IMG_014 — TEAM, OFF-SITE
8SEC
What 8SEC was
8SEC was a self-publishing mobile games studio built around a simple bet: a small, fast-moving team could out-iterate the market by shipping constantly and letting player data decide what to double down on. Over a decade that approach produced more than 100 games, used as much to find the next breakout concept as to earn revenue in their own right.
The catalog moved with the market — early hyper-casual experiments, then idle and incremental titles, then the more ambitious Hybrid Casual and live-ops games that defined the studio's later years, including a mobile take on the extraction shooter genre with Exfil. Through all of it, the studio stayed self-published and lean, competing for players against teams many times its size.
I personally led every fundraising conversation and investor relationship, raising €5M in total across two equity rounds plus additional debt financing through BPI France. Beyond the business side, I stayed hands-on across game design, creative direction, and technical scoping for the catalog, running the studio's marketing in-house for a stretch of its growth.
Ten years, condensed
Studio founded
Founded 8SEC with co-founder Louis Croquet and raised €225K in initial funding to get the studio off the ground.
Scaling the catalog
Nearly 100 games released across a wide range of genres, pioneering early hyper-casual mechanics. Team scaled to 15 people to support a self-publishing model.
Series funding with Serena
Raised €1.5M with Serena to fund the studio's next stage of growth and product development, with additional support from BPI France.
Trivia.io self-released
Self-published Trivia.io, which went on to reach 35 million players and became the studio's first breakout global hit.
Back-to-back hits
Idle Army and Hero Squad shipped in succession, together defining the studio's approach to the Hybrid Casual genre.
Kwalee invests in Exfil
Secured €1.5M from Kwalee to develop Exfil, bringing the extraction shooter genre to a casual mobile audience, with additional support from BPI France.
End of studio
After a decade of shipping games across two offices, 8SEC closed its doors — capping ten years, 100+ titles, and €5M raised.
The people behind the catalog
Ten years of the day-to-day: heads-down on the studio floor most of the time, with well-deserved off-sites in between. We shared knowledge at conferences and brought the full team to industry events to learn as much as we could.
IMG_021 — STUDIO FLOOR
IMG_022 — AT WORK
IMG_023 — DAILY STANDUP
IMG_024 — SUMMER OFF-SITE
IMG_025 — SPEAKING AT GAME CAMP
IMG_026 — GAME CAMP MEETUP