Mobile veterans form Papukaya
Devs from Supercell, Rovio, and Seriously Digital raise €2.7 million to create games for "people who don't identify as gamers"
Today a group of industry veterans have announced the formation of mobile game development studio Papukaya.
Last year the developer raised €2.7 million ($3.1 million) from publisher Supercell and it aims to create games for "people who don't identify as gamers."
Additionally, the company said its first game will explore themes such as wellbeing and relationships.
Based out of Helsinki, Papukaya was founded in 2020 by CEO Drussila Hollanda (former game lead at Supercell) and lead programmer Johannes Ahvenniemi (previously lead programmer at Seriously Digital Entertainment), and whom are joined by lead game artist Saara Mäkinen (previously senior game artist at Rovio).
"The global mobile game player base has grown and diversified, but there's still untapped potential even beyond the casual gamer demographic," said Hollanda.
"Only 10% of time spent on smartphones is spent playing games - so there's definitely room to engage a largely unserved market."