MONOPOLY GO! Is the King of IP in Mobile Games

Key insights

7 slides

Market Context

User acquisition costs are rising in mobile gaming.

Mobile game developers and publishers are increasingly focusing on intellectual properties (IPs). This strategy helps mitigate rising user acquisition costs and captures mass-market attention.

Key Driver. The increasing cost of user acquisition has led mobile game developers and publishers to focus on intellectual properties (IPs) for their mass appeal.

Diverse IP Parents

Hasbro, NCSoft, Nintendo, and Hitotsubashi Group are top IP corporate parents.

Their success is due to varied IP portfolios, including board games, RPGs, and anime/manga.

Leading Entities. Hasbro, NCSoft (Lineage RPGs), Nintendo (Pokemon GO), and Hitotsubashi Group (Shueisha's anime/manga IPs) are among the top IP corporate parents by revenue, with Disney also ranking highly due to its…

Engagement Tactics

In-app event collaborations drive downloads, revenue, and engagement.

Roblox utilizes diverse partnerships, while Goddess of Victory: Nikke had a successful collaboration with NieR:Automata. These partnerships create strategic synergy between games and external IPs.

Like a crossover episode for a TV show, these collaborations bring together different fan bases.

Effective Strategy. In-app event collaborations, where mobile games partner with IPs, have become a significant trend to drive downloads, revenue, and engagement, as seen with Roblox's diverse partnerships and Goddess of Victory…

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Summary

The mobile gaming industry is increasingly leveraging established intellectual properties (IP) to mitigate rising user acquisition costs and capture mass-market attention. As of early 2024, Monopoly Go! stands as the highest-grossing IP-based mobile game globally, propelling its developer, Scopely, to the top position among publishers by IP-driven revenue. Consequently, Hasbro has emerged as the leading corporate parent in the mobile gaming sector, underscoring the significant financial impact of board game-based intellectual property.

The competitive landscape for IP-driven mobile revenue has shifted significantly. While companies like Bandai Namco and NCSoft previously dominated the market, Scopely’s rapid ascent and Tencent’s growth—bolstered by the success of League of Legends: Wild Rift—demonstrate the volatility and potential of the sector. Beyond dedicated IP games, publishers are increasingly utilizing in-app event collaborations to drive engagement. These partnerships, such as the integration of NieR:Automata into Goddess of Victory: Nikke, prove that strategic synergy between a game and an external IP can generate substantial revenue spikes by tapping into overlapping audience interests.

The scope of this analysis covers global mobile gaming trends throughout 2023, examining the performance of various IP media types, including film, board games, and anime. While platforms like Roblox utilize a broad, versatile approach to collaborations, other developers find success through highly targeted, thematic partnerships. Ultimately, the data indicates that intellectual property has become a critical strategic asset for publishers navigating a challenging environment where traditional user targeting is increasingly constrained by privacy regulations.