PeopleFun

Creator of one of the top-grossing casual word games globally (Wordscapes), operating as a studio under AppLovin's portfolio

PeopleFun was a mobile game development studio founded in 2012 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company specialized in casual mobile games, with a particular focus on word puzzle games that appealed to a broad, mainstream audience. Its flagship title, Wordscapes, became a massive hit on both iOS and Android platforms, consistently ranking among the top downloaded and top-grossing word games in app stores worldwide. The game's blend of crossword-style puzzles with scenic nature backgrounds helped it stand out in a crowded casual gaming market. In 2018, AppLovin Corporation acquired PeopleFun, integrating the studio into its growing portfolio of mobile game studios under the Lion Studios and later broader AppLovin Games umbrella. The acquisition was part of AppLovin's strategy to build a diversified portfolio of high-performing mobile games that could leverage its own advertising and monetization platform, MAX, to drive revenue. PeopleFun's titles, especially Wordscapes, provided AppLovin with a proven, high-retention user base and strong in-app advertising and in-app purchase revenue streams. Following the acquisition, PeopleFun continued to operate as a studio under AppLovin's ownership, maintaining and expanding its game catalog. Wordscapes remained one of the most successful casual word games in the mobile market, with hundreds of millions of downloads globally. The studio's success exemplified the synergy between mobile game development and programmatic advertising technology, as AppLovin used its own ad network and mediation tools to monetize PeopleFun's titles at scale.