Three Kingdoms Tactics from Alibaba has hit $1.2 billion in lifetime player spending, signalling the e-commerce giant as a major player in China’s mobile games market, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates show.

Launched in September 2019, the strategy title’s best month ever came in May 2020, when it generated $91.7 million in gross revenue. The game continues to perform strongly, with February 2021 marking its second best month ever for player spending, picking up $79.8 million. So far in 2021, Three Kingdoms Tactics is the No. 5 revenue generating App Store game in the world, accumulating $194.8 million. It’s also the No. 1 top grossing 4X Strategy title on the App Store globally based on Sensor Tower’s Game Taxonomy data, ranking above Rise of Kingdoms from Lilith Games at No. 2 and State of Survival from FunPlus at No. 3.

Home Success

Three Kingdoms Tactics is currently only available in eight countries, with China proving to be by far its biggest market to date. The country ranks No. 1 for player spending, generating $1.1 billion, or 96.2 percent of total revenue, via iOS alone (Sensor Tower does not track third-party Android store spending). Taiwan ranks No. 2 for spend, picking up $17.8 million, or 1.5 percent of revenue, while Hong Kong accounts for $13.2 million, or approximately 1 percent.

The App Store makes up the lion’s share of player spending globally, and is responsible for more than $1.1 billion, or 98.2 percent of revenue. Google Play, meanwhile, accounts for approximately $21 million, or 1.8 percent of the total. Outside of China, however, Total Kingdoms Tactics has generated close to $44 million. Internationally, the App Store accounts for $22.8 million in player spending, or 52 percent, while Google Play makes up 48 percent of revenue.

New Unicorn

Three Kingdoms Tactics is by far Alibaba’s most successful mobile game to date. Its No. 2 revenue generating title, Three Kingdoms Fantasy Land, has racked up $161.6 million to date, while its No. 3 grossing game, One Piece: Burning Will, has accumulated approximately $117 million–both from China’s App Store alone. As one of China’s largest businesses, the success of Three Kingdoms Tactics could spur the company to invest yet more in the games space, which has proven popular with the country’s other large technology companies. By surpassing $1 billion in player spending, the title also shows just how lucrative China’s mobile games industry is, coming hot on the heels of another mobile games unicorn, Genshin Impact from miHoyo. Of the App Store’s top five revenue generating games so far in 2021, four of them are published by Chinese companies.

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