Jest, a marketplace for messaging games, is challenging the app store status quo

For years now, erstwhile we deliberation of mobile gaming, we deliberation of app stores. Developers put countless hours, months, oregon adjacent years creating games conscionable to surrender a important portion—up to 30%—of their net to large players similar Apple and Google. However, a newcomer has entered the scene, aiming to revolutionize this model.

Meet Jest, a marketplace for messaging games that precocious emerged from stealth with $7 cardinal successful effect funding. Jest believes that the aboriginal of gaming won’t travel from an app store, but alternatively from close wrong your messaging app. 

Jest’s motorboat coincides with the emergence of Rich Communication Services (RCS), an enhanced mentation of SMS that enables much engaging experiences done affluent media, interactive features, and embedded payments. With RCS making important advancements, the scenery is shifting dramatically. In 2024, Apple joined the RCS question with iOS 18, and by May 2025, RCS was supporting implicit a cardinal messages regular successful the U.S., according to Google.

“Mobile crippled developers person mostly been locked into app store organisation arsenic the superior mode to scope players,” Deyan Vitanov, CEO and co-founder, said successful an interrogation with TechCrunch. “RCS games unrecorded successful the messaging inbox, the stickiest aboveground connected mobile, wherever radical are already spending immense amounts of clip talking to friends and family. We’re gathering connected an enactment signifier radical already usage each day.”

Image Credits:Jest

Jest offers users the quality to nonstop games straight successful their chat threads, without having to sojourn an app store. (Games motorboat successful the web browser and necessitate Wi-Fi to play.) This convenience is peculiarly impactful arsenic consumers are downloading less games. In 2025, mobile games were downloaded 39.4 cardinal times, reflecting an 8.6% year-over-year diminution pursuing a 6.6% driblet from 2023 to 2024, according to Appfigures’ yearly report.

Jest’s strategy is proving effective. By the extremity of January, conscionable 4 months into its beta phase, the level had already achieved 2 important milestones: much than 1,000,000 messaging games played and implicit 300,000 messages exchanged. 

“We’re seeing 3-4 times amended retention than accepted mobile apps. That’s a cardinal displacement successful the engagement curve. On the idiosyncratic acquisition front, we’ve wholly validated that radical volition motion up and play games done messaging, with our aboriginal partners reporting 30-60% little acquisition costs compared to mobile apps. It’s remarkably simple. Just pat connected a link, and you’re in,” Vitanov shared with us.

Image Credits:Jest

Additionally, Jest is not conscionable astir facilitating games wrong messaging; it has built a marketplace specifically designed for these experiences. What’s astir appealing for developers is the gross model: an awesome 90/10 split, with 90% of net going straight to them. This stands successful stark opposition to the emblematic 30% committee taken by accepted app stores, offering a promising caller avenue for gaming studios.

“There’s besides a clever web effect built in. If 1 workplace acquires a idiosyncratic but different workplace monetizes them, we divided the economics: 70% to the monetizing studio, 20% to the acquiring studio, and 10% to Jest. This creates almighty incentives wherever adjacent viral games that don’t monetize good tin make gross streams for their developers erstwhile those users play different games connected the platform,” Vitanov added. 

Notably, Jest has already attracted involvement from respective improvement partners, including teams down fashionable titles specified arsenic “Episode,” “Puppy Mansion,” and “Kingdom Maker.”

The effect funding, led by Innovation Endeavors, volition spell toward scaling the level and onboarding the archetypal radical of gaming studios. 

To further accelerate growth, Jest has besides launched a dedicated Games Fund to enactment studios astatine each signifier of franchise improvement connected the platform.  This money volition deploy superior crossed 3 tiers: $1 cardinal for flagship titles, $200,000 for promising mid-stage titles, and $40,000 for exploratory projects and experimental concepts.

Currently, Jest is unrecorded successful the U.S. and is acceptable to grow to 14 further countries by the 3rd 4th of 2026.