AI in Video Game Design: Sett Emerges from Stealth with $27 Million Funding
Video games sparked the development of GPU processors in the 1990s. Today, artificial intelligence—powered by GPUs—is becoming integral to video game design. Sett, a startup focused on building AI agents to create and manage mobile games, has just come out of stealth mode with $27 million in funding.
The funding came in two rounds, including a recent $15 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Other investors include Saga VC, vgames, F2 Venture Capital, and Akin Babayigit, founder of Tripledot and head of Arcadia Gaming Advisors. Sett previously raised $12 million in seed funding from F2, Bessemer, and gaming industry angels.
Coincidentally, AppLovin, a potential competitor, announced the sale of its gaming assets to Tripledot for $800 million—a deal tied to AppLovin’s Q1 earnings report.
Sett’s Approach and Early Customers
Founded in 2022 and based in Tel Aviv, Sett has been quietly refining its product and growing its user base. Its current clients include major names like Zynga, Scopely, Playtika, SuperPlay, Rovio, Plarium, Candivore, and Unity. Although Sett launched a website five months ago, it is not aggressively marketing yet. With over 100 gaming studios on a waiting list, Sett plans to use the new funds to expand its team of engineers and AI experts.
Addressing a Key Challenge: Getting Noticed
CEO Amit Carmi, co-founder alongside CTO Yoni Blumenfeld, highlights one of mobile gaming’s biggest hurdles: visibility.
“Gaming is incredibly competitive,” Carmi says. “There are more games than players. It’s easy to build games, but almost impossible to make one that succeeds.”
Marketing budgets are huge—about $29 billion spent to generate $100 billion in revenue, according to AppsFlyer research. Sett’s AI agents focus on game publisher marketing, especially creating “playable” ads and interactive marketing content that reflect a game’s style and engage users.
Due to privacy changes like those on iOS, user-level tracking is less effective. Instead, Sett emphasizes creative content streams that encourage players to try or keep playing games. These playable ads are effective but costly and time-intensive to produce—almost like building new game versions. Sett claims its AI can create these assets 15 times faster and 25 times cheaper than traditional methods.
The Market and Competitive Landscape
Akin Babayigit, who has experience with Tripledot, calls Sett’s concept a “no brainer.” He praises the team and sees strong potential.
The idea has proven value. AppLovin’s gaming studios, recently sold to Tripledot, helped train AI models that power its ad and marketing tools. These include creating playable ads through SparkLabs. Now that AppLovin’s AI and user networks are established, the gaming studios no longer fit its core strategy. AppLovin is shifting focus to bigger targets like bidding for TikTok’s global business.
The Role of AI in Game Development
There’s ongoing debate about how much AI should replace human roles in game creation and marketing. Some companies are already integrating AI in creative workflows, and this trend is likely to continue.
Carmi believes fully autonomous AI agents for end-to-end game development and marketing are possible but may not be Sett’s final destination. Their technology generates code and supports both marketing and in-game content generation. The focus is on these areas for now.
Babayigit adds that while replacing every aspect of game design is unlikely at this stage—given the high standards required—Sett’s team has the technology and expertise to automate parts of production and distribution effectively.
For those interested in exploring AI applications in gaming and development, Complete AI Training offers relevant courses that cover AI tools and techniques for creative and technical roles.
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