Playrix

Founding of Playrix Before the company Playrix was founded, the brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman developed several simple computer games together while they were still students. Their first game was called Xonix, which the brothers developed on a computer with a Pentium 100 processor. The game was released in 2001, after a one-month development period. They released Discovera later that year, which was similar to the game Xonix. The brothers set its price at $15 and uploaded it to two hundred app catalogs. The game brought in $60 in its first month. They officially founded Playrix, rented an office in Vologda, and hired ten employees. Initially, the company mainly designed simple puzzle games for home computers. and later changed its name to Perfect Play in 2020. It is a part of Playrix. In 2012, the Playrix launched its first game on Facebook—Township. The game became one of the top 50 grossing games on Facebook with 350,000 daily active users. In April 2013, Playrix moved its headquarters to Dublin. The company started working remotely in 2015, and by 2016 it had more employees working remotely than at its central office. and Manor Matters (2019). According to App Annie, in September 2016, the company became the highest-grossing mobile game developer in the CIS and Baltic states region, the second in Europe in terms of revenue, and ranked in the Top 20 biggest mobile game developers in the world. In 2018, Playrix acquired a 43% stake in Nexters, one of Europe's largest video game developers. In 2018, Playrix became the 9th highest-grossing game publisher globally on iOS and Android. In 2019, Playrix made approximately $1.7 billion. In October of the same year, Playrix bought the Ukrainian company Zagrava Games and integrated the Russian game developer Stargaze into the company as well, renaming it Zefir Games. That December, they acquired the Serbian company Eipix Entertainment. In May 2020, Playrix acquired the Armenian studio Plexonic and the Croatian studio Cateia Games that June. As a result of this focus on acquisitions, the company grew at a rapid pace. As of 2020, more than 2,500 people were employed by Playrix in 25 offices around the world. In 2022, the company announced its intention to withdraw from the Russian and Belarusian markets and subsequently closed its Russian offices, due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Employees from affected countries were relocated to other regions. == Company structure ==

Playrix is based in Dublin, Ireland and is owned and managed by Igor and Dmitry Bukhman. The largest sales markets are the USA, China, and Japan. == Finances ==

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Playrix reported an increase in downloads and profits. In response to the pandemic, in April 2020, Playrix paid each of their 2,100 employees an additional one-off payment of $650 to aid in financial support. In 2020, according to App Annie, Gardenscapes and Fishdom were downloaded 190 million and 120 million times respectively. As a result, Playrix’s earnings from downloads and in-game purchases increased to $1.75 billion in just eight months. Profits from ads accounted for only 3% of the company’s total earnings. The number of monthly active players also increased to 180 million. As of 2021 the company's valuation was €8 billion According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of September 2020, each brother's share was worth $3.9 billion. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2025 ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK, the Bukhman brothers were placed 10th with an estimated joint fortune of £12.54 billion. == Games ==

Current games Legacy and closed games • 4 Elements • 4 Elements II • Around the World in 80 Days • Atlantis Quest • Rise of Atlantis • Call of Atlantis • The Path of Hercules • Call of the Ages • Royal Envoy • Royal Envoy 2 • Royal Envoy 3 • Royal Envoy: Campaign for the Crown • Brickshooter Egypt • Around the World in 80 Days • Fishdom • Fishdom H2O: Hidden Odyssey • Fishdom 2 • Fishdom: Spooky Splash • Fishdom: Harvest Splash • Fishdom: Frosty Splash • Fishdom 3 • Aquascapes • Fishdom: The Depths of Time • Pocket Fishdom • Gardenscapes • Gardenscapes: Mansion Makeover • Gardenscapes 2 • Farmscapes • Barn Yarn == Criticism ==

Playrix has been criticised for its use of deceptive or false advertisements on mobile advertisement platforms such as AdMob. Advertisements for many of their games like Township, Fishdom, Gardenscapes, and Homescapes display gameplay that does not represent the actual gameplay of the product in question. In September 2020, the United Kingdom's Advertising Standards Authority ruled that two advertisements for Homescapes and Gardenscapes were misleading and "must not appear again in the form complained of". Playrix was criticised by some employees after it removed discussion of the February 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine from Slack. In October 2022, Playrix announced it was closing its offices and development operations in Russia and Belarus due to the war in Ukraine. == Awards (Selection) ==

• 2016: Facebook Game of the Year for Gardenscapes. • 2018: Mobile Game Award in the category Best Game Management & Live Ops for Gardenscapes. == References ==