Scopeley’s Monopoly GO! has safely secured its position as the biggest game of 2023 in the US, topping download and revenue charts and claiming these respective crowns from Roblox and Candy Crush Saga.
Sensor Tower found that Monopoly GO! has enthralled tens of millions of people since its April 2023 release, reaching 33 million downloads in the US alone by the end of the year and making $632 million in US-based revenues.
The digital intelligence service also reported the rankings for other high performers in the US, with 10 games finding more than 10 million new installs each.
Big numbers
Roblox and Subway Surfers were both outmatched in US downloads in 2023 after ranking first and second in 2022. Instead, they’ve now ranked second and fourth with downloads of 27 million and 16 million respectively; Royal Match landed third with 20 million.
And like Royal Match, Hungry Studio’s Block Blast was new to the top 10 list in 2023, earning fifth place through 14 million downloads.
Magic Tiles 3: Piano Game, Attack Hole – Black Hole Games, My Perfect Hotel, Wordscapes and Call of Duty: Mobile rounded out the remainder of the top 10.
On the revenue side, Monopoly GO!’s $632 million gave it a significant lead over Candy Crush Saga’s $472 million. Roblox scored a close third with $408 million, while Royal Match held onto fourth from 2022 with $389 million.
Coin Master and Pokémon GO! both fell in the rankings but remained in the top 10 for US revenue, generating $246 million and $219 million respectively. Gardenscapes, Jackpot Party – Casino Slot, Township and Envoy filled out the remaining positions.
Sources of success
“The mobile gaming industry experienced a hybrid year in 2023. Despite challenging layoffs and marketing complexities faced by developers and publishers, the year was rich with success stories waiting to be unpacked,” said Sensor Tower senior production manager and game intel lead Pedro Aira.
Naturally, Monopoly GO! was the greatest of those success stories, with Scopely leveraging Hasbro’s classic Monopoly IP while merging in casual and casino elements. It’s achieved the biggest casual launch of the decade thus far, especially impressive considering the lockdown surge, and surpassed the $1 billion worldwide revenue milestone in only seven months.
Roblox’s second-place download ranking can be predominantly attributed to an audience skewed younger, with Gen Z and Alpha using the platform as a way into the metaverse and all its myriad experiences. IP collabs with pop star Polar and toyline Bakugan were among the experiences on offer in 2023.
Dream Games’ “phenomenal rise in downloads” through Royal Match helped it rise by 23 places, Sensor Tower noted, showing “the importance of having good puzzles to compete with the best casual games”.
All in all, the US market showed growing favour towards hybrid games in 2023, as did the world at large, pushing the hybridcasual genre to more than $2 billion in revenue. Sensor Tower’s report noted a trend of 60/40 splits in hybridcasual monetisation strategies, as games in the genre tend to make 60% of their revenue from in-app purchases and 40% from ads.
Sensor Tower’s top publishers of 2023, meanwhile, include many of the same companies as our Top 50 Game Makers list, like Scopely, Activision Blizzard, Playtika and Playrix.
