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Monopoly Go Devs Spent More On Marketing Than It Cost To Develop The Last Of Us 2

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
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Free-to-play mobile game Monopoly Go has been a surprising success story in the mobile space, coming out as 2023's most successful mobile launch with $1 billion in revenue. Developer Scopely has revealed in an interview that the game has now brought in over $2 billion in its first 10 months--and that the company has spent an eye-watering $500 million on marketing and user acquisition.

Scopely's senior VP of publishing Eric Wood revealed the marketing numbers in an interview with Game File, after Monopoly Go's $2 billion milestone was announced by the CEO earlier this week. To put the $500 million marketing budget in perspective, a poorly redacted document last year leaked a set of budgets for some of PlayStation's biggest AAA titles, which revealed that The Last of Us Part 2 cost $220 million to develop, and Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million to develop.
Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira delved a little deeper into where that marketing spend went in his blog post, revealing that Monopoly Go's marketing team created localized marketing for every region where the game was available. "Our marketing team was a fierce advocate for taking a hyperlocal approach," Ferreira said. "In turn, much of our upfront marketing investment went to developing individualized creative that reflected the language and culture of every country where the game is available."

Ferreira also revealed that the game's approach to marketing helped it recoup its spending in days or weeks, something that usually takes months or years for comparable titles. "We didn't set out to create a blitz campaign, but as the game rapidly grew, so did our marketing efforts," he explains. "For much of the title's first six months, we were fully recouping our spend in a matter of weeks, something not often seen in games today."

The game's marketing budget gives an idea of the massive scale some mobile games operate on, with its revenue figures also far beyond what even big blockbuster AAAs make in their lifetime.
 

proandrad

Member
What if rising development cost aren't the real issue? What if the real issue is dumping an insane amount of money on marketing, paying overpriced politically driven consulting firms, and hiring under qualified staff for diversity brownie points?
 

SHA

Member
There are specific types of classic games when marketed for new audience considered woke, it's woke.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
What if rising development cost aren't the real issue? What if the real issue is dumping an insane amount of money on marketing, paying overpriced politically driven consulting firms, and hiring under qualified staff for diversity brownie points?

You really got something you want to say? You seem fixed on something in particular.......
 

Pegasus Actual

Gold Member
Ya know all this "I woulda never played it and lol $500million in marketing and I never heard of it!" just makes it seem like they spent it wisely and didn't advertise to people who would never play the game.
 

Filben

Member
First time I hear about this. Glad the mobile bubble is not really creeping into my timelines and curated media channels.
 
With marketing included, Part II didn’t pass the $300m mark.

Now we have mobile games with marketing budgets of $500m.

Crazy times.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
I know several people that play it, although I doubt they’re spending real money on anything.

Just shows how mobile is dominating the industry. One tactic they use is granting the player a benefit if they have more friends playing. So people naturally get their friends to sign up and play.
 
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