Interview with Vickie Chen, Founder & CEO of Avia

Feb 3

Over the past year, Avia has brought a unique feminine touch to keeping their community engaged - providing opportunities for their players to give back to causes that matter by simply playing Avia's games. In this interview I chat with Vickie Chen, Founder and CEO of Avia about their approach to community, incentives in mobile gaming, and how they give back.

Let's start with the typical question first. How did the Avia team start out?

At the beginning of my career, I noticed that most games were made for hardcore players. I loved games, but I wasn’t that type of player so I thought, “What if we could make competitive games that are fun and fair, but also simple and welcoming?” That was my “aha moment” and what led my partner and I to create Avia in 2016, with the goal of making skill-based games accessible to everyone. In the beginning, we literally worked out of a small garage in Mountain View, California and built our own desks, worked long nights, and lived on coffee. Now, we have grown massively, with various games published in-house and a dedicated team that is more than 40% women, many in leadership roles.

Out of all your titles, which one is your favorite?

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I am really proud of our game Solitaire Clash. The title has garnered 60M total downloads and 450M monthly tournaments, and has remained at the top of its genre on iOS and Galaxy Store. This game’s community is very active and has been paramount to our charity campaigns over the past year.

My own experience is in marketing PC and console titles, but I've heard mobile is a whole different playing field. What would you say is the most challenging thing about marketing a mobile game?

From my own experience, one of the hardest things about mobile games is that you can’t ever really slow down. You constantly need new live ops, new events, and regular updates to keep players engaged. That ongoing rhythm is very different from PC or console games, which are often built around big launches or major expansions.

Another challenge is player behavior—especially in Western markets. Younger players in the U.S. and Europe still spend much more time on PC and console, so mobile has to work harder to fit into their habits. You’re competing not just with other games, but with how and when people choose to play.

That’s why mobile marketing and operations have to work closely together. It’s not enough to bring players in once—you have to give them a reason to come back again and again.

Avia works with many non-profits throughout the year. Can you tell us more about these campaigns and how your community gives back?

Of course! It started with a simple idea: what if we could turn everyday gameplay into real-world good? In September 2025, we launched our Play for Paws campaign in partnership with the renowned no-kill shelter, Nevada SPCA. Every match played in Solitaire Clash and Bingo Tour contributed to donations for the Nevada SPCA, a shelter that rescues and cares for animals in need. Players didn’t have to do anything special — just play as usual — and their participation helped us donate over $220,000 and 14,000 pounds of dog food. Our team also invited our players to volunteer in person at the Nevada SPCA — cleaning kennels, helping with feeding, walking dogs, and learning more about the shelter’s work. Many of us are pet lovers, so being there and meeting the animals we were supporting made it very personal.

Additionally, we concluded our holiday Wonderland Wishes campaign in partnership with the foster youth non-profit, Foster Love. Over the course of 5 weeks, players could compete in weekly tournaments aimed at providing foster youth care with toys, essential items, bikes, clothing and educational supplies. Over that short period of time, our players raised $136,000 for foster youth. We also collaborated with creator, producer and foster advocate Leo González (1M on Instagram/3.5M on TikTok) to create some really awesome promotional videos for the campaign and held an in-person volunteer event for Foster Love scholars and our community. Wrapping the campaign in a shiny bow, we also launched our “Beyond the Game” documentary series on YouTube where we surprised one of our players in real life with Christmas gifts for her family. The episode can be found here!

I think what you do with your community is amazing. Is there a non-profit you're working with currently? How can we support?

This year marks our 10th anniversary, and we’re actively planning a new round of charity and community-focused partnerships as part of that milestone. While we’re not ready to announce specific organizations just yet, giving back through our games and our community is something we care deeply about.

We’ll be sharing more details very soon. Stay tuned on our social media and website for our next campaign!

Check out this heartwarming video to learn more about Avia’s impact!

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