[Industry news] Appcharge Appoints Gaming Veteran Bernard Kim to Advisory Board

This is a press release posted in addition to our usual editorial content.

Appcharge, the leading direct-to-consumer (DTC) payments platform for mobile game publishers, today announced the appointment of Bernard Kim, a 20-year veteran of the global gaming and consumer technology industry, to its advisory board. Kim will support Appcharge’s continued growth, global expansion, and strategic development as it establishes DTC monetisation as standard infrastructure for the games industry.

Kim brings an exceptional track record of building and scaling some of the most recognised brands in gaming. He served as President at Zynga during one of the company’s most significant growth periods, overseeing global publishing, marketing, product strategy, data science, and revenue operations. More recently, Kim served as CEO and board director of Match Group ($3.5B+ annual revenue and 3,000+ employees), and currently serves as an independent director on the board of Unity – one of the world’s most foundational game development platforms. Earlier in his career, he spent nearly a decade at Electronic Arts (EA), including as Senior Vice President of Mobile Publishing, and held senior leadership roles at Walt Disney.

“Direct-to-consumer monetisation is one of the most significant structural shifts the mobile games industry has seen in a decade,” said Bernard Kim. “Appcharge has built the infrastructure that gives publishers real ownership of their player relationships – and the data, economics, and competitive advantages that come with it. The business is at an exciting inflection point, and I’m delighted to be joining as an adviser to support the team as they scale.”

As an advisory board member, Kim will work closely with Appcharge’s leadership team, drawing on his deep experience in mobile gaming, consumer platforms, and global business development to support the company’s next phase of growth.

“Bernard has operated at the highest level of the gaming industry for more than two decades,” said Maor Sason, CEO and co-founder of Appcharge. “He has led major mobile publishing businesses, scaled global consumer platforms, and built the kind of deep understanding of how players engage and spend that is directly relevant to what we’re building at Appcharge. Having his counsel as we accelerate into the next phase of our growth is an enormous asset for the company and for our publisher partners.”

The appointment follows a period of rapid momentum for Appcharge. The company now processes more than $1B in annualised DTC transactions across more than 150 mobile games, and is powering web stores for over one-third of the world’s top-grossing mobile titles. Recent growth has included the Series B raise of $58M led by IVP, a doubling of its workforce to 140+ employees, the launch of its new Checkout platform, and the release of its hosted MCP server – the first element of its AI-native DTC platform. The company has expanded its presence globally, with new offices in Turkey, Finland, South Korea, China, and Japan.

About Appcharge

Appcharge is the leading direct-to-consumer platform for mobile games – built for game makers, by game makers. Appcharge helps publishers sell directly to their players, boosting profits by 35% and strengthening player relationships and loyalty. As an all-in-one platform, Appcharge provides everything publishers need to go direct: fully branded web stores, gamified offers, global payments checkout, mobile in-app payments SDKs, and more. Appcharge is the fastest-growing mobile game payments platform, powering stores for over one-third of the top-grossing mobile games.

 

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Appcharge is funded by IVP, Playrix, Creandum, Smilegate, Supercell, Play Ventures, and Gillot Capital Partners, and is led by veterans from Rovio, Playtika, Moon Active, and Playstudios. For more information, visit www.appcharge.com.