What RAWG does

RAWG is a video game discovery platform and database service that catalogs over 350,000 games across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and legacy systems. The platform provides structured game metadata — including descriptions, screenshots, videos, system requirements, release dates, ratings, and user-generated reviews — alongside filtering and discovery features (platform, genre, release date, popularity), curated collections, a community leaderboard, and a release calendar. It serves two primary customer segments: individual gamers seeking discovery and research tools, and game developers/publishers plus third-party application developers who integrate RAWG's data via its public REST API (documented at rawg.io/apidocs) with key-based authentication.

The company operates an API-first, freemium business model with three revenue streams: tiered API subscriptions (free and paid developer plans), advertising on the consumer-facing web platform, and affiliate referral commissions when users purchase games through links to Steam, GOG, PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop, Xbox Store, Epic Games, and itch.io. GTM is anchored on developer relations through the API portal and Discord community, complemented by organic SEO and social media presence (@rawgtheworld, @rawgthepictures). RAWG claims a worldwide operating footprint with no geographic restrictions.

Founded in 2017 by Gadji Makhtiev and headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, RAWG operates with 1–10 employees. The company has raised one documented seed round in February 2018 totaling approximately $1.23 million from AltaIR Capital, Kommune.one, and Wargaming. The platform remains actively operating as of the data collection period, with no evidence of subsequent funding rounds, M&A, or ownership changes disclosed in the available sources.

Name

RAWG

Legal name

RAWG

Website

https://rawg.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

RAWG is a video game discovery platform and database cataloging 350,000+ games across major platforms, serving individual gamers with discovery tools and developers with a public REST API for game data integration.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Video Game Database and Discovery Platform

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Game Distribution Platforms & Storefronts (PC/Mobile/Console) (MPAFABAB)

Keywords

• Video game database
• Game discovery platform
• Game metadata API
• Video game reviews
• Digital game catalog

Headquarters

HQ city

Vilnius

HQ country

Lithuania

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. API Subscriptions: RAWG offers API access through key-based authentication, with options for free and paid API tiers. Developers can obtain API keys to integrate RAWG's game data into their applications.
2. Advertising: The platform monetizes through advertising displayed to users browsing the game database, including sponsored content and display advertisements.
3. Affiliate/Referral: The platform generates revenue through affiliate links to game storefronts (Steam, GOG, Nintendo Store, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store) where users can purchase games featured on RAWG.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

RAWG operates a comprehensive video game discovery and database platform (rawg.io) covering more than 350,000 games across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and legacy platforms. The platform provides structured game metadata, screenshots, videos, user reviews and ratings, release dates, system requirements, and platform compatibility data, supported by curated collections, leaderboards, and a release calendar. In parallel, RAWG sells a public Developer API (rawg.io/apidocs) that delivers this game data programmatically to third-party applications, websites, and gaming services via API key authentication.

Product overview

RAWG is a comprehensive video game discovery service and database platform offering the largest collection of video game information. The core product consists of the video game database with search and discovery capabilities, supported by user reviews, genre/platform browsing, curated collections, and community features including a leaderboard and Discord integration. RAWG provides distribution links to major gaming stores (Steam, GOG, PlayStation Store, Nintendo Store, Xbox Store, Epic Games, itch.io) for purchasing games.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• IGDB: Internet Game Database—acquired by Amazon and integrated with Twitch—offers an API-driven video game database with similar metadata coverage, user reviews, and developer integration model, making it the closest direct competitor to RAWG.
• MobyGames: A long-running structured video game database covering releases across platforms and decades, comparable to RAWG's retro-and-cross-platform catalog ambitions.
• OpenCritic: Critic-only review aggregator for video games; directly overlaps with RAWG's review and ratings functionality but emphasizes professional critic scores rather than community reviews.
• TheGamesDB: Open video game metadata database with community contributions and API access; a more direct technical analog to RAWG's API-first game metadata offering.

Broad incumbents

• Metacritic: A major games-and-media review aggregation site that combines critic and user scores; competes with RAWG on game discovery and review aggregation, but operates at a broader media scale owned by Fandom.
• Giant Bomb: Editorial-led gaming media site with an extensive game database, wiki, and reviews—competing on the discovery plus depth axis with RAWG, though with editorial-driven content rather than community contributions.
• GameSpot: Major gaming media outlet owned by Fandom that combines news, reviews, and game metadata; broader than RAWG in editorial content but overlaps on the discovery and review aggregation use cases.

Emerging players

• Backloggd: Community-driven game tracking and review platform with a catalog model similar to RAWG; smaller scale but directly comparable user-generated reviews and discovery model.
• BoardGameGeek: Community-driven database and discovery platform for board games; serves as a structural analog to RAWG for adjacent game categories with the same hobbyist catalog and user-generated review model.

Others

• IMDb: The most recognized consumer database-and-discovery product for film/TV; serves as an analog business model reference for how a structured, community-contributed entertainment catalog can scale into a global destination.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/rawgtheworld
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rawg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about RAWG