When people hear the term ‘online games,’ many instantly think of mind-stimulating gameplay, intuitive design, and prizes waiting to be unpacked.

And while not all game developers reach this level of accuracy – Plarium Global Ltd. sure does. Haim and Iliya Turpiashvili, together with Avraham and Gabi Shalel, founded the game company with the mission to provide a pleasant escape from reality once in a while.

Plarium is an international social, mobile, and web-based game publisher and developer famous for multiplayer online games, such as Raid: Shadow Legends, Total Domination, and Soldiers. Plarium games are found through its video game platform Plarium Play Launcher.

Headquartered in Israel and founded in 2009, Plarium has offices in Ukraine, the United States, and Israel.

If you are eager to discover how Plarium became popular and developed games available on Android and iOS devices, scroll down and keep reading!

The Humble Beginnings

Haim and Iliya grew up in Georgia in a home full of love and delicious meals on the dinner table. Their father was the best oral surgeon in the city, and their mom was a nurse who was helping their dad at the clinic.

The twins were happy in their home, but when they turned 10, the course of their lives changed significantly as their parents immigrated to Israel. Not knowing English or Hebrew, their parents couldn’t work highly paid jobs, and Haim and Iliya needed to help the family and acclimate to society.

As soon as the smartphone era caught on, the twins became partners on a popular web portal that was based in Israel but created for Russian speakers. That was their first step into high tech, and they had zero experience.

Haim advised Iliya to invest some money they had gathered before, and they started working to collect data in the areas of high tech and computers. The duo recognized what the world needed, so all that was left to do was gather the right team. They saw the need for games and got the desire to make their debut as a mobile gaming company without even having the idea of how to do it.

Plarium Games - Coincidence or Destiny?

Iliya married at the age of 18. A few months later, he met his wife’s cousins Gabi and Avi Shalel – his future business partners. Gabi holds a diploma from Brandeis University and is a great game developer, always open to new ideas and following the latest industry trends.

Avi holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Brandeis University. He started his career as co-founder of 3D Revolutions Ltd and worked a part-time job developing games for PC.

Haim often spoke with Avi about doing something fascinating and innovative together in gaming. They fantasized about creating a mighty social gaming application.

Iliya and Haim wanted to build something stable and profitable. So, they made a plan and found programmers and graphic design artists. They were ready to start their dream, and as soon as Avi and Gabi returned from their studies in Boston in 2009, they founded Plarium.

Games That Won the Hearts of Millions

In the beginning, the four friends developed simple casual games for game fans to pass their free time on PCs and Facebook.

The founders didn’t want to create games that would waste players’ time but wanted to create games that would entertain them for a while. Their games were strategic, and gamers can play the game for a while, take a couple of actions, continue with their day, and come back later.

Haim and his team worked hard day and night, and soon they released Poker Shark, which was a hit from the get-go. To this day, it remains one of the best poker games across Russian networks. They also developed Farmandia, a game similar to the prominent Zynga’s Farmville that soon became a favorite on Russian social networks as well.

Plarium started developing modern multiplayer online strategy games and released Total Domination: Nuclear Strategy Community in February 2011, which garnered 20 million users. The company finally started moving in the right direction and gaining profit.

A year later, in 2012, Plarium introduced Stormfall: Age of War, which turned into one of the fastest-growing games on social media. The Soldiers game was even more popular, and Facebook recognized it as one of the best social games for 2013.

In 2014, when the mobile market started growing, Plarium thought about developing games for smartphones. Haim and his team knew the process would require new technology and a new gaming experience, but they were ready to succeed.

It took them time to figure out how they could manage it, and they had problems not knowing how to write code for the smartphones. It was hard to train employees, and the Plarium had technical issues, but they never gave up.

Trials, Tribulations, and Everything In-between

Plarium released its first strategic game for mobile devices in 2015, “Vikings: War of Clans,” which soon became a giant success. Haim, Iliya, Gabi, and Avi worked smart and transitioned some of their previous games to mobiles. They soon released mega hits including “Throne: Kingdom At War”, “Soldiers Inc: Mobile Warfare”, and “Raid,” among others.

By 2017, Plarium had millions of users worldwide, but the leadership of Plarium sold the company. Australian Leisure Limited bought Plarium for 500M dollars, which was colossal and phenomenal.

Iliya, Gabi, and Avi exited Plarium in 2017, leaving Haim alone in his office. On the way to building their empire, the team faced lots of competitors, including Joya Communications, FreshPlanet, and Playtika. Plarium competitors didn’t make them less powerful as some of them weren’t able to transmit their games from PC to mobile devices, and their games slowly disappeared.

Plarium has more than 1,800 employees worldwide and over 435 million users in 150 countries, with games available in 11 different languages. It’s clear the company has established itself on the global online game market. However, some still ponder over its growing success.

Therefore, a good follow-up question is – how do Haim, Iliya, Avi, and Gabi raise funds for Plarium?

Plarium Global Ltd. IPO

Plarium Global Ltd. has raised a total of $336.1M. In the beginning, the company didn’t have enough money and Gigi Levy-Weiss, an Israeli entrepreneur, invested some money and became a strategic partner.

At a later stage, Iliya’s father-in-law, Mikhael Mirilashvili, entered as an investor, and Plarium used this money to follow the trends and improve their games.

The company also announced funding rounds to raise some extra money, and the latest one was on August 10, 2017. The last round was successful, and Aristocrat Digital turned out to be a rather generous investor. When it comes to games, according to Sensor Tower, the game Raid has generated over 48 million downloads and raised over $569 million in lifetime revenue.

Plarium's Future Plans

Since its big breakthrough, Plarium has had a few significant milestones, one of which is hitting $336.1M in revenue. But what else is in store for this high-end game developer?

Plarium focuses on investing in the game development strategy, accelerating its growth. The company works on improving its games, as its long-time players keep challenging them to develop their games in ways they have never imagined.

Plarium might open new offices in other countries in the future and increase the number of employees and registered users.

Haim is happy that their players have also created global communities, built new friendships, and brought life to their games. Plarium met its mission and will continue entertaining game fans worldwide in a way other companies and other games can’t!