Jest, a market for messaging video games, is difficult the app retailer establishment

For years now, once we consider cellular gaming, we consider app shops. Developers make investments numerous hours, months, and even years creating video games simply to give up a good portion — as much as 30% — of their earnings to main gamers like Apple and Google. However, a newcomer has entered the scene, aiming to revolutionize this mannequin.

Meet Jest, a market for messaging video games that not too long ago emerged from stealth with $7 million in seed funding. Jest believes that the way forward for cellular gaming distribution received’t come from an app retailer, however slightly from inside the messaging app. 

Jest’s launch coincides with the rise of Rich Communication Services (RCS), an enhanced model of SMS that permits extra partaking experiences by wealthy media, interactive options, and embedded funds. 

With RCS adoption rising, the panorama is shifting. In 2024, Apple joined the RCS motion with iOS 18, and by May 2025, RCS was supporting over a billion messages each day within the U.S., in line with Google.

“Mobile game developers have largely been locked into app store distribution as the primary way to reach players,” Deyan Vitanov, CEO and co-founder, stated in an interview with TechCrunch. “RCS games live in the messaging inbox, the stickiest surface on mobile, where people are already spending huge amounts of time talking to friends and family. We’re building on an interaction pattern people already use every day.”

Jest presents customers the flexibility to ship video games instantly of their chat threads, with out having to go to an app retailer. (Games launch within the internet browser and require Wi-Fi to play.)

This comfort is especially impactful as customers are downloading fewer video games. In 2025, cellular video games have been downloaded 39.4 billion occasions, reflecting an 8.6% year-over-year decline following a 6.6% drop from 2023 to 2024, in line with Appfigures’ annual report.

Jest’s technique is proving efficient. By the top of January, simply 4 months into its beta part, the platform had already achieved two vital milestones: greater than 1 million messaging video games performed and over 300,000 messages exchanged. 

“We’re seeing 3-4 times better retention than traditional mobile apps. That’s a fundamental shift in the engagement curve. On the user acquisition front, we’ve completely validated that people will sign up and play games through messaging, with our early partners reporting 30-60% lower acquisition costs compared to mobile apps. It’s remarkably simple. Just tap on a link, and you’re in,” Vitanov shared with us.

Additionally, what’s most interesting about Jest’s market is the income mannequin for builders: a powerful 90/10 cut up, with 90% of earnings going on to them. This stands in distinction to the everyday 30% fee taken by conventional app shops, providing a promising new avenue for gaming studios.

“There’s also a clever network effect built in. If one studio acquires a user but another studio monetizes them, we split the economics: 70% to the monetizing studio, 20% to the acquiring studio, and 10% to Jest. This creates powerful incentives where even viral games that don’t monetize well can generate revenue streams for their developers when those users play other games on the platform,” Vitanov added. 

Notably, Jest has already attracted curiosity from a number of improvement companions, together with groups behind in style titles corresponding to “Episode,” “Puppy Mansion,” and “Kingdom Maker.”

The seed funding, led by Innovation Endeavors, will go towards scaling the platform and onboarding the primary group of gaming studios. 

To additional speed up development, Jest has additionally launched a devoted Games Fund to help studios at each stage of franchise improvement on the platform.  This fund will deploy capital throughout three tiers: $1 million for flagship titles, $200,000 for promising mid-stage titles, and $40,000 for exploratory tasks and experimental ideas.

Currently, Jest is reside within the U.S. and is about to broaden to 14 extra international locations by the third quarter of 2026.