# Gabriel Leydon

> Gabriel Leydon is the co-founder and CEO of Limit Break and the co-founder and former CEO of Machine Zone. His career spans coin-operated arcade development, mobile strategy games including Game of War: Fire Age, large-scale performance marketing and digital-asset infrastructure. With longtime collaborator Halbert Nakagawa, he founded Limit Break in 2021; the company develops DigiDaigaku, programmable token tools and the mobile game Puzzle Panic.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Limit Break
- **Organizations:** Limit Break, MZ (Machine Zone; formerly Addmired), Satori, Atari, Tsunami Visual Technologies, Global VR
- **Known for:** Co-founded Machine Zone and led its development of persistent multiplayer mobile games., Helped build Game of War: Fire Age into a top-grossing mobile title., Built mobile game communities supported by real-time chat and translation.

## Career timeline

- **Late 1990s** — Developed his arcade-game skills on San Francisco Rush and entered game testing at Atari.
- **2006-2007** — Designed the America’s Army arcade game.
- **2008** — Co-founded Addmired with Halbert Nakagawa and Michael Sherrill.
- **2009** — Moved into free-to-play iPhone games, including iMob.
- **2012** — Addmired became Machine Zone and announced an $8 million Menlo Ventures funding round.
- **2013** — Machine Zone launched Game of War: Fire Age.
- **2015** — Game of War reached No. 1 on grossing charts; its Kate Upton campaign included a Super Bowl advertisement.
- **2018** — Left the MZ CEO role to focus on Satori; Kristen Dumont became CEO.
- **2021** — Co-founded Limit Break with Halbert Nakagawa.
- **2022** — Limit Break disclosed $200 million in funding and distributed its initial DigiDaigaku NFT collection.
- **2023** — Limit Break ran a DigiDaigaku Super Bowl advertisement.
- **2024** — OpenSea announced compatibility with Limit Break’s ERC721-C standard.
- **2025** — Discussed Apptokens with Gabby Dizon at GDC.
- **2026** — Announced limited iOS testing of Puzzle Panic in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Machine Zone and led its development of persistent multiplayer mobile games.
- Helped build Game of War: Fire Age into a top-grossing mobile title.
- Built mobile game communities supported by real-time chat and translation.
- Co-founded Limit Break, which disclosed $200 million in venture funding in 2022.
- Led Limit Break as its creator-earnings technology gained OpenSea compatibility in 2024.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — The New Zealand App Store listing for Limit Break’s Puzzle Panic records version 1.3.129 on October 15, with fixes for reported issues.
- **2026-04** — Leydon announced a limited Puzzle Panic iOS test in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore; he said this phase did not include Web3 features.
- **2025-03** — Appeared with Yield Guild Games co-founder Gabby Dizon at GDC to discuss Apptokens and developer-controlled token economics.

## Links

- Website: https://linktr.ee/gabrielleydon
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/gabrielleydon

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/gabriel-leydon
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-24