Supercell Celebrates Another Unicorn as Brawl Stars Passes $1 Billion

Brawl Stars from Supercell has become the developer’s latest mobile game to surpass $1 billion in lifetime gross revenue outside of China's Android stores, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data shows.

The title joins an impressive portfolio of billion-dollar games that includes Clash of Clans, Clash Royale and Hay Day. Brawl Stars was Supercell’s No. 2 grossing title in 2020, accumulating close to $526 million, putting it just behind Clash of Clans, which generated $681 million. Brawl Stars was, however, the company’s fastest-growing title by revenue, with player spending increasing by 27.5 percent year-over-year, thanks in large part to a successful release in China. The June 2020 release on China’s App Store sparked the title’s best-ever month for player spending, racking up $89.4 million, an increase of 90 percent from the month prior, with the Chinese market accounting for $47 million, or 52.6 percent of the total.

By utilizing Sensor Tower Game Taxonomy data, we can see that the title was the No. 16 revenue-generating mobile strategy game in the U.S. in 2020, ahead of Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire from Machine Zone at No. 17. Delving deeper, it ranked as the No. 1 grossing MOBA on mobile in the U.S., above Mobile Legends: Bang Bang from Moonton at No. 2.

Star Performer

To date, the No. 1 country by player spending in Brawl Stars is the United States, which has contributed $143.5 million, or 14.2 percent of total revenue. The No. 2 ranked country is South Korea with $138.5 million, or 13.7 percent of the total, while China already rounds out the top three with more than $100 million, or close to 10 percent of the game’s lifetime spending.

The App Store has generated the majority of revenue for Brawl Starts at $521.6 million, or about 52 percent of the total. Google Play, meanwhile, has accumulated $490.6 million. It’s worth noting, however, that outside of China, Google Play has accumulated the majority of the title’s revenue internationally, accounting for 53.8 percent worldwide, compared to the App Store’s share of 46.2 percent.

Brawl Stars has picked up close to 265 million downloads globally to date. Russia ranks No. 1 for installs, generating close to 30 million downloads, or 11.3 percent of the total. Brazil ranks No. 2 with 24.3 million, or 9.2 percent, while Turkey ranks No. 3 with approximately 19 million, or 7.2 percent.

Google Play accounts for the lion’s share of global installs, amassing 196.5 million downloads, or 74.2 percent of the total. The App Store, meanwhile, accounts for 68.4 million, or 25.8 percent.

Looking to The Longtail

Brawl Stars had a stellar 2020, thanks in large part to its launch in China where it has already accumulated more than $100 million in player spending on iOS alone. As we previously noted from the successful launch in the country of Call of Duty: Mobile from Activision, in partnership with Tencent, while Chinese publishers are increasing their influence internationally, there are opportunities for Western companies to do the opposite, too, albeit with local support. But the highs of the China release are over for Brawl Stars, and it’ll be interesting to see how many Western firms are able to sustain success in the country after a strong launch, while Chinese firms show how it’s done overseas.