Ricochet Squad leads Cyprus studio’s push into global market

Limassol-based gaming company Nice Plans Studio announced this week that it raised $3 million in a new funding round to support the development and scaling of its upcoming mobile shooter, Ricochet Squad.

The funding round was led by the family office Pixeldog, with $600,000 contributed by the studio’s founders.

The funds will be used to further develop Ricochet Squad, which the studio said has already achieved product-market fit and is outperforming its predecessor on key metrics.

The founding team previously built Tacticool, a mobile-native shooter that generated $90 million in revenue and was named by Google Play as one of the top five competitive mobile games of 2019.

Moreover, the company mentioned that Tacticool has been downloaded more than 30 million times.

According to Nice Plans Studio, Ricochet Squad has exceeded Tacticool’s performance during its soft launch, showing stronger average revenue per user (ARPU), improved player retention, and more effective early monetisation.

In 2024, the game doubled early retention rates to match benchmarks for the top mobile shooters.

By 2025, it achieved a player-to-payer conversion rate of 4 to 5 per cent on day one, which the studio said places it near the top of its genre.

Thousands of players are already joining Ricochet Squad, which aims to offer a fresh alternative to shooters focused on precision aiming and solo play.

The game highlights action, tactics, and autofire, with design tailored for mobile play.

One of its core technical features is a server-side architecture that runs a full simulation of the game.

This enables real-time destruction that is synchronised for all players.

“A player can shatter a massive concrete monument, and every other player sees the exact same debris, in the same place, at the same moment,” the studio explained.

Gameplay centres on fast-paced 3v3 battles where physics, destruction, and strategic teamwork determine the outcome.

Players can combine abilities to create chain reactions, such as pulling enemies together with a gravity funnel and then wiping them out with explosives.

“Our mission is to evolve mobile multiplayer through games built on shared foundations: physics-driven combat, reimagined controls, meaningful teamplay, and systems designed for long-term engagement,” said Roman Malakhov, Co-founder and CEO of Nice Plans Studio.

Looking ahead, the company plans to introduce a chemistry engine with elements like fire and ice, as well as vehicles, in its future titles.

The studio is now preparing a Series A funding round to scale Ricochet Squad and build a broader portfolio of physics-driven multiplayer games.

A recent market report by DataIntelo estimates that the mobile shooter segment will surpass $24.3 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 12.5 per cent.

Nice Plans Studio operates with a lean, distributed team of 21 people, the announcement mentioned.

It added that founders Roman Malakhov and Game Director Dmitry Koblyk have been building and scaling mobile shooters together for the past eight years.