Scopely announced several key milestones achieved to date: $10 billion in lifetime revenue for its mobile games and a billion downloads across its portfolio.
In an exclusive for GamesBeat, Scopely said it hit these milestones in 2024 and its players have also clocked more than 15 billion hours in playtime to date.
Players have clocked those hours in the Los Angeles-based company’s games like Monopoly Go!, Stumble Guys, Marvel Strike Force, Star Trek Fleet Command and Dice With Buddies.
I’ve written about the launch of each one of these games and covered Scopely since the beginning. I always thought its approach to partnering with game developers was smart, and its approach to acquiring users was interesting. But it was one among many mobile game companies and its success was never guaranteed. It took the wild success of Monopoly Go! — six years in the making — and the $4.9 billion acquisition by Savvy Games Group to cement its lead.
Scopely’s momentum is hard to ignore. The brand is now the No. 1 mobile games company in the U.S. and among the top 5 in the world outside of China.
From humble beginnings to global powerhouse
Eunice Lee, COO of Scopely, talked about how the company became successful with its Scopely “operating system” and “learning machine” at the recent GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games event on December 12.
Scopely’s success did not come overnight. In fact, it is more than thirteen years in the making.
In a recent company blog reflecting on the company’s milestones, co-CEOs Walter Driver and JavierFerreira acknowledged the long – and sometimes painful – journey, writing: “While we celebrated anumber of public wins this year, they were a result of years of hard work and passion. Having a long-termmindset is critical to game-making, and often comes with struggles unseen. But our Scopeleans continueto persevere through it all, which is what makes this industry and Scopely so special.”
Founded in 2011 in Los Angeles, Scopely was built on the deep-rooted conviction that mobile phoneswere the next great forum for entertainment. With just 10 employees, the company launched its first iconic game “Dice With Buddies” in May of its founding year.
The social dice game had a strong start, amassing a dedicated audience. It wasn’t until 2014 when thefranchise really hit its stride after Scopely landed one of its first major IP partnerships: a deal with Hasbrofor the rights to Yahtzee. In 2015, the Dice franchise expanded to include “Yahtzee With Buddies.”
More than a decade later, Scopely’s Dice franchise remains Scopely’s longest-running franchise,achieving well over $1 billion in lifetime revenue.
The company itself has also grown exponentially. With more than 2,400 employees and offices in over adozen countries, Scopely has built a slate of games that touches almost every genre and every platform.
Embracing a cross-platform future
While the company’s roots lie in mobile entertainment, pushing the boundaries of cross-platform play ispart of Scopely’s ongoing strategy. 2024 marked the gamemaker’s first foray into launching a mobile-to-console product, bringing “Stumble Guys” for Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
“We had a lot of firsts this year with our teams taking big swings to drive innovation for our players,” wrote Driver and Ferreira.
Stumble Guys fans are no longer bound to a single device to play the party battle royale game, andAndroid and iOS users can now seamlessly interact with console-first players. As a result, the companyhas added millions to the engaged and active global community of Stumblers.
Driver and Javier note we can expect more platform-agnostic games in the future from Scopely,acknowledging the Stumble Guys console push “also built the capabilities for other Scopely teams todeliver experiences on new platforms.”
The Scopely culture
Scopely attributes much of its success over the last thirteen years to its unique work culture, driven byambition, an embrace of failure, and above all else, a dedication to learning.
Early in its founding, Driver and team established key culture tenets that continue to shape how Scopelyoperates today: play to win; care deeply; ignite passion and earn loyalty; iterate to greatness; andembrace the adventure.
According to its co-CEOs, these tenets enabled Scopely to garner over 100 awards this year – the mostin company history. Recognitions included 1 No. Mobile Game Maker on PocketGamer.biz’s Top 50 list,Best Publisher by PocketGamer.biz and GamingOnPhone, Game of the Year for Monopoly Go! andTime Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies in the World.
As Lee noted in her fireside chat with gaming veteran Shelby Moledina, Scopely leadership often cites the company’s Learning Machine culture – built on open communication to quickly share learnings across teams – as the reason the gamemaker has been able to grow so rapidly, win across a variety of genres and platforms, and break new ground when it comes to revenue metrics.
However, Ferreira and Driver are quick to acknowledge Scopely’s purpose goes far beyond a balancesheet: “While revenue trajectory can be an indicator of success, it’s not the reason we do this work. EveryScopelean shows up each day to aim to make life better for millions of people through play.
This commitment, in turn, provides us the freedom to invest in new opportunities, new games, and newexperiences for players around the globe.”
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