INTERVIEW – From Survival Struggles to Idle Dominance: How Royal Ark and GDEV Built a $3m Month Mobile Hit

Royal Ark, the studio behind Dawn of Zombies and Zombie Miner, has established a reputation for itself in the survival and mid-core mobile game genre over the years. Known for its innovative gameplay and dedication to quality, the studio has also worked closely with GDEV to expand its reach and refine its games.

To learn more about their journey, the challenges they faced, their partnership with GDEV, and their vision for the future, we sat for an interview with Andrey Garbuzov, Game Director of Royal Ark, who shared insights into how the studio evolved and grew in the mobile gaming industry.

Delving into Royal Ark, the studio behind Dawn of Zombies

Before Royal Ark signed its first major deal with GDEV, the studio had already made a name for itself with its first product, Dawn of Zombies, which was quite independent and well-known in its niche. Andrey explained, “It happened roughly 7 years ago, in 2018. We consider that to be the year Royal Ark was born as a studio.”

He added that the team at the time was very young in terms of experience. “Of course, there were industry veterans among us, but for the guys who developed Dawn of Zombies at the time, it was the first game of their lives. And right away, quite a heavy survival title.”

Survival games are notoriously tough from a development, technology, design, and art perspective, but Andrey pointed out that they’re also a great way for newcomers to learn quickly. “Such games pack in a maximum number of mechanics to try out, and the type of players who enjoy them tend to forgive design mistakes.”

He credited Leonid Sirotin, the company’s founder, for driving the project. “That passion outweighed the team’s lack of experience at the time,” he said. “We worked extremely hard on it, sometimes too hard. Our goal was to deliver a ‘Stalker’ vibe on mobile devices. And we absolutely managed to do that.” At its peak, Dawn of Zombies was in the top 3 in its genre globally.

Andrey described the team’s achievement: “We were, you could say, the only ones who managed to really gain a foothold in the genre, bring something new, and showcase fresh solutions. We were even the first to integrate Battle mechanics into survival games. Perhaps that’s partly why it was easier for us to find common ground with GDEV, as the creators of Hero Wars. GDEV took notice of us.”

Talking GDEV partnership, rebuilding the studio, and rethinking strategy

The deal with GDEV came in January 2022, right before a major geopolitical crisis. Andrey recalled, “Instead of executing our plans to build a gamedev hub in southern Russia, we had to restructure the company and all processes urgently. The team relocated to Armenia within a month, we opened an office from scratch, and found ourselves in a situation where the unit economics as we previously understood it no longer worked.”

He described multiple challenges, noting that costs had risen, the geopolitical situation and industry crisis had shaken up the market, and marketing dynamics had shifted drastically. He added that from a performance marketing perspective, the survival genre had practically stopped existing, with very low purchase rates and extremely aggressive bidding.

Faced with a critical decision, Andrey explained, “We stood at a fork in the road, what to do next? What game to make? We picked three possible directions and, almost unanimously, voted for a simple idle/clicker game.” He tells about how they picked a reference. “We knew the market, knew what we could do, and understood the reference. Our task was to make a better game, to rethink what was currently on the market.”

He added, “I had been fascinated by the idea of making a complex mobile Stalker-like game with Dawn of Zombies, but in terms of mobile gaming, I had always wanted to create something comfortable and non-aggressive from a player-loss standpoint – a kind of ‘safe space’ in your pocket. Something you open thinking, ‘Let’s see what my little guys are doing – I’ll give them a hand, get deeper into the mines, complete an event.’ A meditative, calming gameplay loop – something I had always wanted to do.”

Andrey shared a funny personal anecdote, “Recently, there was a funny moment: my wife plays our game a lot, and I noticed her talking to herself while opening the game – ‘Well, what are my guys up to? Time to help them.’ That’s when it clicked for me: we’d made it.”

Building Zombie Miner and crafting a safe space for players

Andrey explained that the development of Zombie Miner began when he sat down with Eugene, their executive producer, to map out the entire game. It was a challenging moment, as the team was used to constant player feedback but now had six months without outside signals.

“So we created a policy where each update was treated like a release – only for ourselves as ‘players.’ We wrote feedback on each update. Every update had to be clean, no obvious bugs or messy elements,” he said.

Andrey described the additional challenge of marketing, which had to be built from scratch. Dawn of Zombies had relied heavily on organic traffic, but now they had no existing marketing base. “I used to think making the game was the hard part, but it turned out that building marketing was even harder,” he said.

Over the course of a year, they developed what Andrey believes is a strong marketing department. “There’s still a lot to learn and improve, but GDEV supported us constantly, sharing expertise. The goal was to create a product with a clear unit economy: pay X to acquire a user, get Y back, and scale accordingly.”

He noted that by January 2024, they exited the semi-soft launch and have been growing nonstop since. GDEV joked, “Ah, if only everyone had your problems!” Andrey smiled, acknowledging that aggressive growth is challenging. “You don’t have the luxury of long analysis, there’s no historical data, and decisions must be made fast. We made mistakes on the go, but also good calls.”

Standing out in the idle game market

Andrey emphasized that from the very beginning, Royal Ark focused on how players interact with the game, down to the tiniest tactile details. “We never took the ‘we’ll fix the touch or comfort later’ approach. From the very first version, the game had to feel better to play than anything else on the market.”

He also highlighted their LiveOps approach, which includes events designed to keep players engaged. Zombie Miner now averages 110 minutes of daily playtime per player, among the best in the genre.

The team introduced several unique features not found in competitors’ games, including relics tied partly to player competition and multiple competition mechanics. Players are aware they are not alone, with friends and gift exchange mechanics that are rare for idle games.

Even standard event formats are enhanced with hidden mechanics, such as a Christian Easter event where players had to extract rabbits from eggs in a specific sequence. He adds to this: “We see players finding and engaging with these hidden systems. It’s all part of the long-term flow – keeping players entertained while they wait, motivating collection, and boosting retention.”

Scaling success and numbers

Andrey reflected on the studio’s growth, recalling that a year ago, he dreamed of reaching $1M in monthly revenue. Upon achieving that milestone, he realized it was time to aim higher. “Our global goal is to eventually join the top tier of casual games, which I believe starts around $10 million per month. That’s still a way off.” Currently, revenue sits at $3.5 to 4M per month, with a target to stabilize at $5M next.

He explained that Zombie Miner is already a hybrid game, combining idle and Match-2 mechanics, and emphasized that the future of mobile gaming lies in hybridization. “There’s no more pure Match-2, Match-3, or Idle management. It’s all hybrids: Match-3 with Idle, RPG with Idle, Social Casino with Idle, and so on.”

Understanding mid-2025 game development

Andrey discussed the opportunities and challenges in game development, noting that limited time and resources make it even more complex as industry boundaries expand. “The market is saying: games now are a ‘rest and entertainment’ service, offering a mix of emotions in one title – from ASMR relaxation to competitive time pressure to exploration.”

He added that this environment is both a gateway to the big leagues and a place where developers can crash hard if metrics or market signals are misread.

Future goals for Royal Ark, AI adoption, and rapid growth

Looking ahead, the studio’s long-term goal is to create a superhit, with mid-term objectives focused on solidifying its current niche. Andrey acknowledged the risks of aggressive growth, where rapid success can be fleeting, and said they frequently discuss future goals.

Beyond one game, the studio aims to consistently take existing concepts and improve them without spreading focus too thin. “If features or A/B tests yield no change, that’s a sign to consider a new product or a mini-pivot,” he said. While Dawn of Zombies remains supported, the primary focus is Zombie Miner, one of the fastest-growing products in the industry.

Andrey highlighted that Royal Ark has a dedicated AI department handling optimization and automation across analytics, marketing, art, and other teams. “Some features wouldn’t exist without AI. Tasks that once wouldn’t make the roadmap now fit thanks to AI’s speed.”

The studio fully utilizes tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, Krea, C-Line, and Perplexity. He estimated that some processes sped up by 40–50%, art creation doubled in speed, and hypothesis testing accelerated by approximately 50%.

For rapid growth, Andrey explained that it relies on a combination of factors: product strategy targeting specific metrics such as D7 retention and day-3 ARPPU, tight collaboration between analytics and product teams, a strong marketing team, and luck, which he acknowledged plays a role in gamedev.

Process improvement and structure with hiring and vision

He shared that improving forecast accuracy is a key focus, with product and marketing teams saturated with data so designers and UA specialists can self-serve in dashboards without analyst involvement. This structure ensures responsibility stays with those driving growth. The company is divided into small teams, each with specific tasks, KPIs, and reporting, starting from the problems they aim to solve.

Andrey emphasized that the key to their marketing success has been hiring people who are stronger than the current team, in other words, the studio is focused on strengthening its marketing department. He noted that Royal Ark aims to continue growing Zombie Miner and wants to see the studio’s games featured in articles, discussed at conferences, mentioned in the media, and receiving positive reviews from players.

The team constantly studies the market, explores concepts, and tracks signals. Some of their old concepts resembled popular games, but they focus on making them their own. Maintaining focus on the team and strategy is an ongoing process.

Andrey concluded, “When we see that all this benefits our games and flagship title, and that the team is happy with the results, that’s when we know the challenges are worth it, and we keep moving forward to make the best product for our players.”

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