InnoGames hits record-breaking revenue of EUR 220m in 2020

Online game developer and publisher reports ongoing growth after 14 years on the market with more titles to be launched this year

Thursday, February 25, 2021 — InnoGames, Germany’s leading developer and publisher of mobile and online games, published its performance results for 2020. The company achieved a record-breaking revenue of EUR 220m, which is a plus of more than 15 percent compared to the previous year. 2020 marks the 14th year of consecutive revenue growth for InnoGames. The company’s operational excellence and strength in mobile boosted its performance. The pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions resulted in an increase in new players and playtimes, which further accelerated growth. InnoGames once again managed to prove business efficiency and sustainability with an EBITDA margin of 29 percent.

“2020 has been an extraordinary year. We are proud of our sustainable growth and would like to thank our players, colleagues and everyone else involved for their ongoing commitment and support. Our seamless transition to home office and our core strengths allowed us to continue to provide high-quality virtual worlds for players to safely connect,” explains Hendrik Klindworth, InnoGames Co-founder and CEO. “Looking ahead, we are excited about the pipeline of new mobile games coming this year and to bring them to players everywhere with our expertise in marketing, analytics and live operations. Simultaneously, we are continuing to expand and optimize our iconic portfolio of forever franchises.”

InnoGames has several mobile games in advanced stages of development. The production schedule remained on track during the move to home office. The company revised its development process to conduct tests earlier on and with a focus on player retention. Early tests have shown strong and promising results. InnoGames plans to launch those games in 2021 and to invest into marketing activities to scale the performance and future growth of these new games.

In 2020, leading strategy game Forge of Empires served as a key contributor to InnoGames’ success, followed by Elvenar and classics like Tribal Wars and Grepolis. The fantasy city builder game Elvenar reached the EUR 100m lifetime revenue achievement in May. After 17 years on the market, Tribal Wars achieved more than 24 percent growth in 2020. Both browser and mobile platforms performed strong to contribute to the 13 percent increase in Average Revenue Per Daily Active User (ARPDAU) across InnoGames’ whole portfolio.

Total playtime across the company’s whole portfolio rose to more than 904 million hours. In line with previous years, the leading revenue markets in 2020 were the United States, Germany and France. The United States grew 18 percent in mobile revenues, while Germany and France grew 10 and 15 percent, respectively.

Due to InnoGames’ continued strong performance, Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ) (“MTG”) announced the acquisition of an additional 17 percent of the shares in InnoGames on December 7, 2020. This transaction also involved the establishment of a new group gaming company (“GamingCo”), jointly owned and operated by MTG and InnoGames founders. Hutch Games Ltd., a leading UK-based mobile racing games developer and publisher, was acquired by MTG on December 8th as the first company to join the newly formed GamingCo.

About InnoGames

InnoGames is Germany’s leading developer and publisher of mobile and online games. The company based in Hamburg is best known for Forge of Empires, Elvenar and Tribal Wars. InnoGames’ complete portfolio encompasses seven live games and several mobile titles in production. Born as a hobby, InnoGames today has a team of 400 employees from more than 30 nations who share the passion of creating unique games that players across the globe enjoy for years.

Source: InnoGames