Take-Two Interactive’s big earners are blockbusters like Rockstar Games’s Grand Theft Auto V and NBA 2K18, but it’s also making inroads with the free-to-play mobile market. In an earnings report for Q3 of fiscal year 2018, it pointed today to social games Dragon City and Monster Legends as top contributors.
The company acquired developer Social Point last February for its popular web and mobile games. Dragon City and Monster Legends are the studio’s top titles, and since launching on iOS and Android in 2013, they have raked in over 180 million downloads. Social Point will be releasing new content updates for both games this quarter, and it’s working on expanding its portfolio of games as well.
Dragon City is No. 23 in the simulation games category on Google Play and No. 17 on the Apple App Store in the role-playing game category, according to market researcher App Annie. Monster Legends is similarly ranked in the same categories at No. 18 on Google Play and No. 36 on the Apple App Store.
Consumers spent $48.3 billion last year on mobile, surpassing PC and console game revenue for the first time. Take-Two’s previous mobile efforts from 2K Games have seen varied success. WWE SuperCard is ranked No. 91 in card games on the Apple App Store and No. 97 in the same category on Google Play. Its WWE 2K title is more successful, sitting at No. 4 in the sports category on Google Play.
It makes sense that Take-Two has been eyeing the mobile market. The company frequently rolls out new content for its titles, like GTA Online’s World War II-inspired dogfight update in November. And Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has also said that microtransactions are an integral part of the company’s core strategy.
