Monopoly Go, a free mobile game has proven to be a surprising success, becoming 2023’s highest grossing mobile launch after amassing $1 billion in revenue. Developers reported the game has now made over $2 billion in its first ten months of release.
In an interview, Eric Wood, Scopely’s senior VP of publishing disclosed that an enormous $500 million was spent on marketing and user acquisition for Monopoly Go, more than what it cost to develop some of PlayStation’s biggest AAA titles. Interestingly, documents leaked last year outlining the budgets for some of these games revealed that The Last of Us Part 2 cost $220 million to develop, substantially less than what was spent on Monopoly Go’s marketing.
Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira explained that the company’s aggressive marketing strategy centred around crafting localized marketing for all regions where the game was available. Ferreira highlighted that this “hyperlocal approach” entailed significant upfront investment to generate marketing materials which effectively reflected the language and culture of every individual country where the game was introduced.
Furthermore, Ferreira shed light on how the game’s marketing strategy allowed it to recuperate its expenditure in a mere matter of days or weeks, as opposed to the several months or years it often takes for similar titles to do so.
The huge marketing budget of Monopoly Go paints a picture of the massive scale at which some mobile games operate, with revenue figures visibly outshining those of big blockbuster AAA titles.
Overall, Monopoly Go’s success story underscores the potential for significant revenue generation in the mobile gaming space, particularly with a well-targeted and localized marketing strategy.
Source: Monopoly Go Devs Spent More On Marketing Than It Cost To Develop The Last Of Us 2
