The Rise of the Cookie Run: Kingdom – How the Game Managed to Multiply Its Daily Revenue by 10 in a Month

Cookie Run: Kingdom, a mobile title developed by Devsisters, experienced a significant financial transformation in September 2021, shifting from a mid-tier performer to a top-10 grossing game in the United States. The game, which initially launched in January 2021, saw its daily revenue on iOS surge from approximately $20,000 to $200,000 within a single month. This tenfold increase established a new, sustainable revenue baseline for the title, which was further bolstered by subsequent event-driven spikes.

The primary catalyst for this growth was a strategic marketing campaign centered on the introduction of English voice acting. By heavily promoting the voice actors through social media, interviews, and collaborative content, the developer successfully expanded the game’s reach and engagement. This effort was supported by a broader content strategy, including a Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration, which incentivized player participation through accessible, gameplay-oriented rewards rather than traditional gacha mechanics.

The game’s design facilitates this growth by balancing an approachable, multi-faceted core—combining auto-battle mechanics, city-building, and collection elements—with a diverse monetization model. The latter includes a low-cost Battle Pass, progressive in-app purchase offers, and player-friendly gacha systems that allow for character acquisition through shard accumulation. These features, combined with effective localization and community-focused marketing, allowed the game to convert a surge of new users into a stable, high-value player base. The analysis relies on performance data and feature deconstruction from the period between June and October 2021, focusing on the US mobile gaming market.