WN Istanbul’26 took place in Turkey. We share the results

What the report says

Events 25.06.2026 17:41 25.06.2026 17:41 Ekaterina Gaifullina Published by Ekaterina Gaifullina Tags:WN Istanbul'26Last week, WN Istanbul’26 took place in Istanbul — the tenth anniversary Turkish event for game developers and publishers organized by WN Media Group. Here’s what happened at the event.FeedbackIn total, 510 representatives from various companies attended WN Istanbul’26. The event featured employees from PlaySide Studios, Rovio Entertainment, Rollic Games, ByteDance, Nutaku, Firstpoint VC, Finz Games, and many other organizations.The guests of WN Istanbul’26 were pleased with the event.WN Istanbul was a great opportunity for Lorien Accelerator and our founders.

We showcased our portfolio, supported five additional game studios, and saw them connect with investors, publishers, platform holders, and industry leaders. The event also gave us the chance to contribute through roundtables, panel discussions, and the Indie Pitch jury. WN continues to be one of those rare events that truly brings the games ecosystem together, and we’re always proud to be part of it.Dilara KececiFounding Partner & CEO of Lorien AcceleratorWN Istanbul was a great experience. We made many valuable new connections, and the Indie Pitch was a real highlight. The Radisson was an excellent venue, especially with the convenience of going straight from the conference to the party, while also being close to the city center.

The networking party was fantastic as well—everything was very well organized, and we really enjoyed the event.Daniil KolesnikovHead of Business Development at HeroCraftWN Istanbul was two inspiring days of insightful conversations, new connections, and meaningful exchanges with professionals from across the gaming industry. Meeting developers, publishers, investors, and other industry experts provided fresh perspectives and new ideas. Many thanks to the WN team for bringing the community together in such a well-organized event.Alpaslan Kemal PehlivanliBusiness Development Specialist at Oyun Sektörü EtkinlikleriWN Istanbul was a great event with valuable talks, meaningful meetings, and plenty of spontaneous conversations that turned into great opportunities.

Key details

Thanks to the WN Events team for another well-organized conference in Istanbul.Alex SiamantasCo-founder & CEO of Holyday StudiosWN Istanbul was a highly valuable experience for us. As an early-stage mobile game studio, we had the opportunity to showcase Brick City Wars, connect with publishers, investors, and industry experts, and receive direct feedback from the global games market. The quality of the meetings helped us better understand partner expectations, define the next steps for the project, and open the door to future collaborations.Yetkin Sal and Efeberk AkgulCEO and CTOC of Nora GamesProgramWN Istanbul’26 spanned two days — June 18 and 19.

This year, the event placed a significant emphasis on networking. Traditional lectures gave way to group work and roundtable discussions, allowing participants to deeply engage in topics of interest.Some discussions drew particular attention. For instance:The roundtable “From Copilot to Co-author: Generative AI in Modern Game Production.” It was supported by ByteDance, with Bora Özkut, a solutions architect in the field of generative artificial intelligence at BytePlus, serving as the moderator;The roundtable “Harnessing Desires: Engagement, Spending Predictability, and Compliance in Adult Game Development.” It was led by Andrey Postnikov, a senior business development specialist at Nutaku.

Sponsored by Passion Panda Publishing;The Q&A session “Stylized AA/Indie Games vs. Major Franchises,” during which PlaySide Studios’ VP of Business Development, Ozgur Ozalp, answered questions about working on the black-and-white cartoon shooter MOUSE: P.I. For Hire;The panel discussion “Scaling Mobile Games in 2026: Creativity, Brand, and Community as Growth Drivers,” featuring Chris Lefevre from ByteBrew, Jane Anderson from Rollic Games, Isil Eralp from Rovio Entertainment, and Abdus Samad from Finz Games.The event also featured other activities. For example, a private event session with GameXCap took place successfully, along with a Happy Hour, prize drawings, a poolside networking dinner supported by Green Code, an exhibition of games from independent developers, and an indie pitch.

More from the announcement

Let’s focus a bit more on the latter two.ShowcaseThe developer exhibition — showcase — featured 48 teams. Attendees could meet and talk with them, and play most of the projects they presented.The majority of games at the showcase (83%) are being developed for PC. Many teams (52%) also plan to release their games on mobile devices. The share of games being prepared for consoles was 35%. Note that some exhibition participants are working on multi-platform titles, hence the total percentage exceeds 100.In terms of engines, Unity remains the most popular, with a 60% share.

Unreal Engine takes second place with 32%.Indie PitchRecall that an indie pitch is a separate presentation during which independent developers showcase their games to experts.