Hearthstone now earns about $20 million every month, says report
That figure tops Dota 2, at least as of earlier this year.
Blizzard's first-ever free-to-play game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft now makes approximately $20 million monthly, according to a new report from research group SuperData.
Activision Blizzard hasn't made exact figures regarding Hearthstone's success public, and its most recent earnings report lumped it in with Heroes of the Storm and Destiny.
Combined, the three games have more than 70 million registered players and have topped $1 billion in revenue -- but it's hard to know exactly how much of that Hearthstone is responsible for. As of May, Hearthstone had topped 30 million players.
At $20 million monthly, Hearthstone is making more than Dota 2 -- at least as of earlier this year, when SuperData reported (via GamesBeat) that Valve's MOBA was earning about $18 million monthly.
According to SuperData, Hearthstone "dominates" the digital card game genre. That $20 million is thanks in part to its release on smartphones earlier this year; SuperData says that monthly revenue increased 31 percent following that.
Without getting into any specifics, Activision Blizzard suggested earlier this month that the release on new platforms (and availability of new content) helped to almost double Hearthstone's "key engagement metrics" as compared with the year prior, when they were "already very strong."
Hearthstone is a free-to-play game where players can spend money on things like card packs and new content. Initially, the latter took the form of expansions like Naxxramas, but more recently Blizzard began selling new (cosmetic) heroes.
Hearthstone's next expansion The Grand Tournament is due out later this month and brings with it 132 new cards, as well as a new game mechanic.