A new studio is stepping into the highly competitive mobile puzzle market with both experience and ambition behind it. Cheer Games, a Barcelona-based mobile game developer founded by veterans of the hit puzzle title Hexa Sort, has raised $4.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Makers Fund, with participation from Play Ventures and a group of strategic angel investors. The investment is designed to accelerate development of the studio’s upcoming slate of games and expand its Barcelona headquarters as it recruits talent from across the global mobile gaming industry.
The founding team behind Cheer Games brings deep experience from some of the most successful corners of the mobile gaming ecosystem. CEO Emre Gercel, CPO Berkay Ozturk, CTO Ertan Ünver, and CMO Kutay Koralturk previously worked together at Lion Studios, the publishing arm of AppLovin known for launching multiple chart-topping mobile titles. Their collaboration produced Hexa Sort, a puzzle game that generated more than $50 million in in-app purchase revenue and became one of the defining “sort puzzle” hits of its category.
That experience is shaping the studio’s philosophy. Rather than chasing short-lived trends, Cheer Games is positioning itself around the idea of building durable puzzle intellectual property—games designed not just to capture attention briefly, but to evolve into long-running franchises. The studio’s leadership argues that the mobile games industry has often leaned too heavily toward rapid experimentation and quick turnover of titles, while leaving room for studios capable of developing deeper, more enduring game ecosystems.
The founders describe Cheer Games as an attempt to build something that lasts beyond a single hit. According to CEO Emre Gercel, the team’s shared history and complementary skill sets—from product design and engineering to growth and business development—create the foundation for building a studio that can repeatedly deliver successful puzzle games rather than relying on one-off successes.
Barcelona serves as the company’s operational base and a strategic location for attracting international talent. The city has become one of Europe’s emerging hubs for game development, drawing developers and designers from across the continent. Cheer Games has already assembled a small but specialized team of eleven people with strong roots in the mobile gaming industry and plans to expand as development progresses on its upcoming projects.
Investors backing the studio see the founding team’s track record as the primary driver of confidence. Curtis Urbanowicz of Makers Fund highlighted the strong chemistry between the founders and their shared vision for building games with long-term depth and player retention. Play Ventures’ Anton Backman echoed the sentiment, noting that the team covers all of the critical disciplines required for a modern game studio, including product design, engineering, growth strategy, and live operations.
The puzzle category remains one of the most competitive segments in mobile gaming, yet it continues to generate massive revenue globally thanks to its accessibility and broad player base. Titles that successfully blend simple mechanics with long-term progression and monetization systems can remain top-grossing for years. Cheer Games appears to be betting that the next wave of puzzle success will come from studios capable of combining data-driven development with strong creative design—something their leadership believes their previous experience has prepared them to do.
With fresh capital, a veteran founding team, and a clear focus on building lasting puzzle franchises, Cheer Games enters the market at a time when the mobile gaming industry is still searching for the next breakout genre leader. Whether their next titles can replicate—or surpass—the success of Hexa Sort will determine how quickly the new Barcelona studio becomes a recognizable name in the global mobile gaming ecosystem.
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