10 Mobile Games That Have Made Over $1 Billion In Revenue

The mobile game industry is one of the fastest-growing markets nowadays. We may as well be surprised by how much money mobile games have made. Some popular games even reached an astonishing 10-digit number - $1 billion in revenue. Let’s see which mobile games have made it to the list of the billion-dollar club.

1 – Pokemon Go

Developer: Niantic
Based: San Francisco, USA
Released: July 6th, 2016
Genre: Location-based / Augmented reality
Successful in: Worldwide

Augmented reality has been out there since forever. However, to apply it into a mobile game for a popular franchise like Pokemon was something unprecedented. The initial launch of Pokemon Go faced many problems due to overload and had to cancel in many regions. However, after various fixes, the game went smoothly and brought in a stable flow of cash

In just 7 months after release, Pokemon Go has reached more than $1 billion. By March 2019, the AR game has reached approximately $2.45 billion in revenue. Pokemon Go hit another milestone by reaching 1 billion downloads just this August.

2 – Lineage M

Developer: NCSoft
Based: Seongnam, South Korea
Released: June 21st, 2017
Genre: MMORPG
Successful in: South Korea

Lineage M is a mobile version of the big PC hit MMO Lineage from NCSoft. The franchise was among the most popular titles around South Korea at the time. The game had 5.5 million players pre-download the game even before the official launch.

In the first month of release, the game earned more than $233 million. In January 2018, Lineage M’s revenue has skyrocketed to over $1.2 billion. However, the game couldn’t maintain its success later on.

3 – Lineage 2 Revolution

Developer: Netmarble
Based: Seoul, South Korea
Released: December 2017
Genre: MMORPG
Successful in: South Korea

After NCSoft dropped the Lineage M, Netmarble has picked up where everything left off. After the success of Lineage M, hardly could anyone predict the success of the next version Lineage 2 Revolution.

Lineage 2 Revolution enjoyed instant success like its forerunner, $176 million in the first month. By 11 months, the game had already made $924 million and eventually reached $1 billion by the time it announced at GDC 2019. However, just like its predecessor, Lineage 2 Revolution dropped off significantly after that.

4 – Monster Strike

Developer: Mixi
Based: Tokyo, Japan
Released: August 8th, 2013
Genre: Physics strategy / Puzzle / RPG
Successful in: Japan

Though less known worldwide, Monster Strike is incredibly popular in Japan. The game became Japan’s number one top grosser in 2014. In August 2015, the game earned an estimated $4.2 million a day. By October 2018, the game had earned around $7 billion.

5 – Puzzle & Dragons

The classic match-three has been a crucial part in the game, making Puzzling & Dragons a multi-billion dollar business

Developer: GungHo
Based: Tokyo, Japan
Released: February 20th, 2012
Genre: Match-three / RPG
Successful in: Japan

The game is a blend of the classic match-three, loots, RPG and gacha mechanics. The game has a large influence on the Japanese mobile market later on. Puzzle & Dragons is among the first mobile games to have announced its billion-dollar sale figure.

By February 2014, the developer GungHo Online announced their sales of up to $1.5 billion. Though the game has declined in popularity in the recent year, it still managed to rake in a regular flow of cash, making its total revenue over $7 billion.

6 – Fantasy Westward Journey

The game is popular in China by the publisher Netease

Developer: Netease
Based: Guangzhou, China
Released: 2015
Genre: MMORPG
Successful in: China

Netease is the second-largest mobile game publisher in China, second only to the giant Tencent. Their huge success was the mobile game title Fantasy Westward Journey.

In 2017, SuperData reported that the game had yielded a total of $1.5 billion in revenue.

7 – Clash Royale

The game has been a massive success while introducing the MOBA element into mobile games

Developer: Supercell
Based: Helsinki, Finland
Released: March 2nd, 2016
Genre: MOBA / CCG
Successful in: Worldwide

The game was a global success when introducing the famous MOBA genre into a mobile game. Moreover, the idea of a real-time PvP mobile game is set to stay.

Clash Royale hit over $1 billion in less than one year since its launch.

8 – Honor of Kings / Arena of Valor

The game brings the MOBA genre to mobile phone with the backing of the MOBA giant League of Legends

Developer: Tencent
Based: Shenzhen, China
Released: November 26th, 2015
Genre: MOBA
Successful in: China

The game is better known as Arena of Valor around the world. It brings the fast-paced MOBA genre into the mobile phone. The game is developed by Riot Games – the developer of League of Legends. That explains why Arena of Valor graphics is somewhat similar to that of LoL.

Arena of Valor is incredibly popular in China with more than 200 million players. The game has a peak of around 70 million daily active players.

Money-wise, by March 2019, Arena of Valor has already generated $4.5 billion.

9 – Fate/Grand Order

The title is popular not only in Japan but also oversea

Developer: Delightworks (published by Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan)
Based: Tokyo, Japan (Delightworks)
Released: July 30th, 2015 (Japan)
Genre: RPG
Successful in: Japan

The series is just like Puzzle & Dragons or Monster Strike, incredibly popular in Japan. Moreover, it reached out of Japan and into the world market. In a report by SuperData in 2017, Fate/Grand Order was estimated to have earned $982 million.

Until March 2019, the game has approximately reached $3 billion in global revenue.

10 – PUBG Mobile

Developer: Tencent
Based: China
Released: March 2018
Genre: FPS/Battle Royale
Successful in: China

PUBG Mobile has recently made it into the $1 billion revenue list. With its global success, PUBG Mobile continued to dominate the Battle Royale genre in the mobile phone market. It has surpassed Fortnite and Knives Out to become the first mobile Battle Royale title to reach $1 billion in revenue.

PUBG Mobile is still popular and has a large fanbase around the world.

Among these 10 billion-dollar games, which one do you play? Which games do you like the most?