Monopoly Go generates $2 billion revenue in less than a year

Monopoly Go has made $2 billion USD in revenue in less than a year since launch, according to mobile game studio Scopley. This milestone comes three months after the game crossed the $1 billion threshold. According to Scopely, 8 million people play Monopoly Go "every day of the week."

In a blog post, the Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira stated “the trajectory of this experience has been nothing short of extraordinary, and we have our talented team and passionate players to thank.” He also emphasized how player retention has performed extremely well, with “over 8 million people playing every day of the week - representing more than 70% of our 10 million+ total daily players.”

Monopoly Go is based on the iconic board game of the same name (-Go), which gave the mobile game a significant boost in brand recognition. However, this is not the sole contributor to Monopoly Go’s success. According to the Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks, “Scopely has a knack for that style of casual game.”

Ferreira highlighted that allowing the studio and its developers to take their time allowed the game to come to fruition and exceed all expectations. In fact, the game had a seven-year development process, in which they restarted “at least two times”, as stated by Cocks in an interview with GamesBeat. 

This investment in development has paid off, as Cocks also stated “It’s the most successful mobile game release in U.S. history, and probably one of the top five globally.” This point was further hammered home as Javier Ferreira wrote near the end of his blog post, “the creative process requires magic, resilience, dead ends, and discovery.” He continued, “but if you are patient enough and passionate about going on that journey, the outcomes can be exceptional.”

Scopely was founded in 2011, finding almost immediate success with their first few titles: Dice with Buddies, Jewels with Buddies, and Bubble Galaxy with Buddies. In 2015, the studio made their first major partnership with Hasbro to create Yahtzee With Buddies. Clearly the studio learned in their naming conventions that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

After this majorly successful licensed mobile game, Scopely became the favorite game studio for major brand mobile games. The studio also went on to create The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, Wheel of Fortune: Free Play, WWE Champions, Star Trek Fleet Command, Looney Tunes World of Mayhem. In 2020, Scopely bought the company that created Marvel Strike Force, which they now support. 

Scopely has a long list of majorly successful mobile games under their belt, but the massive success of Monopoly Go in such a short time frame is definitely a crowning achievement for the studio. 

Large companies aspiring for a hit game should take notice of the long-term creative development behind Monopoly Go's record-breaking success. Who knows? The next billion dollar mobile game could be right around the corner.

Just... hopefully not around the corner from the 'Do Not Pass Go' space.

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