Mobile Game DomiNations Has Raked In $100 million Since Launch

Nexon announced that its mobile strategy game DomiNations—developed in conjunction with Big Huge Games—has earned $100 million since it released back in April, 2015—just over two years ago. Since then, over 32 million players have downloaded, installed, and played. How many of those are still logged in? Well, while we don't have that figure, we can be sure it's not in the same orbit.

At a glance, DomiNations does not look particularly novel. It touts a similar presentation and mechanics as other titles in the city builder genre. But it does have similar mechanics as the Civilization series, including advancing through technological ages as your civilization progressed.

“Nexon games are well-established with millions of deeply engaged players in Asia,” said Nexon president and CEO Owen Mahoney in a canned statement. “The success of DomiNations in the U.S. and Europe is a proof point in our strategy for growing our business and engaging Western players with high-quality games backed by a steady flow of new content.”

DomiNations is more evidence that mobile is the sector for big bucks, but also shows that studios have to find just the right combination to make a winner. To add some additional context, all of Nexon America (Mobile games excluded) generated $85 million in revenue last year. This includes titles like MapleStory, Vindictus, Combat Arms, Mabinogi, Riders of Icarus, and First Assault. All of those titles in North America only made $85 million while a single mobile strategy game generates $50 million a year. All hail mobile gaming?