Telegram games continue to get funded (?)

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Jul 02, 2025

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TLDR :

Farcade rebrands to Remix
Spekter Games raises $5M
Crystalfall raises $2M

🗞️ NEWS

FARCADE REBRANDS TO REMIX

Just today, Farcade announced its rebrand to Remix: “A platform where games are created, remixed, and discovered like TikTok”. Originally, Farcade positioned itself as a mini-game arcade with AI-generated titles
- Remix aims to disrupt game distribution, building a platform that will replace app stores and game creation
- Similar to an idea called PlayByte introduced in 2021: “The TikTok for games”. An app that allowed users to make and share simple games on their phone, which provided a scrollable feed to explore games created by others
  - The company raised $4M in its pre-seed and seed rounds, but it seems it never got off the ground
Maybe PlayByte was too early? The consumer-based tools to build mini-games weren’t as great 5 years ago, something which has accelerated with the use of AI. Prompt-based game development is Farcade’s bread and butter
The Farcade platform accumulated over 500,000 players, 800+ games, and 18M games played
- Notably, it also partnered with IPs like Doodles for a game jam campaign. I foresee more IPs partner with the platform in the future to engage with their audiences in new and creative ways
Remix is betting on becoming the “social media of gaming”, removing the barriers of the skills and expertise required to develop games, and making creation social
- Chris Heatherly shares an interesting perspective on how many apps can incorporate Remix games (like Farcaster and Worldcoin), and they all contribute to the platform’s growth
So far, the team hasn’t spent a dollar on marketing yet, with referral systems and monetization having yet to go live. It seems paid growth will go live this summer
Overall, Remix seems like an interesting mix of AI-enabled creation x TikTok feeds x social. Roblox UGC, but on steroids. Something that taps into the brainrotted and attention-starved generation
- I wonder what the native app will look like and how its algorithm will work to feed users more of what they like

CRYSTALFALL RAISES $2M

Just yesterday, Crystalfall announced it raised $2M in a funding round. The round was led by Beam and saw involvement from Avalanche, Coinfund, and other VCs
- It seems Beam already announced their investment in the game in April
- In March 2024, the studio secured $1.5M in its seed funding round
  - During this round, we saw involvement from a similar group of backers
Crystallfall is being developed by Cold River Games, a Swedish studio that was founded in 2021
- The team has experience working on titles such as PoE, Stellaris, and Pillars of Eternity. Their own game, Crystalfall, is an ARPG that focuses on item progression and theorycrafting
  - “Our game is the love child of Diablo 2 and Path of Exile - with steampunk”
- Back in September 2024, the game rebranded from Crystals of Naramunz to Crystalfall
Currently, the game is in its Open Beta, with a full release scheduled for the end of 2025
- Back in November, the game was listed on Steam. Recently, the team shared that Crystalfall now has over 20K wishlists
Overall, it seems the game has managed to carve out its niche by combining elements of well-known ARPGs (if the wishlists aren’t incentivized…)
- Furthermore, there might be a decent genre fit as well. For example, in 2012, Diablo 3 introduced the real-money auction house. Of course, this didn’t end too well, as it disrupted the economy and P2W mechanics
  - However, it tells that a P2P market for this type of game isn’t too far-fetched

SPEKTER GAMES RAISES $5M

Last week, Spekter Games (SG) announced that it had raised $5 million in a pre-seed round. The round was led by the A16Z Speedrun incubator
SG’s flagship game is Spekter Agency, a Vampire Slayer-like game on Telegram
- Recently, they launched a campaign for the game that coincides with the open beta release. During the beta, players earn Spark Points. This currency can be exchanged for rewards at a later date
  - Considering that multiple KOLs are pushing the game, it seems they’re putting a decent amount of marketing budget behind it
Taking into account that Web3 Telegram games were huge last year, but have largely fizzled down this year, this round was likely concluded last year and only announced just now
- We’ve covered a lot of Telegram gaming in this newsletter and have seen how difficult it is to monetize and retain this audience without incentives. A Vampire Slayer-like, which we have more than 100 of, doesn’t change that
The studio is focused on bringing more roguelite games to market, across additional platforms, including other chat-based apps and the Play Store. Additionally, SG has a second game in development
Taehoon Kim is the founder of SG, which led the development of titles such as Power Rangers: Legacy Wars and Battle of the Grid during his time at nWay. He was the co-founder and CEO of the company and left in December 2023
- During his time, he also worked on Wreck League, which didn’t succeed. NWay’s current Web3 plans seem murky, after divesting from its NFT marketplace more recently
- Furthermore, he is still an adviser for Unioverse
Spekter Agency will fully launch in September this year, but again, I have my reservations about whether this title can succeed beyond incentives

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