Play-to-earn is getting a second wind — and this time, it looks far more grounded.
MoneyTime, a mobile app that lets users earn real cash by playing games, has raised a $3 million seed round led by Arcadia Gaming Partners, the investment firm founded by Akin Babayigit.
Launched in January 2024, MoneyTime is already live across 30 countries and has crossed 3 million installs worldwide, according to AppMagic — a notable signal in a category many wrote off too early.
⚡ A Different Take on Play-to-Earn
MoneyTime isn’t pitching crypto wallets or speculative tokens.
Instead, the product focuses on a simple value exchange:
players spend time playing games — and get real money payouts in return.
It’s a model designed to fit naturally into rewarded behavior, blurring the line between:
casual gaming
reward apps
and performance-based engagement
And crucially, it’s built for scale-first markets, not niche web3 audiences.
📊 Early Traction Snapshot (via AppMagic)
MoneyTime’s early metrics already show momentum:
3M+ installs globally
Live in 30 countries
70K+ average DAU
Retention curves that outperform typical reward apps
Not breakout yet — but clearly past zero-to-one risk.
⭐ Highlighted Signal
Crossing 3 million installs in under a year shows that play-to-earn didn’t fail —
it just needed a model that respected user behavior, not speculation.
🧠 Team with Monetization DNA
MoneyTime is led by David White, a former AppLovin executive, alongside co-founders Benoit Prunneaux and Hugo Gervais de Lafond.
That background matters.
This isn’t a team experimenting blindly — it’s a group that understands:
rewarded engagement loops
monetization psychology
and how to scale performance-driven products globally
White summed up the company’s direction clearly:
“Our mission is to put players back at the heart of the monetisation model as we accelerate our roadmap.”
🦄 Why Arcadia Backed It
For Arcadia Gaming Partners, the bet isn’t on buzzwords — it’s on execution.
Akin Babayigit described the MoneyTime team as “resourceful”, pointing to:
strong early traction
rapid market expansion
and a product aligned with real user incentives
In other words: less hype, more fundamentals.
🔮 Why This Matters
The first wave of play-to-earn collapsed under complexity.
MoneyTime’s approach flips the script:
No financial abstraction
No learning curve
No false promises
Just play → earn → repeat, powered by modern UA, monetization logic, and disciplined execution.
If play-to-earn is coming back, this is what it looks like in 2026.
🚀 What’s Next
With fresh capital, MoneyTime plans to:
Expand into additional high-engagement markets
Accelerate its game and partner roadmap
Deepen monetization efficiency without sacrificing trust
This isn’t about reinventing gaming.
It’s about re-aligning incentives.
And that’s why this round matters.
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