Whiteout Survival third fastest to $1 billion of 2023 releases

Century Games’ hit 4X strategy game, Whiteout Survival, has achieved a monumental milestone by surpassing $1 billion in gross revenue, according to Sensor Tower estimates, in a year and five months: an impressive feat for a game that launched just last year. Whiteout Survival has become the third fastest and only other title released in 2023 to reach this milestone, joining the ranks of MONOPOLY GO! and Honkai: Star Rail. 

Whiteout Survival had a conservative launch: the game drove just over $1 million in revenue in its launch month, February 2023. However, it has consistently shown growth nearly every month since, reaching a peak in June 2024 by achieving over $100 million revenue in a single month, 14% growth over May 2024. And they’re not done yet: Whiteout Survival is on track to repeat this feat in July 2024.

Whiteout Survival is able to target a whole new audience by bringing an innovative approach to 4X. Its user acquisition strategy utilizes tactics inspired by casual and hypercasual games: product models that have historically been able to bring in far more downloads than midcore games. Whiteout Survival is accessible to more casual gamers as well, with its quest system eliminating confusion by telling players exactly what they need to do next. This addresses a long standing pain point for 4X players, as 4X games tend to have a large number of complicated systems, making early retention a challenge.

Whiteout Survival is also able to appeal to a wide global audience. While the US is the game’s #1 region, driving 35% of the game’s revenue, #2, #3, and #4 are all Eastern: South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, respectively. Its #2 country by downloads is Saudi Arabia.

Whiteout Survival's breakout success comes as a surprise, following the unexpected hits from emerging genres like coin looters and 4x strategy games. Scopely’s MONOPOLY GO! is already poised to be the top mobile game by revenue for 2024 YTD, potentially becoming the biggest mobile hit of all time. Equally noteworthy for Century Games is FirstFun’s 2023 launch, Last War: Survival, which stands as the #1 4X game and the #1 hybrid casual game by revenue for 2024 YTD. All three games have demonstrated explosive growth since their 2023 launches, driven by innovative approaches to classic genres.