Core Finance acted as advisor to Ace Games on its $25M Series A round led by Playtika – mobile gaming entertainment and technology market leader with a portfolio of multiple game titles.
Ace Games is the leading mobile gaming company and creator of Fiona’s Farm, a Match-3 blast game with a unique triple layer meta gameplay. The new round of financing will be used both to continue investing in & developing Fiona’s Farm and to work on user acquisition initiatives to grow the game at global scale.
Founded by Hakan Baş (Co-Founder of Peak Games – acquired by Zynga for $1.8bn in 2021) and backed by NfX and Actera, Ace Games is the leading mobile gaming studio with a novel approach to mobile casual gaming. The company is currently working on the global launch of its bespoke Fiona's Farm, a Match-3 puzzle game with a strong meta gameplay loop interconnected via adventure quests, farm themed base-building and role-playing storyline which makes the game experience truly unique & exciting for wide audiences.
Having best-in-class talent pool and stellar experience in developing top grossing games, Ace Games has a significant know-how accumulation in mobile game mechanics, art design, publishing, and unique creative culture along with unparalleled understanding of consumer trends and needs in Tier-1 mobile gaming countries.
Ace Games’ first hit title - Fiona’s Farm cherry picks the strongest core mechanics and meshes a perfectly executed gameplay by adopting a triple-layered meta evolution consisting of (i) customization & decoration (base building gameplay), (ii) discovering new spaces (adventure quests gameplay) and (iii) role-playing (narrative/storyline gameplay). This three-layered meta differentiates Fiona’s Farm and enables to acquire and retain users for a longer period than the current top grossing casual games in line with the expectations of target audiences in the Tier-1 countries. The highly differentiated, inter-connected and immersive core + meta gameplays will also be supported with strong social gameplay integrations, events, and live operations.
Following this round of investment, Ace Games is planning to continue investing in the global launch of Fiona’s Farm and developing the game & IP with a multi-generational approach.
Hakan Baş, CEO & Founder of Ace Games commented: “Playtika has an unrivaled reputation for delivering superior in-game experiences, scaling mobile games to global dominance in their respective categories. We are excited to be teaming up with Playtika as an investor and partner that will help us continue to grow this title, and possibly others, into leading mobile game franchises.”
Alper Kiresepi, Managing Partner at Core Finance commented: "As Core Finance, we’re thrilled to be part of Ace Games’ successful funding round and bring reputable investors to Ace Games’ path to success. Welcoming a prestigious strategic investor to the round, we are firm believers of Ace Games’ journey to shape the gaming ecosystem not only in Turkey but globally to become a true integrated interactive entertainment company.”
The transaction is a further testament to Core Finance’s market leading position advising on fundraising rounds in gaming and represents Core Finance's 7th transaction in the last 12 months and 4th deal in the gaming sector.