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[Infographics] Top 50 gaming franchises with revenue of over a billion

In 1958, at the scientific exhibition, the world's first video game “Tennis for Two” shocked visitors - it was something out of the ordinary.

Starting small, video games have grown into a high-tech industry worth a hundred billion dollars. To visualize this success, today's TitleMax infographics list the top 50 highest-grossing video game franchises.

This is impressive in itself. But how exactly many of these franchises generate revenue can be a revelation.

How do video games bring billions?




The first major commercial success in the industry occurred in the 1980s. Many of this period is called the "golden age of arcade games." When famous classic arcades such as Pac-man and Space Invaders appeared all over America , the owners of the money were rowing with a shovel. Moreover, in the literal sense - each toy installed on the machine brought a real real coin.

Today, there are two revenue models commonly used by video game publishers: the traditional pay-per-game ( P2P ) model and the more modern free-play model ( F2P ).

For most of the industry’s modern history, the P2P model acted by default. The developer bears the costs of producing his games, and it is logical that he sells them to consumers in order to recover costs and make a profit.

According to the F2P model, the developer, in fact, distributes his games for free. If players do not want to pay, they do not pay. And the developer runs the risk of being in the red.

So why do modern igrodely prefer the F2P model? Let's take a look at the industry data for 2019:
PlatformFree-to-Play Revenue (F2P)Pay-to-Play Revenue (P2P)
Mobile$ 64.4 billion-
PC$ 21.1 billion$ 5.2 billion
Console$ 1.6 billion$ 13.8 billion
Total$ 87.1 billion$ 19.0 billion
All numbers are correct, there are no typos. F2P games accounted for 82% of industry revenue in 2019. Moreover, this gap is widening: since last year, F2P revenue grew by 6%, and P2P revenue fell by 5%.

The whole power of discretionary spending


In the infographic above, there are a lot of F2P franchises whose income exceeded a billion dollars. We show some of them in a separate table:
A placeFranchiseManufacturerPlatformGross income
# fifteenLeague of LegendsRiot gamesPC$ 8.4 billion
# 21Arena of valorTencentMobile$ 6.4 billion
# 23Clash of clansSupercellMobile$ 6.0 billion
# 27candy Crush SagaKingMobile$ 4.9 billion
# 40Maple storyNexonPC$ 3.0 billion
# 46FortniteEpic gamesConsole, Mobile, PC$ 2.5 billion
# 47Clash royaleSupercellMobile$ 2.0 billion
Since such games are often published for both PCs and gadgets (most people have at least one of them), their accessibility becomes a key advantage. This is especially true in China, where game consoles such as the Xbox have been banned in the past.

However, simply gathering a huge player base is not enough for financial success. Without requiring payment in advance, developers must convince players, under one pretext or another, to voluntarily part with their hard-earned money.

League of Legends


League of Legends , one of the most popular video games in the world, is a successful pioneer in the F2P model.

When the developer of Riot Games chose this model (F2P) for his game, he took a big risk. At that time, the model has not yet established itself as suitable for this genre. The main source of income was the sale of so-called “skins” of characters (character skins).
Nobody would have played Legends if we immediately set a price in front of the player, because such a game is difficult to sell.

- Mark Merrill, co-founder of Riot Games
To some extent, the incentive to spend money on the game comes from its longevity - League of Legends recently turned 11 years old. Instead of creating a new world, the developer is constantly improving the existing one, and each iteration is called a new "season".

If an ordinary P2P game is a kind of feature film, League of Legends is more of a lengthy television show. Since 2009, we know the same League of Legends, and for example, for the same period there were 11 different Call of Duty games.

Welcome to the billionaire club


Some of the world's most successful video game franchises, which have traditionally been released under the P2P model, are now very successfully moving into the “free” category.

For Pokemon (No. 1 in terms of gross income), diversification of the product line is not new. While the franchise already has a variety of offers - from physical goods to films, its free mobile game with augmented reality, Pokémon Go , may turn out to be one of its most successful endeavors.

Launched in 2016, a game that takes players to the real world to catch virtual monsters has become a sensation. It has become so popular (and distracting) that it is estimated to have caused more than 100,000 car accidents.

For four years now, Pokémon Go has been a prime example of what the F2P can achieve - the game has gained over 1 billion downloads and has generated an incredible 3 billion dollars in revenue.
YearGross income% Change
2016$ 832 million-
2017$ 589 million-29%
2018$ 816 million+ 38%
2019$ 894 million+ 10%
Total$ 3.131 billion
For the most part, the incentive to play Pokémon Go is to give gamers a unique social experience. Landmarks of the real world turn into points of attraction where players gather. In this case, the simple capabilities of ordinary smartphones are used, so that the quest for catching unknown animals is available to everyone.

Is Free-to-Pay Free in Its Development?


As more and more franchises develop successfully in the form of “free” games, it becomes obvious that the F2P model will become the main driver of further industry growth. Higher availability of F2P games is also crucial for the rapid development of eSports.

However, traditional P2P games, now called premium games, still have their advantages. These games are often associated with a higher level of quality, which is not a sin to pay for.

Nevertheless, the F2P model is developing rapidly, which is why the gap in quality is rapidly narrowing.

Note: Revenue data in infographics also includes profits from sales of related products.

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