# Michael Martinez

> Michael Martinez is the CEO and co-founder of FunCraft, a San Francisco-based mobile game studio he launched in 2019 with longtime collaborator Jason McGuirk. A Zynga and Electronic Arts veteran who previously founded Juicebox Games, Martinez built FunCraft around a deliberately unglamorous bet: making casual word and puzzle games that become daily rituals rather than chasing trends. With a fully remote team of roughly 15-21 people, the studio crossed 7 million installs and more than $15 million in revenue in its first five years on the strength of titles like Wordgrams, Word Yatzy and Merge Kingdoms. Martinez is a vocal skeptic of gaming hype cycles, publicly stepping back from Web3 with the line that blockchain was 'a solution in search of a problem,' and an evangelist for testing everything and embracing the unsexy.

- **Role:** CEO & Co-Founder at FunCraft
- **Organizations:** FunCraft, Juicebox Games, Electronic Arts (Chillingo), Zynga
- **Nationality:** American
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads FunCraft, which surpassed 7 million installs and $15 million in revenue in five years, Built and scaled a fully remote game studio of roughly 15 people, Founded Juicebox Games and shipped HonorBound and StormBorn

## Career timeline

- **2009** — Joined Zynga as a product manager, later senior product manager, during the social gaming boom
- **2012** — Founded and became CEO of Juicebox Games, maker of mobile titles HonorBound and StormBorn
- **2016** — Became Studio GM at Electronic Arts (Chillingo), serving through 2019
- **2019** — Co-founded FunCraft in San Francisco with Jason McGuirk; raised pre-seed funding led by Play Ventures
- **2022** — Publicly stepped back from Web3/blockchain gaming, calling it 'a solution in search of a problem'
- **2024** — FunCraft reaches five years with 7M+ installs and over $15M in revenue across word and puzzle games

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads FunCraft, which surpassed 7 million installs and $15 million in revenue in five years
- Built and scaled a fully remote game studio of roughly 15 people
- Founded Juicebox Games and shipped HonorBound and StormBorn
- Raised $1.8M+ in funding (led by Play Ventures) with angel backing from Zynga founder Marc Pincus
- Ran 300+ ROAS user-acquisition experiments to build profitable, sustainable games

## Latest updates

- **2024** — FunCraft marked its fifth year with 7M+ installs and $15M+ in revenue, crediting a strategy of 'embracing the unsexy' and relentless testing.
- **2022** — Martinez publicly distanced FunCraft from blockchain gaming, arguing Web3 was a solution in search of a problem.

## Links

- Website: https://funcraft.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/martinezmichaelj

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-martinez
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-22