Three People, Three Games, and a Lot in Between: The Playfocus – SayGames Story

At first glance, Playfocus’ trajectory appears straightforward: a small team with an early global release, steady growth and three launched games in three years. 

King or Fail surpassed 22 million installs, followed by Renovation Day, which crossed 4 million downloads shortly after its autumn 2025 launch. In early 2026, the studio released its latest project, Royal Lands. Behind this seemingly linear path lies a more complex process, shaped by long-term priorities, a series of decisions, and a partnership that evolved alongside the studio.

Playfocus started working with SayGames as a three-person team, refining its production setup and testing ideas at scale. The collaboration was built around fast, iterative development and early testing rather than large scale projects with long production cycles.

The Early Stage: Building a Game Before Building a Studio

Before founding Playfocus, Alexander Barabash had spent many years in game development, working as a designer, producer, and product owner within larger companies. In early 2022, he decided to build a smaller, more focused team dedicated to making games players would genuinely enjoy. He brought together a three-person team, and they began rapid prototyping from the outset.

Alexander Barabash, CEO & Founder of Playfocus:

“We started working with SayGames through a three-month trial period to see how well we aligned. During that time, we shipped weekly updates and steadily improved the game’s metrics using the publisher’s feedback and analytics tools. By the end of the sprint, it was clear to both sides that the collaboration worked.”

For SayGames, this early phase was about much more than evaluating a prototype. The publisher became closely involved in shaping the foundations of the project — from concept and USP to broader development strategy.

Alexander Shmyrov, Producer at SayGames:

“Several producers were involved from the start — regularly playing builds, running brainstorming sessions, and suggesting actionable changes to progression, combat, and meta-progression structure. This level of collaboration continued for almost a year before the first global launch.”

King or Fail Release: Investment & Team Scaling

The first Playfocus global release was King or Fail. At that point, the studio was still a three-person team, working closely with the publisher for production, analytics, and strategic support.

For many teams, this moment becomes a turning point — and often a difficult one. A game may be live globally, but its full potential is still ahead. Monetisation is only beginning to take shape, content depth remains limited, and live operations require dedicated resources. At the same time, the team itself needs to grow.

Anton Volnykh, Chief Publishing Officer at SayGames:

“This is where a strategic publisher approach to team growth becomes critical. It requires long-term thinking and, importantly, financial investment. The first global launch showed us that Playfocus was a highly capable and strategically minded studio. Investing in the team became a natural next step in supporting their sustainable development and long-term scalability.”

Following the launch, publisher support expanded beyond production expertise. Legal, operational, and recruitment assistance were added as the focus shifted from shipping a single title to building a sustainable studio structure. The central question was no longer whether Playfocus could release a game, but whether it could scale responsibly.

Alexander Barabash:

“The investment allowed us to hire additional specialists and plan a more structured roadmap. About a year later, when we started working on Renovation Day, the studio had grown to six people and split into two small teams — one focused on live operations, the other on the new project. By September 2025, we had grown to nine specialists.”

Renovation Day: A Test of Scale

The studio’s second project, Renovation Day, marked a shift in both theme and scale. Unlike the fantasy-driven setting of King or Fail, the game was built around a broad, everyday concept — home renovation and familiar domestic routines. The viability of this direction was tested early together with SayGames, and the concept quickly showed strong results in user acquisition.

That broader appeal, however, also changed the scope of the project. Compared to the studio’s first release, Renovation Day demanded more content, deeper systems, and a higher production load — something that inevitably put pressure on a still-growing team.

Alexander Shmyrov:

“Renovation Day had — and still has — a lot of potential. It performed very efficiently in user acquisition because of its broad, familiar setting. The game turned out to be larger than what the team at the time could comfortably handle, but that’s the best problem to have! We’re addressing it by hiring and gradually strengthening production.”

For Playfocus, Renovation Day became a point where growth stopped being theoretical. The question was no longer whether the game worked, but how far it could be developed — and what kind of studio structure was needed to support that trajectory.

Alexander Barabash:

“For us, Renovation Day still feels like the beginning. Retention and playtime are strong, and user acquisition payback is fast by market standards. But the genre demands a lot of content.

Our goal is to scale up — expand gameplay, deepen the economy, add characters, storylines, and a sense of a living environment. These are the elements idle arcade games often lack, but they’re essential for long-term engagement.”

Efficiency, Analytics, and Founder Vision

One of Playfocus’ defining traits is its operational efficiency. Even at early stages, with modest budgets and a small team, the studio managed to deliver consistent results.

Alexander Shmyrov:

“With very limited resources at the beginning, Alexander Barabash managed to build a sustainable business. He has a rare ability to turn constraints into a working economy.”

That efficiency is closely tied to Barabash’s analytical approach. From the outset, development decisions were grounded in data: dashboards, A/B tests, monetization metrics, and detailed analysis of player behavior. Marketing considerations were part of the process from day one — how the game would appear in creatives, what messages resonated in ads, and how trends and platform algorithms shaped player expectations.

That clarity of vision plays a central role in how the team works.

Alexander Barabash:

“A clear product vision makes a huge difference. When the Product Owner knows exactly what they want — and can articulate it — the team moves faster with fewer iterations. Even at high speed, we document concepts, describe use cases, and think through how mechanics behave in different scenarios. Whenever possible, we give designers and the Product Owner tools to build and tune mechanics directly in the game, test ideas hands-on, and adjust quickly. When the person behind the idea can implement it themselves, development becomes much more efficient.”

At the same time, the publisher deliberately worked to balance this highly analytical mindset. While early prototypes were precise and mechanically sound, they often leaned toward minimalism and hyper-casual simplicity.

Alexander Shmyrov:

“We tried to balance Barabash’s analytical producer approach — and he listened. One of our initial requests was quite abstract: to improve the game’s production value so it simply feels better to play. When you’re strongly metric-driven, it’s not always obvious how to measure that kind of player enjoyment. Over time, the project changed significantly. Today, it’s on a very different level — cleaner visuals, better look and feel, clearer UX, and a sense of production value that players are willing to stick with longer and pay for.”

Playfocus’s Step-by-Step Approach to Game Development

At Playfocus, development is treated as a continuous, structured process — spanning from early validation to live operations. As a project evolves, the team gradually shifts from assumptions and internal hypotheses to real player behavior and market signals. At every stage, the priority is to understand how players actually interact with the game — and where sustainable growth can realistically come from.

Alexander Barabash:

“Being part of the SayGames ecosystem makes this process much stronger. We can compare benchmarks across multiple partner studios, share insights, and learn from a large pool of launches. This shared context helps us quickly identify our strengths, spot growth points, and decide which hypotheses are worth testing first — often saving weeks of trial and error.”

Playfocus approaches development as a structured progression, moving step by step from core fundamentals to more complex systems.

1. Core engagement and retention
   The team starts with the basics: playtime and D1–D3 retention. If players stay engaged and return regularly, it’s a sign that the core loop is working as intended.
2. Early monetization signals
   The No Ads purchase is treated as an important indicator. When players choose it, it usually means they are genuinely invested in the game and want a smoother, more comfortable experience.
3. Rewarded ads
   Once core engagement is stable, the focus shifts to rewarded advertising. For this layer to work, the game needs a balanced economy with valuable resources and clear constraints.
   If players are willing to watch ads for boosts or currency, it indicates that the system creates real value — while also allowing the team to reduce reliance on interstitials and improve overall experience.
4. In-app purchase system
   The next step is developing a structured IAP offering: ad removal, starter packs, resource bundles, premium currency, and other options.
   When conversion metrics look healthy, the economy is gradually deepened and the variety of offers expanded in a controlled way.
5. Long-term retention and content depth
   Long-term retention remains one of the biggest challenges in idle arcade games. To address this, Playfocus actively experiments with ways to keep players engaged over weeks and months.
   This requires a steady flow of high-quality, varied content, a world worth exploring, and a clear sense of progression — with goals that feel meaningful rather than repetitive.
6. Events and social mechanics (looking ahead)
   Events, competitions, and social features are still relatively rare in the idle arcade genre. Playfocus sees them as a natural next step — and expects these mechanics to become standard elements of idle arcade games in the coming years.

Looking Ahead

Playfocus’ latest release, Royal Lands, has only recently reached global launch. Installations are already approaching one million, and the game currently holds a 4.9 rating in the store.

The studio has ambitious plans for continued growth: building a portfolio of five active games and maintaining a consistent approach across production, release, and live operations.