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An 8-year-old mobile card game just surpassed Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars combined. That’s right, Clash Royale made headlines recently after its most lucrative month since 2017 – and the numbers seem to be only growing. In July of 2025, Clash Royale earned $77 million in player spending, which is more than its Supercell counterparts, Brawl Stars and Clash of Clans, combined in the last month. In this blog article, we look into the game’s sudden spike in popularity and how streaming and nostalgia have pushed the game back into the spotlight.
Everybody loves the story of an underdog winning, and Clash Royale could definitely be the underdog in this story. Considered more of a side project for its Finnish developers, Supercell, the free real-time mobile strategy game was released globally in 2016 as a spinoff of the popular Clash of Clans game.
Players could use their favorite Clash characters for deck building or multiplayer battles while collecting and upgrading cards. Within its first year, Clash Royale quickly became a sensation due to its unique combination of card strategy and real-time battles. However, as with most games, the hype slowed down eventually and, with the subsequent release of Brawl Stars and the ever-present OG Clash of Clans in play, Clash Royale took a predictable back seat in the lineup. Now, the game’s sudden popularity is quickly changing that, and there are a few reasons why. First, let’s take a look at some of the numbers behind the game.
Clash Royale Reborn
After the release of Clash Royale in 2016, the game grossed in excess of $1 billion globally in less than 12 months, which was approximately five times as much as Clash of Clans did during the same length of time. In 2022, the game felt a post-pandemic high once more and surpassed more than $3 billion in lifetime revenue and became one of the top-grossing mobile games of all time, and Supercell’s second most lucrative game behind Clash of Clans. The game was clearly a hit, but stayed moderately lower than its Supercell brothers in popularity. However, 2025 was the year that everything would change.
Clash Royale generated $145.8 million in in-app purchase revenue since the beginning of 2025. However, according to a Facebook post from App Magic, the game spiked to $27.7 million in monthly revenue in May, the highest in three years and a 46% year-over-year increase. The platform’s data also shows a gradual, yet dramatic, increase in revenue and downloads of the game.
Clash Royale Revenue from January to August 2025. Sourced from App Magic.
Clash Royale Downloads from January to August 2025. Sourced from App Magic.
ActivePlayer stats also show that the Clash Royale player base grew by 23.8% in the last month, adding 11,550,000 new players. The game has shown consistent growth in popularity over the last quarter, with over 2 million new downloads in a single month and having the highest global Google search interest since its release in 2016.
Clash Royale interest over the last year, according to Google Trends.
Sourced from ActivePlayer
Pocket Gamer quickly took to calling this the game's “Brawl Stars moment,” indicating that it was also going through a popularity rebound, even though Clash Royale's rebound took three consecutive growth months to take off, versus the four months it took for Brawl Stars.
Now, with a little help from the stats reported by PocketGamer, let’s break down an approximate timeline of the revenue growth of Clash Royale since around March of this year, which is when the spike started becoming more noticeable.
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March 2025 |
Clash Royale’s current spending began to rise, up 12% month-over-month, to $20.9 million. |
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April 2025 |
The game went on to earn $23.7 million. |
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May 2025 |
A massive 67% surge up to almost $40 million. |
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June 2025 |
The game reached its most lucrative month since December 2021 and generated $51.4 million. This was the first time in 1,225 days that Clash Royale surpassed $2.5 million in daily player spending, and before Merge Tactics' release, it was its highest daily peak since 2021. Clash Royale was named Supercell’s number one game. |
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July 2025 |
Clash Royale generated $77 million, more than doubling Brawl Stars’ $37 million and Clash of Clans’ $33.6 million for the month - and outearning both games combined. This marked a 50% increase month-over-month and a 251% increase year-over-year. |
Clash Royale is now sitting comfortably as Supercell’s most popular game, and most gamers probably understand why. Naturally, the new offers, upgrades, and promotions played a major role in the game’s spiking fame. After launching several seasonal events, like A Tale of Thieves and The Undead March, the game began connecting events and rewards, encouraging spending while setting clear short-term goals to boost retention.
The game’s Merge Tactics feature also helped to boost sales, allowing four-player battles with a shared pool of Troops to merge with duplicates to power up and unlock various bonuses. The mode began rolling out in late June but became fully available to players a bit later. However, apart from the strategy on the developer’s side of the battlefield, another clan of contenders pushed the game further into the light with a different weapon: streaming.
The Jynxzi Effect
Influencers and gaming streamers have always been critical to the relevance of games. Most games only take off after a few big names in the YouTube or Twitch streaming community play them. For Clash Royale, this big break came along when Jynxzi, originally a Rainbow Six streamer, decided to stream Clash Royale “as a joke.” Suddenly, the streams gained a lot more traction, with 40K concurrent Twitch viewers. The game became more popular and attributed the new trend to Jynxzi’s involvement.
Sourced from Jynxzi Twitch
The ‘Jynxzi Effect’ was coined after the YouTuber began streaming Rainbow Six, a game that didn’t have a lot of popularity, and that springboarded him and the game into the spotlight. Moving on to Clash Royale, Jynxzi had the same outcome, and the game began to thrive. The YouTuber went on the host Clash Royale tournaments worth up to $10 000 and effectively reignited the spark for many new and veteran players.
Many gamers on Reddit and X have noted that his streaming directly influenced the resurgence of the game. YouTuber, Boss_CR, also noted Jynxzi’s role in the massive Clash Royale fever sweeping the globe. In his video, he recounts that Clash Royale was actually suffering before the boost, and many users were upset and boycotting the game. On Reddit, forums would discuss the many flawed updates in the game that made it difficult to proceed. He then shows how Jynxzi’s streams and tournaments upped engagement and interest in the span of a few months. However, he didn’t do it alone.
Bigger Streamers Are Joining In
Naturally, after the Jynxzi tidal wave, several other mainstream influencers began playing Clash Royale as well. Even though most of these players were simply gaining traction for their own channels by playing popular games, Clash Royale became an instant hit again with a much more organic note of nostalgia.
Big names that jumped on the Clash Royale bandwagon with Jynxzi include global influencer xQc, along with several other major names. Other big names playing Clash Royale include RyleyCR1, Ken, SirTagCR, and many more. According to Stream Charts, the interest in Clash Royale streams has almost doubled since June 2025, with around 17875 average viewers on those channels.
Sourced from Stream Charts
Even mega influencer, Mr. Beast wanted to get in on the action, asking Jynxzi in an X post to train him to play the game. This already caused a massive stir and having one of the biggest YouTuber’s around playing Clash Royale would only up the stakes even further. Mr. Beast is already known for hosting generous YouTube challenges and now, many fans are wondering if a lucrative Clash Royale tournament might be in store with his involvement. However, we can’t take away too much credit from the actual developers themselves for improving the game too.
Updates That Didn’t Suck
When it comes to updates, it can be a touchy subject for many gamers. A lot of the updates made in games can sometimes have negative effects and consequently sink the game. With Clash Royale’s sudden popularity, Supercell made sure to include some features that were actually quite cool despite the company’s standing reputation for delivering subpar updates. The major improvements to the game include:
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Trophy Road expanded to 10K trophies.
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Ranked mode reworked.
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Balanced new card releases.
The enhanced Merge Tactics mode provides a new auto-battler inside Clash Royale and has improved engagement and variety, but remains somewhat controversial with Clash Mini fans. In a recent blog, Supercell also noted that some of its updates include:
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An error-free Training Camp.
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Mega Draft without any cards above Level 15.
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No more unintended Seasonal Badges.
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Challenges that can be restarted.
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Merge Tactics, where 4-star Goblin Machine now hits 6 targets, instead of 4, as stated in the Card’s description.
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Performance improvements.
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Various other small corrections.
However, to enjoy all these great updates and relive the glory days of Clash Royale in style, you need the right tools. Fortunately, at REDMAGIC, we have the most advanced, intuitive, and powerful gaming smartphones, tablets, and accessories to make every battle victorious. Our smartphones and tablets are equipped with leading Snapdragon chipsets and have been refined to offer the most dynamic visuals and impressive performance. Play Clash Royale with REDMAGIC for seamless graphics, full-screen immersion, and a lasting battery life that keeps you winning for longer.
Memes, Nostalgia, and Global Hype
Memes are the language of the internet, and the resurgence of Clash Royale has allowed many nostalgic players to rejoin their favorite game. This spike was further fueled by the game going viral on social media platforms, like TikTok, X, and Instagram, where players would share different memes about the game – the sneaky goblin being a common favorite.
However, it’s also important to note that the popularity of Clash Royale was actually widespread outside of the US. The game had strong search interest and millions of downloads in countries like Germany, Turkey, Latin America, and across several continents. It needs to be stressed that, like most viral trends, this was an organic movement and not the direct result of marketing or developer intentions. The Clash Royale resurgence was built up by hype, memes, and a good old dose of nostalgia pushed forward by streamers and influencers.
Frustrations and Supercell at the Crossroads
Now, while Clash Royale is still bathing in its glory at the top of the leaderboard, there are still several issues with the game, according to the general gaming community. As mentioned earlier, the game was struggling with retention after frivolous updates and several negative reviews. The general gripes with Clash Royale often boil down to emphasis on grinding, high prices, and a lack of communication with developers.
Gamers often complain that the game demands too much grinding away without much progress, where the fundamental gameplay loop of battling and collecting rewards has not changed much, making it feel repetitive and like a chore for long-term players. This is especially an issue in ranked modes where higher-level cards provide an overwhelming advantage. Players are also wary of the game’s mechanics that often force you to buy your way forward and spend money unnecessarily.
Naturally, these would all be solved with regular and effective communication between players and the developers; however, Supercell seems to be mostly oblivious to these issues. Clash Royale players are looking for updates to the game that will provide meaningful progression, balance changes for the sake of fun and not stats, and a lot more support for the creators who are doing most of the muscle work in pushing the game to popularity. For now, we can only hope that Supercell takes these concerns to heart while the game thrives and will be more intentional when it comes to upgrades that the users need.
Conclusion: Clash Royale or Crash Royale?
It’s always a good day when your favorite old-school video game gains momentum and becomes cool to play again. However, for many long-standing Clash Royale fans, this sudden spike in popularity has raised concerns that the developers might not improve the game, thinking that it's good enough to gain traction by itself.
Now, the ball is in the court of Supercell, and how they choose to respond to the comeback of one of its beloved titles. While the hype train for Clash Royale has pushed the game into a million-dollar spotlight, trends eventually fade with time, and the streamers and community doing the groundwork for its publicity will eventually lose interest as well.
This is the ideal opportunity for the developers to embrace the expanded Clash Royale community and tackle the issues at hand with the momentum they have. For the sake of the fans, only time will tell if the developers play their cards right and get a win in this newfound arena.
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