Candy Crush Saga has been the King, no pun intended, of matching games for a loooooong time. But good things can't go on forever.
New(ish) competitor Royal Match, which rolled out in 2020 and some say is a more exciting game, has been growing steadily.
Royal match is no match - pun definitely intended - to Candy Crush in terms of revenue, but that ended last month.
Over the last 12 months, Royal Match's revenue rose 125%. Last July, our estimates show Royal Match raking in $36M of net revenue from the App Store and Google Play. The majority came from the App Store, where Royal Match has been one of the top grossing games throughout.
Royal Match ended July with $81M of net revenue. And that's what Turkey-based Dream Games, the game's publisher, gets to keep after Apple and Google take their fees.
Candy Crush, on the other hand, earned $83 last July, according to our estimates. Although revenue has been fairly consistent this year, the last few months have seen a decline.
After peaking at more than $100M in April, Candy Crush Saga's revenue dropped to $91M in May, then $87M in June, and in July, revenue dropped to just $71M.
Just in time for Royal Match to take over.
Game developers - Don't be afraid to challenge the king.
May’s top app charts were mostly stuck, but ChatGPT kept growing in downloads while TikTok kept leading revenue and Google One climbed into the top five.
Apple's WWDC 2026 app song named a tiny slice of the App Store, but the apps behind the lyrics are far bigger, older, and more successful than average.