September 2, 2025 – Limassol, Cyprus – GDEV Inc. (Nasdaq: GDEV), an international gaming and entertainment company, today announced that it has increased its total ownership in its portfolio studio, Royal Ark, to 57%, through the exercise of a previously negotiated conversion option.
This move marks a deepening of the strategic partnership initiated in 2022, further reinforcing GDEV’s approach to empowering creative studios without compromising their autonomy. The GDEV and Royal Ark teams made a joint decision to create a new product and turn that vision into reality through Royal Ark‘s execution.
This partnership culminated in the launch of Idle Zombie Miner, which was soft launched in early 2024 and, within just eighteen months, accumulated over 17 mln installs and reaches TOP-1 position among games of its genre (Clicker/Idle), according to AppMagic. Preliminary unaudited results indicate that Zombie Miner generated approximately US $23 million in revenue in the first half of 2025.
Zombie Miner represents an innovative reimagining of idle gaming, where players become true CEOs of their own gold-mining empires, leading an endearing army of zombie workers with personality and charm.
Royal Ark's CEO Leonid Sirotin says “I'm incredibly proud of my team and grateful to our partners - together, we made the success of Zombie Miner possible. I’d like to give special thanks to Royal Ark’s Game Director Andrey Garbuzov and Lead Producer Evgeny Serpokrylov, as well as to Andrey Fadeev, CEO of GDEV, and Anton Reinhold, CEO of Nexters. And of course, a heartfelt thank you to our players - everything we do at Royal Ark is for you, and we’ll keep working hard to deliver even more.”
Idle Zombie Miner is free-to-play, and available to play now on Android and iOS.
About GDEV:
GDEV is a gaming and entertainment holding company, focused on development and growth of its franchise portfolio across various genres and platforms. With a diverse range of subsidiaries including Nexters, Cubic Games, Royal Ark and Game Gears, GDEV strives to create games that will inspire and engage millions of players for years to come. Its franchises, such as Hero Wars, Island Hoppers, Pixel Gun 3D, Zombie Miner and others have accumulated over 550 million installs and $2.7 billion of bookings worldwide. For more information, please visit www.gdev.inc.
About Royal Ark:
Royal Ark is a young international gaming company founded by Leonid Sirotin - a game industry veteran with over 20 years of experience and a strong track record of successful projects. Leonid assembled a team of seasoned professionals and built Royal Ark from the ground up. It is part of GDEV. A studio creating and launching the mobile games people have always dreamed of playing. Royal Ark operates independently and on its own terms - with care for players, perfectionism, and relentless attention to detail. Millions of players around the world reaffirm that this approach is the right one.
Summary:
Game: Zombie Miner
Developer: Royal Ark
Publisher: GDEV
Official Sites: royalarkgames.com, www.gdev.inc