Rolling the Right Dice: Monopoly Go!’s Path to Mobile Gaming Glory
In a mobile gaming landscape where trends change faster than you can pass “Go,” Monopoly Go! has managed a rare feat—generating $5 billion in revenue in Monopoly Go Stickers less than two years. But behind the impressive numbers lies a story of risk, reinvention, and a deep understanding of what makes games—and people—tick.
Developed and published by Scopely in partnership with Hasbro, Monopoly Go! wasn’t an overnight sensation. It was the product of seven years of experimentation and a $70 million investment. From the start, Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira knew that simply translating the classic board game to mobile wouldn’t cut it.
“We weren’t trying to port Monopoly,” Ferreira explained. “We were trying to reimagine what Monopoly could feel like on mobile—fast, fun, unpredictable, and above all, social.”
The early development process was full of trial and error. Initial versions of the game leaned too heavily on skill-based mechanics, which clashed with Monopoly’s legacy as a luck-driven family game. Other builds lacked meaningful ways to connect players socially, making the game feel flat and forgettable.
Eventually, Scopely found the right formula: a game experience that preserved the emotional highs and lows of Monopoly—like collecting big wins or targeting friends for bankruptcy—but streamlined for modern mobile gameplay. Short sessions, bold visuals, and cheeky animations helped bring Monopoly’s competitive energy to life in an entirely new format.
A pivotal decision was designing the game around a player’s real-world social network. Instead of asking users to build a new community within the app, Monopoly Go! encouraged them to cheapest Monopoly Go Stickers invite friends and family directly. Ferreira believes that choice was one of the biggest drivers of the game’s success.