After being dropped from the top 10 global mobile game publishers, Supercell has now come back strongly with a sharp increase in revenue.
In 2022 and 2023, Supercell’s annual revenue has decreased consecutively and new game products have been released less since 2018. This Finnish game company caused many people in the industry to start asking: Is Supercell , the company that once led the gaming industry and had billion-dollar blockbusters, is it outdated?
Brawl Stars is back strong. Photo: IGN.
Based on Tencent’s commercialization experience, since December last year, Supercell’s MOBA 5V5 Brawl Stars product has begun to increase rapidly in commercial performance. According to the data, the estimated revenue from Google Play and App Store exceeded 600 million yuan in March, and in April the game surpassed 700 million yuan, a staggering figure. Considering that this product also has recharge channels on the official website in addition to mobile stores, the actual revenue in April could reach 800 million or even more.
Brawl Stars then entered the top 10 products with global monthly revenue. In addition to revenue performance, third-party data shows that DAU for this product for the month reached 70 million. If user ARPU stays the same, DAUs could now be close to 80 million monthly.
Seeing the success of Brawl Stars, Supercell is making a big impression and soon launching the new game Squad Busters. This is Supercell’s first product to enter the official global release stage since 2018. The game topped the free-to-play list in all previous test regions, and the number of pre-registers has exceeded 20 million. . The goal is to reach 30 million registered users.
Brawl Stars pioneer, the Finnish company is embarking on expanding the user market, making rapid commercial changes to help the product revive. In December 2022, this game removed the random probability treasure box mode and started a new commercial model. Since then, sales have been in a slump, but after a year of persistently trying again and again, Brawl Stars has finally found the right monetization model to not only escape the bottom but also surpass its previous peak. From June 2023 to February 2024, Brawl Stars MAU increased 2.4x and DAU increased 3.9x. Revenue also increased by 8.8 times in the same period.
Squad Busters is opening registration. Photo: X.
Supecell relies on major shareholder Tencent, transforming and upgrading the overall product through commercial reconstruction to provide a compelling combat experience. The most immediate factor is the major change to the card system starting last November, the Brawl Pass. This card is only available through in-app purchases. Exclusive content will no longer be offered in passes but will be replaced with high-quality content. Skin items have also been increased, and at the same time, the player’s upgrade process will be faster than before. Additionally, refreshing quests has been shortened from twice a week to daily. After this series of changes, faster upgrade progression allows players to have a better experience, while paying users receive higher rewards and multipliers.