton Ventures. The financing for Grand Games studio also coincided with the soft launch of the developer's first title, Magic Sort, which is a puzzle game that was designed around matching colors.

The former Good Job Games workers have been reunited in the new studio that is now aiming to use the recent funding round to help grow the team and launch more video games.

The company's full-time employees have already gone up from four to 13 since it was founded only four months ago, according to PocketGamer.

The team also credited the fast release cycle of its first two games to its use of artificial intelligence in the development process. Every single one of the titles that Grand Games currently has in development is using such technology.

This includes utilizing Midjourney for concept art or harnessing AI at a codebase level to build up the games. In fact, the studio said that up to 30% of each title's codebase has been made with the technology.

In a statement, Celebi said that they saw how fragmented mobile game development had become and they decided to take the opportunity to build a radically different company to what is seen in the market.

The use of AI technology dramatically reduces the time that it takes for the studio to make its products and allows it to build, test, and iterate faster than competitors.

Grand Games is able to shorten the feedback loop from the players and it is aiming to become the fastest learning and iterating company within the industry, said TechEU.

Quick Games Development Process

On top of its relatively quick game development, the Turkey-based studio is bringing luck and social competition features to new titles and genres. This would allow players to build deeper emotional connections and could ultimately improve the experience for all people.

Using this strategy, Grand Games studio is planning to quickly outclass smaller, less sophisticated publishers and secure a leading position in the mobile gaming industry. The latter is currently valued at more than $100 billion.

The studio's first game, Magic Sort, is now available for download on both iOS and Android devices while the company's second title, Car Match, is expected to soft launch this month. After that, Grand Games will shift its focus to its flagship title which could debut early next year.

The founding of Grand Games comes as Turkey has become a global hub in mobile gaming and now boasts one of the strongest ecosystems in the world.

It has several large exits and success stories, including Dream Games, and Peak Games, Turkey's first unicorn, which was sold to Zynga for $1.8 billion, according to Global Banking and Finance.