What Candlelight Games does

Candlelight Games is a US-based independent mobile game studio founded in 2024 by four former Pixelberry Studios developers who collectively led Choices: Stories You Play, one of the largest interactive narrative mobile franchises. The company builds narrative-driven mobile games focused on romantic fantasy visual novels with branching choices, emotion-driven magic systems, and inclusive storytelling targeted primarily at women gamers and visual novel enthusiasts. Its single core product, LOVE & MAGIC: SPELLFYRE, launched globally on iOS and Android in January 2026 (previously announced in September 2024 as Project Spellstruck) and features six romanceable characters at a magic school setting, with gameplay built around the proprietary P.R.O.M. choice design framework and an emotion-fueled magic system with six Affinities (Felicis, Ikaris, Sikranos, Timoros, Erolis, Penthos) channeled through a two-step Channel-Cast spellcasting mechanic.

The studio's technology stack is built on Unreal Engine with custom narrative tooling including Articy for narrative design workflow, Final Draft for scriptwriting, Spine 2D for character animation, and standard creative collaboration tools (Adobe Creative Suite, Figma). To scale production without expanding internal headcount, Candlelight outsources art production to three external vendor partners (N-IX Games for character art, Rocketbrush Studio for environment art and animation, and Limbheim Studio for 2D assets), maintaining a lean core team of four co-founders. The company is privately held with no disclosed external funding, no institutional investors, and no parent entity.

Candlelight operates a free-to-play mobile game model with revenue generated through in-app purchases including story content, premium choices, and optional bonus items. Distribution is exclusively through the iOS App Store and Google Play on a global basis. Go-to-market combines product-led distribution with community-led engagement: the studio runs monthly player surveys, publishes the Candle Craft blog series on narrative design, maintains an active presence across X, Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and an email newsletter, and presented at GDC 2025's Game Narrative Summit. Pre-registration incentives and ongoing post-launch content iteration (Skill Quest, Story Game surveys) support retention and live operations.

Name

Candlelight Games

Legal name

Candlelight Games Inc.

Website

https://candlelight.games

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Candlelight Games is a US-based independent mobile game studio developing narrative-driven romantic fantasy visual novels. Founded in 2024 by ex-Pixelberry Studios developers, it ships LOVE & MAGIC: SPELLFYRE globally on iOS and Android using a freemium model targeting women gamers and visual novel enthusiasts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

United States

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Mobile Game Sales: Free-to-play mobile game distributed on iOS and Google Play platforms. Revenue generated through in-app purchases including story content, premium choices, and optional bonus items. Pre-registration offers exclusive in-game bonuses to incentivize early sign-ups.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Candlelight Games develops and publishes mobile visual novel games focused on interactive storytelling, romance, and fantasy. Its core product, LOVE & MAGIC™: SPELLFYRE, is a free-to-play romantic fantasy visual novel set at Elderwood University, featuring branching narrative choices, an emotion-fueled magic system, six romance options, and combat against Shade monsters in the Wilderlands.

Product overview

Candlelight Games is a mobile game studio that has launched a single core product: LOVE & MAGIC™: SPELLFYRE (previously codenamed Project Spellstruck). The game is a romantic fantasy visual novel featuring interactive branching narrative storytelling, magic school gameplay at Elderwood University, romance mechanics with six love interests, and combat against Shade monsters in the Wilderlands. The company was founded by ex-Pixelberry Studios developers and focuses on narrative-driven mobile gaming experiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LOVE & MAGIC: SPELLFYRE: A romantic fantasy visual novel mobile game featuring magic school setting, multiple love interests, and interactive storytelling. Initially codenamed 'Project Spellstruck'.

Products and services

• LOVE & MAGIC™: SPELLFYRE LOVE & MAGIC™: SPELLFYRE is a free-to-play romantic fantasy visual novel mobile game set at Elderwood University, featuring branching narrative choices that shape the story, six romanceable love interests (Talyn Reaver, Iridessa Brightsage, Bardric Arkland, Leona Goldenspire, Cato Fairscribe, Niel Shieldsong), an emotion-fueled magic system organized around six Affinities (Felicis, Ikaris, Sikranos, Timoros, Erolis, Penthos), and combat against magical Shade monsters in the Wilderlands. It is aimed at individual mobile players, particularly women gamers and interactive fiction enthusiasts, and is distributed globally on iOS App Store and Google Play with in-app purchases.

Quantifiable outcome

• Active player community providing regular feedback through monthly surveys
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• N-IX GamescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharacter art vendor responsible for creating character assets and designs for LOVE & MAGIC: SPELLFYRE. Artist from N-IX Games contributed character designs with focus on bringing characters to life through their visual representation.
• Rocketbrush StudiocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner2D environment art and animation studio. Created environment artwork and animations for the game, contributing to the magical atmosphere and world-building. Studio paid attention to consistency between animated and static assets.
• Limbheim StudiocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner2D art studio contributing artwork to the game's visual presentation. Provided art assets that help tell the emotional story of the game.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pocket Gems: Pocket Gems publishes Episode: Choose Your Story, one of the largest mobile interactive storytelling platforms with branching romance and drama stories. Highly comparable business model (free-to-play mobile, episodic choice-driven narratives, similar target demo including women and teen players).
• Crazy Maple Studio: Crazy Maple Studio publishes Chapters: Interactive Stories, a mobile visual novel app with romance, drama, and choice-driven gameplay, plus the Gamelit hybrid-novel platform. Directly comparable to Candlelight's Spellfyre product in mechanics, monetization, and target audience (women romance-game players).
• Voltage Entertainment USA: Voltage Entertainment USA produces mobile romance visual novels such as Lovestruck: Choose Your Romance and many other otome/romance titles. Closely comparable product category (romance visual novels on mobile with branching choices and premium content monetized via in-app purchases).
• Nix Hydra Games: Nix Hydra Games develops The Arcana, a fantasy romance visual novel mobile game with branching narrative, character relationships, and inclusive romance options, occupying the same romantic-fantasy interactive-fiction niche as Spellfyre.
• Pixelberry Studios: Pixelberry Studios develops Choices: Stories You Play, the mobile interactive-story franchise that Candlelight's four co-founders previously built and operated. Most direct peer and predecessor, offering the same genre, mechanic, and audience, and creating both a template and a key competitor.
• Your Story Interactive: Your Story Interactive publishes Romance Club - Stories I Play, a mobile interactive romance story app with choice-driven branching narratives and multiple character romances. Comparable business model (F2P mobile visual novel with in-app purchases and episodic story content targeting women).
• Beemoov: Beemoov develops interactive mobile romance story apps such as Is It Love?, Hollywood Story, and Amour Sucré. Comparable as choice-driven romance narrative mobile games with F2P monetization, primarily targeting young women in the same segment Spellfyre serves.
• Choice of Games: Choice of Games publishes text-based interactive fiction built on a proprietary ChoiceScript engine, including numerous romance and fantasy titles. Shares emphasis on player-agency-driven storytelling and branching narrative structure that mirrors Candlelight's product pillars.

Broad incumbents

• Telltale Games: Telltale Games pioneered choice-driven, branching narrative adventure games across multiple genres. While operating at broader scope and scale than Candlelight, it established the player-agency-and-meaningful-choice design DNA that the P.R.O.M. framework explicitly extends.

Emerging players

• Playful Entertainment: Playful Entertainment produces MeChat, a mobile interactive romance story chat app centered on character relationships and choice-based storytelling. A comparable choice-driven romance mobile experience aimed at similar demo, though with a more chat-oriented presentation than Spellfyre's visual-novel format.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/candlelightgame
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• Instagraminstagram.com/candlelight.games
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/candlelight-games-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Candlelight Games