Interview: Purple Owl Interactive founder, Cenk Akdag, offers sage advice on how to build long-term player satisfaction with honest game design

Since its inception in 2023, Purple Owl Interactive has been at the cutting edge of Mobile Card and Board games. Its titles have ranged from the experimental Duel Dash (a thrilling strategic card game where strategy is needed to outmanoeuvre your opponents in a fast paced adventure) to Spades and Spades Classic.

Now that it has reached its two-year anniversary, we had a conversation with Cenk Akdag about the future of this expanding studio, which began as a solo endeavor but has grown into an intriguing new mobile gaming brand that offers relaxing, enjoyable, and long-lasting gaming experiences.

First off, can you tell us a bit about your personal background in the games industry and how you got your studio started?

I’ve been working in mobile and web games since 2014. Before founding Purple Owl Interactive, I co-founded another game startup called Gamerhook, which gave me early exposure to both the creative and business sides of the industry.

Over the years I’ve published a wide range of titles, both single-player and multiplayer, including classic card and board games, as well as more experimental designs like Duel Dash, Roglide, and Pawslide. That mix helped me understand how to balance familiarity with innovation.

I felt there was room for a studio that focused on simple, honest game design and long-term player satisfaction rather than aggressive monetisation. That became the foundation for Purple Owl Interactive, which I started as a solo developer. Since then, we’ve released multiple classic titles with strong retention and steady growth.

The app stores are crammed with countless classic card and board games. How do your titles distinguish themselves from the rest of the crowd?

We approach differentiation by focusing on the full player journey, starting from user acquisition. Our ads and store pages clearly represent the actual in-game experience, so players know exactly what they’re getting when they install. That early honesty sets the tone.

Inside the game, our priority is comfort and clarity. We design big, readable UI, intuitive controls, and a calm visual style that lets players relax and stay longer. Because of that, our metrics stand out: most of our games have around 1 hour of daily average playtime, and our Day-30 retention reaches levels that many studios only aim for at Day-7.

In short, we listen to what classic-game players really need: a clean, fair experience without pressure. By understanding and prioritizing those needs, we create games that feel familiar, trustworthy, and worth returning to.

How does Purple Owl Interactive position itself within the mobile industry and what are your long term ambitions?

I position Purple Owl Interactive as a studio dedicated to delivering relaxed, fair, and long-lasting classic game experiences. I don’t chase aggressive monetisation tricks or short-term trends; the focus is on building games that feel good to return to every day.

My long-term ambition is to continue producing high-quality titles, reach more players, and grow together with them. I want to build a brand that lasts, where, when people see our logo, they immediately feel confident about the quality of experience they will receive. Over time, the goal is for Purple Owl Interactive to become a trusted name in classic gaming, known for comfort, clarity, and consistency.

What have been the biggest challenges you've faced as an indie studio and what advice would you give to aspiring developers?

One of the biggest challenges is doing everything yourself, from development to marketing to analytics. It takes patience, and you have to stay adaptable as you grow.

I believe I have three recommendations worth sharing:

• Start simple, and keep your structure flexible.
• You don’t have to be like someone else; every studio’s path is different.
• Always keep your doors open to learn, and never stop learning.

If you focus on these, you give yourself room to grow in your own way.

Lastly, what are your thoughts on AI and how has it been used to develop your games?

AI is not the entire solution, but it has become a very helpful companion in development. It improves the workflow by catching mistakes early and speeding up iteration, which makes the development cycle more efficient.

I’m also working on AI systems that can understand player behaviour and adapt the game around them. The idea is to create a familiar emotional experience, something that reminds players of how they felt when playing with friends or family in real life. If AI can replicate that sense of connection in a single-player environment, it can bring classic games closer to the warmth of real human play, without the pressure or toxicity that sometimes comes with multiplayer.

Ever industrious, Purple Own Interactive is continually expanding its portfolio of games, which you can discover on the App Store and Google Play.