Andre never planned to work in recruitment. Let alone run his own business. In fact, before the pandemic, he was a musician playing bar residencies. He described his sound to me as “Mumford and Sonsy”, with a guitar in hand, tambourine on his left foot, and a kickdrum on the other. Before the world went into lockdown: it was going quite well for him. So… when Covid-19 shut down live music his world ended overnight. With a child on the way, stability was needed, so in late 2020 Andre fell into recruitment.
It was as a Trainee Recruiter that Andre found the Games Industry: by working in the Finnish software market, encountering mobile games was inevitable. He was soon placing candidates at Hatch, Skunkworks, and Nitro Games. This niche part of the market appealed to him and he was doing very well in it. As long as he was billing, it was fine. Until it was not. One day he told his boss he wanted to focus solely on the games side. The answer was no.
Then, Andre moved to Jackson Hogg where he built a platform agnostic team, but continued a personal focus on Mobile personally.
MakersForge – the Mobile Market Specialist
Where console projects shrink and stall, mobile continues to stabilise and bounce back. The agility of smaller teams, shorter dev cycles, and less “old legacy” in how they think, made mobile a natural focus for MakersForge’s business model. While Andre himself loves Narrative-driven RPGs, mobile is where his business could find momentum.
Why’s mobile different?
Andre describes the difference between mobile and console with clarity. The AAA world is guarded. Development cycles stretch on for years, and studios protect their information fiercely. The old guard still follows structures set decades ago.
Mobile grew up differently. Studios had to pivot from Facebook games to iOS, learning to adapt to every algorithmic change. They move faster, work with smaller teams, and reinvent constantly. That has created an openness that Andre thrives in. Studios of eleven to fifty people do not yet have talent acquisition departments. They rely on external partners, and they expect someone who understands their world.
What’s more? They treat you like a partner, as long as you know what you’re talking about. And MakersForge do. With an increasing specialism in the language of mobile-games, MakersForge find their partner relationships with clients put them shoulder-to-shoulder as equals.
Building MakersForge
MakersForge was incorporated in April 2024. Naming the company was, in Andre’s words: “a nightmare.” He had dozens of ideas on paper and didn’t want to fall into the cheesy game-related-name trap. Whilst he still wonders if Forge might feel cheesy, he wanted the name to carry the sense of building something tangible. (Personally, Andre, we like it!)
The early months were not easy. He poured energy into a founders community where entrepreneurs could share the journey together. It even brokered angel investment for two companies. But it became too focused on funding, a subject he admits he did not know well enough to sustain. This community also took attention away from building the tangible recruitment business. After six months, he had to step back and focus again on client acquisition.
The pivot worked. MakersForge soon built an affiliate program to scale via referrals. In 2025, forty percent of MakersForge business has come through affiliates, accounting for eighty percent of new deals.
A Distinct Position in the Market
MakersForge works on flat fees rather than a percentage of annual salary. Andre believes the standard model rewards expensive hires rather than long-term value. His approach is volume and relationship-driven, designed for studios that make multiple hires a year and work with a recruiter who knows the language of their industry.
That means understanding that UA strategies change between different monetisation models, knowing what meaningful improvements in D1/D7/D14 retention look like. Knowing that marketing and product must have a close working relationship to improve user experience and KPIs. It means asking the right questions to candidates to ensure their experience fits the specific team, game, and genre. This is what sets them apart as a specialist in their field.
Clients such as Lessmore, acquired by Miniclip, continue to work with Andre even after inheriting Miniclip’s internal talent team. That level of trust is what he points to as proof of value. He has also expanded into AdTech with Appbroda, hiring ten roles to support their expansion. This deepens his understanding of the ecosystem surrounding mobile games and strengthens his niche further. As AdTech and mobile come hand in hand.
The Team and the Future
Today MakersForge is Andre supported by two consultants. Andre intends to stay focused on mobile, working with growth-stage studios that value a specialist who knows their world.
The path from bar residencies to recruitment founder is not the obvious one. Yet for Andre, the rhythm of music, the resilience of mobile, and the willingness to learn by doing have all shaped MakersForge into a headline act as far as recruitment agencies go.
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