Jest, a messaging game marketplace, is challenging the status quo of the app store

For years now, when we think of mobile games, we think of app stores. Developers invest hours, months, or years creating games only to hand over a significant portion—up to 30%—of their profits to big players like Apple and Google. However, a new person has entered the scene, aiming to change this model.

Meet Jest, a messaging games marketplace that just came out of hiding with $7 million in seed funding. Jest believes that the future of games won’t come from the app store, but right inside your messaging app.

Jest’s launch coincides with the rise of Rich Communication Services (RCS), an enhanced version of SMS that enables more engaging experiences with rich media, interactive features, and embedded payments. As RCS makes major advances, the landscape is changing dramatically. In 2024, Apple joined the RCS organization with iOS 18, and by May 2025, RCS was supporting more than a billion messages every day in the US, according to Google.

“Mobile game developers are largely confined to app store distribution as the primary way to reach players,” said Deyan Vitanov, CEO and co-founder, in an interview with TechCrunch. “RCS games live in the message inbox, the most sticky place on mobile, where people already spend a lot of time talking to friends and family. We’re building on the communication patterns that people already use every day.”

Jest gives users the ability to send games directly to their chat thread, without visiting the app store. (Games start in a web browser and require Wi-Fi to play.) This convenience is especially impactful as consumers download fewer games. In 2025, mobile games were downloaded 39.4 billion times, representing an 8.6% year-over-year decline following a 6.6% decline from 2023 to 2024, according to Appfigures’ annual report.

Jest’s strategy seems to be working. By the end of January, only four months into its beta phase, the platform had reached two important milestones: more than 1,000,000 messaging games played and more than 300,000 messages exchanged.

“We see 3-4 times better retention than standard mobile apps. That’s a significant change in the communication curve. Before user acquisition, we absolutely guaranteed that people would register and play games by sending messages, and our previous partners reported 30-60% lower acquisition costs compared to mobile apps. Vitanov’ shared the link with us surprisingly.

Additionally, Jest isn’t just about making games within messages; create a marketplace designed for these voices. Most attractive to developers is the revenue model: an impressive 90/10 split, with 90% of the profits going directly to them. This is in stark contrast to the standard 30% commission taken by traditional app stores, offering a promising new approach for game studios.

“And there is a clever network effect built in. If one studio finds a user but another studio monetizes him, we split the economy: 70% to the monetizing studio, 20% to the studio that earns, and 10% to Jest. This creates powerful incentives where even risky games that don’t monetize well can produce Vitanov games for other developers on the streaming platform.”

Notably, Jest has already attracted interest from several development partners, including teams with popular titles such as “The Episode,” “Puppy Mansion,” and “Kingdom Maker.”

The seed funding, led by Innovation Endeavors, will develop the platform and tap into the first group of game studios.

To accelerate growth, Jest also launched a dedicated Games Fund to support studios in all stages of development of platform franchises. The fund will invest in companies in three categories: $1 million for flagship titles, $200,000 for promising mid-stage titles, and $40,000 for pilot projects and test concepts.

Currently, Jest is live in the US and is expected to expand to 14 countries by the third quarter of 2026.