So: is Monopoly Go profitable? Scopely has a very, very clear answer

 

Scopely has once more made it very clear that it is making plentiful profit from its breakout hit Monopoly Go.

Speaking at todayevent in Istanbul, Scopely SVP Jamie Berger said that the game was “extremely profitable”, and that’s what has allowed the firm to spend big on acquiring users.

“We believe in running great businesses, and we know that to be a great business is to be profitable,” Berger said.

“And when I say profit, it’s not future profit. And so, just to put this to bed, this kind of strange debate, Monopoly Go is very profitable on an EBITDA basis every day, every month, every quarter.”

“To put some context around it, it was revealed in the Hasbro investor call that we generated $800 million of revenue in Q4. That gives you a perspective on the scale of the business, on a run rate basis.”

From December 2023: ‘Scopely is spending big on Monopoly Go UA – as much as $1.5bn to date‘.

Berger continued: “And people are saying, well, how can you invest a lot and be profitable? Well, there’s your answer. If you have an $800 million quarterly business, you can invest aggressively and still be extremely profitable if you’re running it with a lot of discipline, which we do.”

The debate Berger was referring to was sparked by our report from last year, in which we asked several UA experts to estimate the game’s total UA spend. It prompted fierce debate within the mobile games business, and caused Scopely to issue a statement clarifying that its UA spend has not outgrown the game’s revenue. It read:

“As we shared before, we’re proud that Monopoly Go is currently one of the most profitable mobile games – any claim otherwise is inaccurate.”

From August 2023:al combined with the highly social gameplay of Monopoly Go has attracted one of the most engaged mobile audiences in the world, with an unprecedented retention curve.”

“Our UA teams are some of the best and most sophisticated in the business, always spending strategically, continuously unlocking profitable channels and building very large audiences – but doing so in magnitudes of dollar spend well below what was cited by a third-party who isn’t familiar with our business.”

“We hope the industry doesn’t get discouraged by (wildly) speculative statements not rooted in fact. We firmly believe (and have proven) that smart, not unfettered, spending on products with exceptional player KPIs can build a very large and profitable game business shortly after a product’s launch.”

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Supercell kills Clash Mini, though it’ll live on within Clash Royale

By Neil Long / 14th March 2024

 

Supercell is ending development of Clash Mini after over two years in beta – though it will live on within Clash Royale.

The autochess-like game has been in soft launch since November 2021, and most recently opened up in the UK back in July 2023. That was on top of typical soft launch markets including the Nordics, Australia, Canada, Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong, where it has received multiple updates over the years.

Development on the game is now ending, but Supercell said that the game will live on within Clash Royale. “We can still see very high potential and love for the game within Supercell and our Community,” Supercell said on its blog.

“With that in mind, we have decided to commit to bringing the Clash Mini experience to Clash Royale to reach its fullest potential. By doing this, we can better serve many more players in fulfilling our ultimate goal and vision. Once we have concrete updates on the next steps for this development, we intend to share them with you as soon as possible.”

Supercell also seeded the news with influencers like Orange Juice, which posted a video on the cancellation this morning:

Reflecting on why Clash Mini is being shuttered, Supercell said it was “a good game but not the game that would ultimately fulfill our dream.”

It continued: “The past few updates of Clash Mini have shown significant improvements thanks to you on all possible fronts that we cared about, but our quality bar was not met even after all those improvements.”

“Namely, in the last few updates, we have seen peak interest from both our Creator Program and our Community on Reddit and Discord to provide constructive feedback as to how the game could be improved, and we have spent a lot of time trying to fit all of it into the game.”

Supercell will also host a farewell party of sorts for the game on its Discord server, and has invited various creators to take part.

rchases over to any other Supercell game by contacting player support. The game’s servers will begin to close in late April, and then be de-listed from the

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New games now: Rainbow Six Mobile, fresh Dune and Avatar games, Netease’s new shooter and more

By Alex Calvin / 15th March 2024

 

Here every Friday you’ll find big games gone global, fresh soft launches, the latest release dates and everything in between.

This week’s update is published in association with 

Metaplay is a fully-extensible backend for making top-tier mobile games, with pre-built tech and tools to cover you from your first line of code right through to LiveOps and player support. 

Rainbow Six Mobile (Ubisoft) 

18 months after launching in beta, Ubisoft said this week it is pausing the game’s rollout in new soft launch regions and there’s no more new content incoming for now, either. This is to get the game ready for global launch, Ubisoft says, but it may also cause some to worry it’s about to be cancelled.

It’s currently live in Canada, Mexico, Chile and Colombia on iOS and Android.

Dune: Imperium (Dire Wolf Digital)

Based on the blockbuster sci-fi series, this premium card-based strategy title is out now on iOS and Android at a beefy $10.99.  

Avatar: Realms Collide (Tilting Point)

Pocketgamer.com spotted this new soft launch from Tilting Point, which is set for a “big reveal” on March 21. It’s live in pre-reg on Android now, with iOS pre-order to come. It’ll launch sometime this year.

Operation Apocalypse (NetEase) 

hat pre-registration is now open for this new five vs five shooter in China. It appears this is an evolution of the once eagerly-awaited but now defunct Hyper Front.

Paper Trail (Netflix)

Puzzle adventure title Paper Trail is making its debut on May 21st for both iOS and Android via the Netflix app.

Game Dev Tycoon (Netflix)

12 years after its initial release, this cult classic business sim is out now on Netflix for both iOS and Android. 

Apple Arcade in March and April 

Three new titles have come to Apple Arcade for the start of March. Kids game Crayola Adventures (Red Games), tower defence title Bloons TD Battles 2+ (Ninja Kiwi) and strategy game The Battle of Polytopia+ (Midjiwan AB) all came to the service on March 7. 

Next month, five new games are coming to Apple’s arcade subscription service. On April 25, Crossy Road Castle (Hipster Whale) and Solitaire Stories (Red Games) are making their debut for Vision Pro, while Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop (Sega), Super Monsters Ate My Condo+ (PikPok) and Sago Mini Trips+ (Sago Mini) are launching across all Apple devices on April 4.

Albion Online (Sandbox Interactive)

Following its successful launch in North America and Europe, this fantasy MMO is making its debut in Europe. There’s a closed beta launching on April 3, ahead of an open beta on April 10. The game’s full launch is on April 29 across both iOS and Android. 

Skul: The Hero Slayer (Neowiz)

This action roguelite platform is launching on both iOS and Android on June 4. Pre-registration is live on Google Play, while pre-orders on the App Store come with a 10% launch discount.

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As the Warner Bros suits begin to blame Suicide Squad for everything but the weather, the newly released game's price is almost slashed in half

News

(Image credit: Warner Bros, Rocksteady)

Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched in early February and, while far from the disaster some were predicting after its lengthy development and multiple delays, so far hasn't set the world alight. Much of the criticism focuses on the game's live service element, but Morgan foundt's just a major grind to get there.

At launch Rocksteady promised a cadence of weekly developer updates, and committing to such regular public communication may well be admirable but, y'know, some weeks there just isn't much to say. Thenotable for there being so little to it.

That may well be because "we at Rocksteady are hard at work making sure the game is in the best shape it can be" for the Season 1 launch, which is the game's next chance to gather some momentum with t for what else to expect, there's "a new Elseworld to explore, an arsenal of new weapons and gear, new missions and more." All of this is free content for owners of the game.

The post acknowledges that players are still experiencing some technical issues, says "we hear your frustration and thank you for your patience", and points players towards the 

This page is actually more interesting than the update itself, listing various problems players may be experiencing and how to get around them while waiting for a proper fix. It's a good idea to be so transparent about this stuff, even if in some cases the workaround is the classic IT solution of "restart it", and it's nice to know that if your gear slot gets locked you've just got to go and chat to the Penguin and do a bit of crafting.

Rocksteady has long-term plans to support Suicide Squad, products, it really needs to spark some excitement and interest soon. Suicide Squad will be launching on the Epic Games Store on March 26, and Season 1 kicks 

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