Turkey vs Vietnam: Who Will Dominate Mobile Gaming?

The mobile gaming world is witnessing an epic showdown between two emerging superpowers: Turkey and Vietnam. Both regions are producing chart-topping games and redefining what’s possible in casual and hyper-casual gaming—but their approaches couldn’t be more different.

🇹🇷 Turkey: The Casual Gaming Empire

Turkey has become synonymous with match-3 mastery and casual puzzle dominance. The numbers are staggering:

Dream Games – Royal Match consistently ranks in the top 10 highest-grossing games globally, competing head-to-head with Candy Crush Saga.

Peak Games – Sold to Zynga for $1.8 billion. Toon Blast and Toy Blast continue crushing it in top-grossing charts years after launch.

Rollic – Acquired by Zynga for $168 million, dominating hyper-casual with hits like Color Block Jam and Screw Jam.

Loom Games – Continuing Turkey’s tradition of polished, data-driven puzzle innovation.

What Makes Turkey Unstoppable?

• Data-Driven Excellence – Every feature is tested, measured, and optimized
• Retention Mastery – Turkish studios have perfected player engagement mechanics
• Polished Execution – Production quality that rivals Western AAA studios
• Proven Track Record – Multiple billion-dollar exits creating a virtuous cycle of investment and mentorship

Turkey went deep into casual puzzles and perfected the formula.

🇻🇳 Vietnam: The Speed and Innovation Powerhouse

While Turkey dominates puzzles, Vietnam is emerging as a creative force with insane development speed across multiple genres.

1Soft – Prolific publisher with a massive portfolio spanning multiple categories

Bravestars Games – Fruit Merge proving Vietnamese studios can create global hits

PixOn Game Studio – High production values with Vietnamese agility

iKame Global – Pushing into action and RPG territories

ABI Game Studio – Demonstrating genre versatility from puzzle to simulation

FALCON GAME STUDIO – Competing on quality while maintaining speed advantages

What Makes Vietnam Dangerous?

• Lightning-Fast Development – 6-12 month cycles vs 18-24 months for Western studios
• Cost Efficiency – Lower development costs allowing more creative risks
• Mobile-First DNA – Inherent understanding of mobile gaming from the ground up
• Genre Versatility – Building across puzzle, action, RPG, and simulation
• Asian Market Expertise – Deep insights into the world’s largest gaming markets
• Government Support – Strategic investment in gaming as a growth industry

Vietnam chose breadth over depth, building across genres with remarkable speed.

The Fundamental Difference

Turkey = Depth: Master one thing (casual puzzles), scale it globally, achieve billion-dollar exits.

Vietnam = Breadth: Build across genres, move fast, keep costs low, capture emerging opportunities.

Both strategies are working. Neither is “better”—they’re optimized for different outcomes.

The Market Reality

Turkish games target Western markets (US, UK, Germany) with mature monetization and AAA-level polish. They’re built for markets expecting premium mobile experiences.

Vietnamese games often target Asian markets first, where mobile gaming is the primary gaming platform. These games are built for frequent updates, community features, and shorter session lengths.

Who Will Win?

Here’s the truth: both will win, just differently.

Turkey will continue dominating casual puzzles and potentially expand into adjacent genres (merge, solitaire, word games). Expect more high-profile acquisitions and games grossing $10M+ monthly.

Vietnam will see an explosion of mid-tier hits across multiple genres, with breakthrough studios emerging in categories Turkey hasn’t focused on—perhaps action RPGs, social games, or entirely new formats.

The real wildcard? Hybridcasual gaming—the sweet spot between hyper-casual and casual that we focus on at Nextbiggames. Turkey has the UA expertise (thanks to Rollic’s legacy), while Vietnam has the speed to test hundreds of concepts rapidly.

What This Means for the Industry

The rise of Turkey and Vietnam proves several critical points:

1. Geography doesn’t matter anymore – Global hits can come from anywhere
2. Specialization creates competitive advantages – Turkey’s puzzle focus built irreplaceable expertise
3. Speed is a weapon – Vietnam’s development velocity is changing the game
4. Multiple paths to success exist – There’s no single “right way” to build a gaming ecosystem

The Bottom Line

The question isn’t “Turkey or Vietnam?”—it’s recognizing that both regions are reshaping mobile gaming in fundamental ways.

Turkey showed the world that emerging markets can beat Western giants at their own game. Vietnam is proving that speed, versatility, and mobile-first thinking create a different but equally valid path to success.

The real winners? Players getting better games from more diverse creators, and the industry benefiting from fresh perspectives and proof that innovation happens everywhere.

At Nextbiggames, we’re watching both ecosystems closely. The creativity, mechanics, and UA strategies emerging from Turkey and Vietnam are directly influencing hybridcasual and hyper-casual trends globally.