InnoGames’ Forge of Empires surpasses €100m in lifetime revenue

InnoGames’ strategy title Forge of Empires has earned €100m in revenue since its release three years ago.

Development of the browser game cost €1m before its initial release. It should be noted that this doesn’t take into account continued development, support and marketing costs. The game has also since been released on mobile. To date Forge of Empires has attracted 25 million registered players.

InnoGames also expects another of its titles, Grepolis, to reach the €100m lifetime revenue milestone by the autumn. Medieval strategy game Tribal Wars meanwhile has made €80m to date.

“We invest a lot into further development and marketing after the start of a game,” said InnoGames chief product officer Armin Busen.

“However, this investment is based on the first economic and gameplay figures from the game. They allow us to understand very early, how successful a game can become. Only the initial development costs have a significant risk factor, afterwards, we can be very confident to get a decent profit on our spending.

“At the same time, we are able to increase the frequent turnover for a game over a very long run. In 2014 we earned more money with our first game Tribal Wars than ever before – eleven years after its launch.”