Ludus Ventures has led a $1 million investment in the emerging mobile games developer Midas Games as the studio gears up to launch its first games.
Set to be released in the second half of the year, the debut titles are anticipated to be skill-based and competitive, drawing on the combined expertise of founders Hikmet Duran, Mert Ulutaş, Emre Öztürk, Selçuk Korateş, Fatih Karadeniz, and İlkim Ülgen.
Experience and Expertise
Three of Midas’ founders – Duran, Ulutaş, and Öztürk – previously collaborated at Gigantic Games, where they contributed to achieving 25 million installs. They now serve as the core of Midas’ game development team, aiming to infuse their titles with the legendary “Midas touch”.
As for Korateş, he brings CEO experience from companies like Pepsi, Coca Cola, and Zynga, enhancing Midas’ leadership structure.
Karadeniz, with over two decades of software development experience, assumes the role of CTO at Midas, based on his past success in leading technical infrastructure projects for Turkey’s largest mobile marketing platform.
Ülgen, specializing in IT and mobile game law, oversees the legal aspects of Midas’ operations.
“We are dedicated to delivering the best gaming experience by rewarding skill, strategy, and perseverance in our games. We recognize the vast potential in the market and believe we are at the cusp of significant changes in the gaming industry,” said Korateş.
“Our partnership with Ludus aids us in maintaining our focus on game development while propelling our business forward. We are excited to collaborate with Ludus to achieve our objectives.”
The $1 million investment represents Ludus Ventures’ first investment of the year and the debut investment from its second fund. Mehmet Ayan, a partner at Ludus, expressed:
“As Ludus Ventures, we are thrilled to kick off the investments from our second fund with Midas, a key contributor to Turkey’s gaming industry prominence in the global market. We are proud to support their innovative ideas and strengthen their young and dynamic team structure.”
We previously had the opportunity to discuss the mobile market in Turkey from an investor’s perspective with İsmet Gökşen from Ludus Ventures.
