Arcadia Gaming Partners invests $4m in Iron Games studio led by former Gram Games execs

• Deal marks one of the first publicly announced investments by Akin Babayigit's $100m early-stage venture platform.
• Iron Games aims to use the funds to expand the team, accelerate development and invest in reusable systems.

A new UK-based mobile studio called Iron Games set up by former executives at Merge Dragons developer Gram Games has received $4 million from early-stage venture platform Arcadia Gaming Partners.

The company was co-founded by ex-Gram chief product officer Eren Yanık and former COO and GM Remzi Senel. The two execs were on Gram's leadership team during the launch of Merge Dragons and the studio's sale to Zynga.

Iron Games' ambition is to redefine what players expect from casual and merge genres by introducing new, original mechanics.

With the new funding, the company plans to expand the team, accelerate development and invest in reusable systems to enable faster launches, quicker learning and ultimately a portfolio of forever games.

The deal marks one of the first publicly announced investments by Arcadia Gaming Partners, a $100 million fund for mobile games companies set up by ex-Tripledot president Akin Babayigit.

Room for experimentation

Speaking to PocketGamer.biz, Yanık said as the market has matured and progressed over the last decade, new entrants need more than a single good idea to find their footing.

“There are many more people in the gaming ecosystem, and a much higher amount of funding available,” he said.

“Any idea competes for the attention of a finite pool of players, with products that have billions invested into them, and you basically have to figure out a way to do ‘some’ things better than them. 

“This means digging more into your unique qualities; have a unique core gameplay with proven meta to stand out without compromising familiarity, and run a nimble team of experienced crafters to move fast without breaking the bank.

“We think partially utilising proven mechanics such as merging and matching can maintain that sense of familiarity, while there is still room for experimentation in the way they are integrated into the game.”

He added: “We were fortunate to have many investors eager to back Iron Games, but collaborating with Akin was an obvious and exciting choice. Few people in gaming have built what he has. Tripledot’s rise to becoming Europe’s fastest-growing company is legendary. Akin’s mix of sharp operational instinct, creative vision, and deep network across the global gaming ecosystem makes him not just an investor, but a true force-multiplier for any studio lucky enough to work with him.”

Babayigit commented: “Iron Games embodies the exact philosophy we look for in founders: disciplined, lean, and relentlessly focused on execution.

“Remzi and Eren have already proven they can build generational hits and world-class teams. Their clarity of vision, combined with their experience leading Gram through one of the most iconic exits in gaming, gives us immense confidence that Iron will be one of the defining studios of this decade.”