The Investment Office reported Flow Games’ USD 49 million total funding in October 2026, illustrating continued investor interest in Turkish gaming. A funding headline, however, says little about another studio’s investment readiness. The diligence priority is to establish who owns the game, who controls commercialisation and whether the company can retain its team and revenue after investment.
Build the intellectual property chain
Map source code, artwork, music, characters, tools and third-party libraries to their creators and governing agreements. Check employee and contractor documents separately; payment for work is not a substitute for verifying the necessary rights. Identify assets created before incorporation or held personally by founders. Review open-source and licensed asset conditions with technical counsel, and require missing assignments or permissions to be resolved before relying on the catalogue’s value.
Understand publisher economics and control
Read revenue waterfalls, recoupment, marketing commitments and termination provisions together. Gross game receipts may differ substantially from cash available to the studio. Establish who owns player accounts, storefront access and analytics, and what happens when the publishing relationship ends. Check whether an investment or change of control needs consent. Model a scenario in which a publisher reduces marketing spend or disputes the next milestone.
Test user data and platform dependencies
Map the personal data collected by the game and the advertising, analytics and hosting providers receiving it. The Turkish data protection framework includes specific cross-border transfer requirements; a general statement of GDPR compliance does not answer every Turkish-law question. Review age-related design choices and platform policies relevant to the actual game. Identify who can restore services if a founder’s personal account controls a critical platform.
Align founder incentives with investor rights
Agree the use of proceeds, reporting, reserved decisions and future funding process. Address founder departures and any vesting or repurchase arrangement with attention to the company form and enforceability. Avoid giving every investor a veto over routine product decisions; reserve protection for material actions. Record how related-party development services, new intellectual property and competing projects will be approved and owned.
Make the investment conditions measurable
Tie funding conditions to concrete evidence: executed rights documents, publisher consent, reconciled revenue statements and a complete capitalisation table. If funding is staged, define milestones within the company’s control and provide an objective acceptance process. Protect sensitive code and personal data during diligence with proportionate access. After closing, maintain a rights register and contract calendar so the next financing does not repeat unresolved ownership questions.
Investor checklist
- Code and creative asset ownership records.
- Publisher revenue waterfall and change-of-control terms.
- Platform access and personal data flows.
- Founder commitments and a reconciled cap table.
- Objective funding conditions and post-closing controls.
For transaction-specific support, see our intellectual property services and M&A transaction advisory.
Continue with: Data Center Investment in Turkey: Land, Power, Permits and Customer Contracts; Korean–Turkish Industrial Joint Ventures: Legal Issues Before Signing.
Frequently asked questions
Does paying a contractor prove ownership of all game assets?
No. Review the rights documents and the scope of any assignment or licence.
Can a publisher agreement restrict an investment?
It may contain consent or change-of-control provisions; review the executed agreement.
Is revenue the same as cash available to shareholders?
No. Recoupment, platform fees, operating expenses and distribution rules can materially change the amount.
