Serge Kopov

Sunday Games started as a hobby. In the early years, it wasn’t even a formal company — just a label for the projects I created on my own. The first of these projects, READY SET CAT, began in 2014, during the period after I left i-Free and before I joined HeroCraft. I decided to learn programming with the Unity game engine, and I chose the action casual chain-match puzzle genre because I loved this type of game and because it was realistic to build as a solo developer. The second major project was Dawn of Civilizations, which I developed in 2017, during the period between HeroCraft and 0xGames. These and other projects are described in more detail in the “Projects” section of my LinkedIn profile. Sunday Games became a full-fledged company only in 2020, after 0xGames, when I decided to focus on developing Supernova Shards — a multiplayer space simulator set in a single persistent universe, focused on a realistic economy, sandbox freedom, and survival gameplay. Often referred to as a “user-friendly EVE Online” or “Star Citizen with grounded ambitions.” The idea was born from my successful experience working on 0xUniverse and Space Arena. From the start, I knew this would be a complex and demanding project, full of risks. For the entire team, this was our “dream game.” We believed that if we kept moving forward, no matter the difficulty, we’d get there. A promising concept, detailed design docs, and an experienced team helped us secure an angel round. With that funding, we built a strong single-player prototype that proved engaging for players, allowing us to launch a crowdfunding campaign that attracted over 3,500 backers. This gave us the resources to build a unique multiplayer engine and implement the first gameplay loop. Unfortunately, that still wasn’t enough to attract further investment, and the project had to be put on hold.

In the fall of 2017, CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties appeared on the market, introducing the first ideas of how blockchain could be combined with gaming. I found this incredibly exciting, as I’ve always enjoyed creating innovative products and working in emerging markets. At that time, I met an investor from the crypto space who was eager to experiment in this niche. That’s how 0xGames was born — I co-founded the company and held a minority stake. In a very short time and with a minimal budget, I managed to assemble a team and create 0xUniverse — a game that in 2018–2019 became one of the most popular blockchain titles in the world on Ethereum and Polygon, outperforming CryptoKitties and Axie Infinity. This success motivated the company’s owner to pursue further growth, and we launched the development of three additional games: 0xWarriors, 0xRacers, and 0xBattleships. However, by the end of 2019, the blockchain market entered a downturn, and the owner lost interest in further investment, leaving the team without funding. For several more years, I continued to support the projects and look for new investors, but despite my efforts, we were unable to secure new funding, and the company had to close.

Before I joined, the company’s publishing processes were unstructured. Under my leadership, we established a systematic approach, and began to develop the publishing division as a strategic direction. I assembled a team of producers, and together we scouted for promising titles and supported their successful release to market. For example, at one of the industry conferences, I noted the potential of Space Arena. Thanks to our focused production efforts, the game achieved a high LTV and continues to generate significant revenue for the publisher to this day. Another case is Tap Tap Builder, which, with our support, went on to achieve millions of downloads. More details are available in the “Projects” section of my LinkedIn profile.

When I decided to leave Everfriends, I noticed that the company had started its own mobile games publishing division. Joining it felt like a natural next step. As a producer, my role was to scout promising early-stage developer teams and help them grow into fully-fledged studios. i-Free was willing to invest, and I was responsible for pitching each project to the internal investment committee. The publishing division was later spun off into a separate company, Zillion Whales. Over 2 years, I worked closely with 5 teams. For example, in collaboration with Laika Boss, we launched Road Smash, which attracted 10m+ players and eventually led to a sequel. Another example is Mushroom Wars, for which we developed the sequel — a game that remains successful to this day. More details are available in the “Projects” section of my LinkedIn profile. In addition to new projects, I also sourced games from European markets and introduced them to our colleagues in the Chinese division, where I serve as producer too. A key part of this work was bridging cultural differences to ensure smooth cooperation. Through this approach, we published many games — the most prominent partnership being with ZeptoLab, known for its global hits Cut the Rope and Pudding Monsters. Localization for these titles went far beyond standard SDK integration and translation; it also involved adapting the monetization model. I developed the concept for their f2p versions and led its implementation.

I joined i-Free as the product lead for the Everfriends project. This was before Siri — a time when the idea of a personal assistant that could understand natural language, complete tasks, and act as a friendly companion was still ahead of its time. Together with the CEO, we shared a strong belief in the potential of such a product. Over the next two years, I grew the team from just 2 people to 30. We tackled the then largely unexplored challenges of speech synthesis, understanding, and generation, and successfully turned the concept into a profitable, revenue-generating product. But as voice assistants became a built-in part of mobile operating systems, platform vendors began restricting third-party access to key system features. This shift significantly limited the product’s future potential. Over time, I came to believe that the original vision could no longer be fully realized — and made the decision to move on. Fortunately, the AI technologies we developed at the time laid the foundation for JustAI, a company that continues to thrive, creating virtual assistants for business.

Game development was never a primary focus for Flysoft, but a few titles were created as part of an experimental initiative. I was excited to finally get the chance to make my first game! I chose to develop a puzzle game with a premium monetization model — both because it fit the trends at the time and because it matched the very limited budget available. The result was an engaging game that caught the attention of Chillingo, the leading mobile game publisher at the time. Although the game had a relatively modest release, I truly valued the experience — it sparked my lasting interest in gamedev and made me eager to explore it further.

Recognizing my leadership skills and sense of responsibility, I was entrusted with leading one of the new projects at SMS-BOX. Over the course of 4 years, I managed the release of 23 apps for J2ME and 4 for iOS. The series achieved tremendous success, consistently ranking among the top 3 highest-grossing value-added service (VAS) apps on the Russian market. As I gained more management experience, I began overseeing a broader range of projects, including: - iRusRadio, the #1 music app on the Russian App Store; - Appbum, an innovative series of music apps developed in collaboration with popular artists, including Mumiy Troll; - Jimm2009, an alternative ICQ client that boldly captured a significant market share. More details are available in the “Projects” section of my LinkedIn profile.

I started as a content manager. Then I was entrusted with testing J2ME apps. Thanks to my responsible attitude to work, I quickly proved that I can do more.