Amanotes
Vietnamese studio behind Magic Tiles 3, Tiles Hop, Dancing Road music games.
On the record
Checkpoint: Balancy live-ops integration results across the portfolio become visible
The call
Amanotes keeps its scale and habit-forming catalog intact, but its economics stay hidden and its hyper-casual playbook is one that bigger, richer studios can eventually copy.
Amanotes is a Vietnamese game studio that makes music and rhythm games like Piano Tiles, downloaded over 3 billion times with around 70 million monthly players. It is not hard to copy because any well-funded company can license music, hire composers, and distribute games through app stores the way Amanotes does, and rivals like ByteDance and Voodoo already compete in this space using similar methods; AI tools that auto-generate music and game levels will make this easier for new entrants. The company could change its situation if new games with deeper stories and more complex gameplay succeed over the next six months, proving it can escape the trap of making quick, disposable games that players forget about.
Why
01
AI pressure: AI music/beatmap generators like Suno and Mureka. Cheap AI-made beats and auto-generated levels let new studios clone tap-music games faster and cheaper than before. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Voodoo and Kooapps. Voodoo's hyper-casual catalog and Kooapps' resurged Piano Tiles already compete for the same tap-to-beat players. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. A decade of licensing deals and a 30+ title, 70M-user distribution engine that's slow for rivals to copy exactly.
What would change this call
Amanotes releases a new narrative-driven 'deeper' title within 6 months of its July 2025 pivot announcement. Shows whether the hybrid-casual escape from hyper-casual economics is working.
Balancy live-ops integration (April 2026) visibly changes release cadence or retention across the 30+ title portfolio. Indicates whether new tech investment translates into real operational improvement.
Amanotes announces a priced funding round with disclosed valuation. Would clarify true financial scale versus the conflicting $1.7M-$5M estimates.
Balancy live-ops integration (April 2026) visibly changes release cadence or retention across the 30+ title portfolio. Indicates whether new tech investment translates into real operational improvement.
Amanotes announces a priced funding round with disclosed valuation. Would clarify true financial scale versus the conflicting $1.7M-$5M estimates.
Key numbers
- Over 3 billion downloads reported by Google Play
- About 70 million monthly active users
- 3B+ downloads across 190 countries per Sensor Tower award
Named risks
- Financial opacity, no disclosed revenue or funding round, aggregator estimates of $1.7M to $5M conflict with claimed billions of downloads.
- Southeast Asia market structural ceiling, #2 in downloads but only #7 in IAP revenue as of Q1 2025.
- Core tap to beat mechanic easily cloned by well funded rivals like Voodoo or Kooapps.
- Platform enforcement risk, precedent of Cheetah Mobile's Piano Tiles being pulled from Google Play in 2020.
- No visible equity liquidity path for investors or employees given undisclosed funding structure.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Kooapps | contesting | Revived Piano Tiles franchise in 2023 after Cheetah Mobile's 2020 Google Play removal, competing in same rhythm niche |
| Voodoo | contesting | Global hyper casual publisher with resources to clone tap to beat mechanics, per GamesIndustry.biz, July 2022 |
| Funtap | contesting | Prolific Vietnamese publisher competing for regional mobile ad volume, per AppGrowing, August 2023 |
| ByteDance | losing to | Ranked alongside Amanotes in top 20 global app publishers by downloads in 2019, but has vastly greater scale and resources |
| AI music tools (Suno, Mureka) | gaining on | Mureka V9 launched March 2026 with V10 planned Q3 2026, accelerating AI music generation pace adjacent to Amanotes' category |
Questions people ask
- Is Amanotes profitable in 2026?
- Amanotes does not disclose financials. Third party aggregator estimates of $1.7M to $5M revenue conflict sharply with its claimed scale of over 4 billion downloads and 70 million MAU as of April 2026, so real profitability cannot be confirmed from public data.
- Could AI replace Amanotes?
- Unlikely to replace it outright. AI beatmap generation and tools like Suno or Mureka could commoditize simple rhythm level design, but Amanotes' decade of music sync licensing deals and its installed base of 3 to 4 billion downloads are not directly replicated by AI as of mid 2026.
- Who founded Amanotes and when?
- Amanotes was founded in 2014 (some sources say 2015) in Vietnam by Vo Tuan Binh (Bill Vo) and Nguyen Tuan Cuong (Silver Nguyen), per EverybodyWiki as of July 25, 2025.
- Is Amanotes a safe company to join in 2026?
- Amanotes shows growth signals: active hiring for roles like Head of Music App and Technical Product Director as of July 6, 2026, per ZoomInfo, plus an April 2026 Balancy live ops partnership. No layoffs or funding distress were found, though financials remain undisclosed.
- Who is Amanotes' biggest competitor?
- Kooapps, which revived Piano Tiles in 2023 after Cheetah Mobile's 2020 platform ban, and global hyper casual publisher Voodoo are the closest rivals in tap to music mobile games, per GamesIndustry.biz reporting from July 2022.
- Has Amanotes raised venture capital funding?
- Amanotes was historically self funded through at least 2020 per KrAsia (May 29, 2021). CB Insights lists it as 'Unattributed VC' with Endeavor Vietnam as an investor, but no round size, date, or valuation has been publicly disclosed as of April 22, 2026.
Timeline
- 2026-06-22Mureka V9 AI music platform launches, adjacent competitive pressure on music tech
- 2026-04-22Partners with Balancy live ops platform to centralize back end operations across 30+ game portfolio
- 2025-07-15Google Play WeArePlay feature cites over 3 billion downloads, cofounder signals pivot to deeper games
- 2024-11-01Amanotes receives 'Make in Vietnam' digital product Gold Award
- 2024-01-0110 year anniversary marketing tie in with EDM artist TheFatRat around track 'Unity'
- 2023-08-27Duet Cats tops App Store charts in 30+ countries
- 2023-04-01Amanotes co invests seven figure Pre-Series A into Reactional Music with Butterfly Ventures
- 2023-01-01Rival Kooapps revives Piano Tiles after Cheetah Mobile's 2020 platform removal
- 2016-01-01Flagship title Magic Tiles 3 launches
- 2014-01-01Amanotes founded in Vietnam by Vo Tuan Binh and Nguyen Tuan Cuong
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki (2025-07-25)
- Amanotes - Overview, News & Similar companies (2026-07-06)
- Products, Competitors, Financials, Employees, Headquarters Locations (2026-04-22)
- With over 3 billion downloads, meet the people behind Amanotes
- Amanotes named best music game publisher (2024-03-06)
- Leading Vietnamese Mobile Game Developers & Publishers' Latest Advertising Campaigns (2023-08-27)
- A music tech startup in Vietnam quietly garnered 700 million downloads worldwide (2021-05-29)
- Revenue, Competitors, Alternatives (2022-04-18)
- Amanotes Portfolio Investments, Amanotes Funds, Amanotes Exits (2024-03-05)
- Amanotes & Butterfly Ventures secure seven-figure Pre-Series A for Reactional Music
- Amanotes Careers, Perks + Culture (2024-05-13)
- Products, Competitors, Financials, Employees, Headquarters Locations (2025-10-06)