The Most Lucrative Gacha Games Of All Time (2024)

Ever since the release and global popularity of Genshin Impact, mobile games — and more specifically, gacha games — have come into the spotlight like never before. A wide audience of players realized gacha games can be far more than just low-quality cash grabs. Similarly, studios and developers learned just how lucrative live-service games that continually offer new and powerful units can be.

While most players already know that gacha games are highly profitable, most aren't aware of exactly how much money the most popular gacha games rake in every year. Many of the highest-grossing titles managed to bring in several billion dollars, which is an astounding feat considering some of them have only been around for a few years, at most.

Updated on August 8, 2024, by Antonio Samson: Gacha games are more popular than ever. Since the release of games such as Genshin Impact, the genre has seen a plethora of new games over the years. This article was updated to include more games to meet CBR's editorial and formatting standards.

20 Arknights Combines Tower Defense With Gacha Mechanics

A Strategic Masterpiece in the Gacha Realm

Arknights stands out in the crowded gacha game market by combining intricate tower defense mechanics with traditional gacha elements. Since its release by Yostar Limited in early 2020, the game has captivated players with its strategic depth and compelling narrative. In Arknights, players assume the role of a "Doctor," guiding a team of operators to fend off waves of enemies. Each operator has unique abilities and can be strategically placed on the battlefield to maximize effectiveness.

The game's story is set in a dystopian world plagued by a mysterious infection, adding a layer of urgency and intrigue to the gameplay. The gacha system allows players to recruit new operators, with operators of higher rarity offering more powerful and unique abilities. Arknights' stunning visuals, complex storyline, and frequent updates have helped it build a loyal player base and achieve impressive revenue figures.

19 Blue Archive Offers A Unique Blend Of School Life And Tactical Combat

Engaging Storylines Meet Tactical Strategy

Blue Archive combines school life simulation with tactical combat. Players take on the role of a teacher guiding a group of students, known as the "Schale," who also serve as their combat units. The game features a charming art style and engaging storytelling, with players forming bonds with their students while navigating various tactical missions.

The narrative unfolds in a futuristic city called Kivotos, where players must solve mysteries and address conflicts arising within different academies. Each student has unique abilities and personalities, adding depth to the gameplay and creating a dynamic experience as players strategize their team compositions.

18 Azur Lane Merges Naval Warfare With Character Collection

Sail Through Battles with Anthropomorphized Warships

Azur Lane offers a unique twist on the gacha game formula by merging naval warfare with character collection mechanics. Released in 2017 by Yostar Limited, the game quickly gained popularity for its innovative gameplay and charming art style. Players command a fleet of anthropomorphized warships, known as "shipgirls," each representing different historical naval vessels.

The game's side-scrolling shooter mechanics and strategic fleet management provide a refreshing take on the gacha genre. Players must assemble their fleet, engage in naval battles, and collect resources to upgrade their shipgirls. The gacha system allows players to obtain new shipgirls, each with distinct abilities and characteristics. Azur Lane's appeal lies in its combination of action-packed gameplay, strategic depth, and the allure of collecting and customizing a diverse roster of characters.

17 Fire Emblem Heroes Brings Tactical RPGs To The Gacha World

Iconic Heroes in Strategic Turn-Based Combat

Fire Emblem Heroes successfully brings the beloved tactical RPG series into the mobile gacha game arena. Released by Nintendo in 2017, the game quickly became a hit among fans of the Fire Emblem franchise and new players. In Fire Emblem Heroes, players summon heroes from various entries in the series to build powerful teams and engage in strategic turn-based battles.

The game's appeal lies in its rich tactical depth and nostalgia for collecting favorite characters from the Fire Emblem universe. Each hero has unique abilities and can be upgraded to become more powerful, adding a layer of strategy to team composition and combat. The gacha system determines which heroes players can summon, with rare and legendary heroes being the most sought-after.

16 The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross Blends Anime And RPG Mechanics

Relive the Anime with High-Quality Graphics

The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross is a gacha game that closely follows the plot of the popular anime and manga series. Developed and published by Netmarble, the game launched in 2020 and has since become a favorite among fans of the series and RPG enthusiasts. In The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, players collect characters from the series and participate in turn-based battles that emphasize the strategic use of character skills and team composition.

The game stands out for its high-quality graphics and dynamic combat animations, which bring the world of The Seven Deadly Sins to life. The story mode closely follows the anime's plot, allowing players to relive key moments and interact with their favorite characters. The gacha system is central to the gameplay, determining which characters players can summon and use in their teams.

15 Dragon Ball Legends Introduces New Characters Designed By Akira Toriyama

Card Battler Featuring Exclusive Characters

Given Dragon Ball's undying popularity and irreplaceable mark on pop culture, it's not surprising that two of its gacha games are both massively popular and successful. Dragon Ball Legends became playable in 2018, and its relatively young age is the main reason it currently ranks lower than the slightly older Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle.

Unlike most Dragon Ball games, Dragon Ball Legends was a card battler rather than a traditional arcade brawler. Gacha pulls determine which new character cards players get, or what support items and scenarios they can activate in a fight. The game also featured new Dragon Ball characters created by Akira Toriyama, making it even more popular with fans.

14 Raid: Shadow Legends Proves Enough Marketing Will Make People Try Any Game

An Accessible Gacha Game with Aggressive Promotion

Thanks to its infamously aggressive marketing and the memes it inspired, Raid: Shadow Legends' success as a gacha game tends to be overlooked. Despite being something of a laughingstock on the internet, Raid: Shadow Legends is one of the most popular gacha games available and has generated over a billion dollars of revenue as of 2022.

In Raid: Shadow Legends, players must form a team of heroes and level them up. Players' selection of heroes plus any support items or currencies are all determined by the gacha system's random chance. Raid: Shadow Legends' simple and familiar gameplay made it more accessible than most other games of its style.

13 Star Wars: Galaxy Of Heroes Features The Light And Dark Side Battling Each Other In RPG Combat

Iconic Characters and Ships in Strategic Battles

Published by Electronic Arts, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes first launched in November 2015. It has since made just over one billion dollars in revenue. The major draw of one of the most popular gacha games based on the iconic Star Wars saga was that players could collect various heroes from both the Light and Dark Sides of the Force to build teams with.

Players can also collect various iconic Star Wars ships, using their collection to fight with or against other players in turn-based, RPG-style combat. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes currently sits at a four-star rating in the Play Store, with the game being cited as fun but buggy and prone to crashing.

12 Onmyoji Asks Players To Keep The Peace In Ancient Japan

Balance Between Humans and Demons in a Rich Narrative

Onmyoji is an RPG-style gacha game published by NetEase in June 2016 and is one of the few gacha games to have a Steam release alongside mobile platforms. Here, players took on the role of an onmyoji: a court-appointed expert in divination and prayer from Feudal Japan who's tasked with maintaining the delicate balance between humans and demons.

The gacha aspect of Onmyoji came in the form of collecting various spirits, many of them based on real-world folklore. In terms of user scores, Onmyoji sits just above a four-star rating on Google Play, and Steam reviews rated it a high 9 out of 10.

11 Summoner's War: Sky Arena Took Its Franchise To A New Level Of Success

Monster Collection with Deep Team-Building Mechanics

There are three main Summoner's War games, but only Sky Arena broke into the top ten when it came to revenue. Published in June 2014 by Com2uS, players collected monsters that ranged in rarity from one to five stars and could then be further upgraded to six stars.

Summoner's War: Sky Arena had crossovers with large franchises, including Street Fighter in 2020. The Play Store rated Sky Arena at just above four stars, with players raving about the variety of content and diversity of team-building mechanics. Though underrated compared to its contemporaries, Sky Arena is still one of the most popular gacha games around.

10 AFK Arena Brings Gacha Gamers An Idle Game They Can't Put Down

Idle Gameplay Meets Strategic Depth

AFK Arena is currently one of the most popular gacha games with an idle style of gameplay on the market. It was published by Lillith Games and has been a success since its release in 2019. Although it's only been around for a few years, AFK Arena outperformed many of its longer-lasting counterparts in terms of revenue.

Over the past few years, AFK Arena collaborated with several popular series, such as The Witcher, Assassin's Creed, and Persona 5. These collaborations brought with them exclusive, limited-time characters who were typically more powerful than the average unit and helped to draw in new players.

9 Marvel Contest Of Champions Has The Largest Roster Of Marvel Characters In Video Games

Gacha Mechanics in the Marvel Universe

Marvel Contest of Champions may very well be one of (if not) the most successful video games based on Marvel Comics. Although it came out during the height of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Contest of Champions drew more inspiration from the comics. This allowed it to feature over 250 characters, some of which have yet to debut in live-action.

Contest of Champions' gacha mechanics determined which Marvel heroes and villains players could use in team-based battles. Since Kabam developed the game in such a way that characters couldn't be bought directly from a store, gacha pulls were the only way for players to get a new character, let alone earn some in-game currency.

8 Lineage 2: Revolution Speeds Up Growth With The Gacha System

Fantasy MMORPG with Gacha Elements

Lineage 2: Revolution is unique among the most popular gacha games since players don't pull for a character. Just like in most fantasy MMORPGs, players make their own character from scratch. The gacha mechanics are instead used for determining which bonus items, resources, and in-game currency the players can get.

Players could level up their own items without using the gacha system, but it's too frustrating and time-consuming to even consider. It's arguably easier and faster to get a good item by buying a few pulls instead. Even though Lineage 2: Revolution isn't the best Lineage game, those factors made it the franchise's most lucrative entry.

7 Uma Musume Pretty Derby Bases Its Characters On Famous Japanese Racehorses

Horse Racing Meets Anime Characters

Although it's not the world's biggest gacha game, Uma Musume Pretty Derby is undoubtedly one of the most popular gacha games and multimedia franchises in Japan. Inspired by Japan's horse racing scene, Uma Musume Pretty Derby featured anime versions of some of the most famous Japanese racehorses.

Like most gacha games, Uma Musume Pretty Derby lets players roll for the chance of getting a new "horse girl," or their alternate, rarer costume. Players passed time and earned in-game currency by playing minigames and the raising sim. Uma Musume Pretty Derby was so popular that it spawned countless spin-offs, including anime, manga, and more.

6 Disney Tsum Tsum Brings Popular Disney Characters To A Relaxing Match-3 Game

Simple Yet Addictive Disney Puzzle Game

It's no surprise that a franchise as beloved as Disney would have one of the most popular gacha games ever made under its belt. Disney Tsum Tsum was a cute, simple match-three game where rounds only lasted a single minute. Here, players attempt to beat their high score and complete event missions.

Published by LINE in early 2014, Disney Tsum Tsum also has an incredibly successful line of real-life merchandise based on the game's art style. Not only can players support the game by spending money to roll for their favorite Disney characters, but they can purchase physical plush versions of them, as well.

5 Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle Came Up With Unique Gameplay To Keep Bringing Players Back

Bubble-Popping Mechanics in the Dragon Ball Universe

Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle is one of many anime-based gacha games published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, but the only one to break into the top ten. First released in 2015, Dokkan Battle has grossed nearly 4 billion dollars, thanks to dedicated Dragon Ball fans worldwide.

The main thing that sets Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle apart from many of its competitors is its unique gameplay. Rather than being a turn-based RPG where players select skills each turn, players popped lines of bubbles to damage enemies and charge up their ultimate skills.

4 Genshin Impact Offers A Beautiful Yet Ever-Expanding World Of Characters

Open-World Adventure with Gacha Elements

The most impressive open-world gacha game to date, Genshin Impact has only been around for three years at most. Published by Hoyoverse, Genshin Impact has already outperformed even the most popular gacha games that have been around for much longer.

Its popularity and financial success were more than deserved, especially since Genshin Impact feels more like a high-quality single-player experience than a typical gacha game. The quality and amount of content that Genshin Impact offers only improves with each patch, as Hoyoverse re-invests a ton of the profit it makes back into improving the player experience and creating new content.

3 Fate/Grand Order Made The Fate Franchise Popular All Over Again

Immersive Storyline with Beloved Characters

Fate/Grand Order is one of the most popular gacha games of all time and has been running ever since Aniplex published it in July 2015. The characters and story of Fate are so beloved that there have been multiple anime, movie, and video game adaptations about them and their lives, both inside and outside the Holy Grail Wars.

Impressively, almost one-sixth of Fate/Grand Order's total revenue has been made in 2022 alone. Players cited the game's story and the depth of its characters as being particularly well-done, but Fate/Grand Order falls into the standard gacha pitfall of making it too expensive and tedious to acquire new units and characters.

2 Puzzle & Dragons Has Collaborated With Nearly Every Major Franchise

Match-Three Puzzle Game with Extensive Crossovers

Published by GungHo Online Entertainment, Puzzle and Dragons was another simple match-three gacha game. The core gameplay revolved around matching large combos of tiles together to rack up points, determining how much damage players' units will then deal in combat.

Puzzle and Dragons has been around since 2012. During that time, it had almost 100 collaborations with other incredibly popular media franchises. These included but weren't limited to Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan, Batman, Final Fantasy, Persona, and even real-life brands like Coca-Cola.

1 Monster Strike Is The Most Popular And Enduring Gacha Franchise

Pinball Mechanics Meet RPG Strategy

One of only two mobile games to break the ten-billion mark and the only gacha game to do so, Monster Strike has been around since August 2013. Published by Mixi, the controls are similar to pinball. Players launched their units to collide with terrain and enemies, racking up points to determine how much damage they deal.

Monster Strike was so popular that it was also re-released as a Nintendo 3DS game. It even had two web anime seasons based on its lore that aired over the years. It's also heavily supported by yearly collaborations with popular series like the shōnen classic Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Spy X Family, and Sword Art Online.