Top Heroes

Cracking the 4X Code: First Fun and RiverGame’s Billion-Dollar Strategy

The mobile 4X strategy genre has undergone a significant evolution driven by the partnership between developers First Fun and RiverGame.

• First Fun and RiverGame’s flagship title, Last War: Survival, scaled from $15 million in annual revenue in 2023 to over $1.1 billion in 2024.
• The partnership between First Fun and RiverGame was formalized in 2021 when First Fun acquired a 42% stake in RiverGame, leveraging their shared professional history at ELEX Technology.
• The companies have successfully deployed a replicable 4X development formula, resulting in them holding three of the top 10 grossing 4X games as of January 2025.