Gacha games are expensive, and only newbies to the genre are none the wiser. Most of them will claim that they're free to play, only for limited characters to appear and make you lose control over your wallet. While not every player has terrible self-control, a lot of gacha games reel in millions and billions of dollars in profit yearly.
Even gacha games that are only months old are capable of earning millions of dollars with good pre-release marketing strategies. From millions to billions of dollars, these gacha games are the ones that frogs and whales spend on the most.
10 Arknights
Total Earnings as of 2023: $11,000,000
Released in 2019, Arknights is mostly popular in China and Japan but has amassed millions of dollars in revenue in a short time. Maybe it's the plague theme, although it's a cuter depiction of a fatal disease, that got it popular right at the onset of a real-life pandemic.
But plague doctors aside, Arknights was internationally released in 2020, and it's more free-to-play friendly than most gacha games even if its earnings aren't small by any means. You can clear much of the game's content even with low-rarity characters, so the gacha temptation isn't too strong here.
9 Honkai: Star Rail
Total Earnings as of 2023: $129,000,000
The only thing that might earn the title Genshin Impact killer is its successor, Honkai: Star Rail. Released in 2023, this turn-based gacha game was able to outearn longer-established gacha games by a hundred million. The game was sufficiently marketed, and even if its Tiktok ads are weird, the revenue indicates that the campaign was successful.
This isn't surprising, since many players from previous Hoyoverse games were awaiting Honkai: Star Rail's release. It's a game that neatly ties a lot of the other games together, and it makes that clear by alluding and referencing the other games.
8 Blue Archive
Total Earnings as of 2023: $250,000,000
Many love Blue Archive and its cute characters a lot, which is why it's earned hundreds of millions of dollars since its release in 2021. Its popularity in the West pales in comparison to its reception in Japan and South Korea, but it's earned its place as a top-earning gacha game.
It's set in a school that's threatened to close, and as simple as saving an academy sounds, the plot gets darker and bolder in showing that death isn't a distant reality for any character in the game.
7 Goddess of Victory: Nikke
Total Earnings as of 2023: $400,000,000
You might be surprised that a game that's only been released in 2022 has already earned this much, but with your favorite streamers playing Goddess of Victory: Nikke and its stunning visuals, it's not really a shocking to see it thrive. If you don't play it, you might even be tempted to since it gives Nier: Automata vibes.
It tells the story of a post-apocalyptic future on Earth, where humans are fighting mechanical aliens who have taken over the surface world. If you weren't satisfied with what you know with Nier: Automata, you can imagine this as a good spinoff of what the fight between humans and androids could've been—even if the two games are in no way connected.
6 Diablo Immortal
Total Earnings as of 2023: $526,000,000
Diablo Immortal's release was awaited, and it's clear that the game was shown love based on its reception and earnings. It's not hard to love RPG dungeon crawlers, and combined with a gacha element, it becomes difficult to put the game down.
Many have criticized Diablo Immortal's gacha system, since getting stronger in the PvP aspect of the game will push the player to spend and hope that they'll get the item they're aiming for. As materials and resources get scarcer in the endgame, the more a lot of players are compelled to spend to build their character's gear.
5 Summoners War: Sky Arena
Total Earnings as of 2023: $2,000,000,000
Turn-based combat mobile gamers have been thrown an ad from Summoners War: Sky Arena at least once or twice, and that's not shocking for a game that's still running strong after being released in 2014. It remains a good turn-based combat game, and even after its open-world counterpart has been released, Sky Arena has been a choice for many who prefer less-gritty gameplay.
It's a game where humans, called Summoners, battle it out to gain access to resources and at times, power. It might sound strange and even counterintuitive to fight others for peace to last, but in a world full of magic and monsters, conflict becomes the only factor that keeps things balanced.
4 Uma Musume
Total Earnings as of 2023: $2,000,000,000
Uma Musume's $2,000,000,000 revenue is proof of its fame in Japan. Even as a mobile game that was only released in 2021, it was able to outearn many other gacha games that are older than it by years.
Literally "Horse Girl" in English, the player will have to raise horse girls which they'll eventually race against other horse girls.
Popularity aside, the idea of raising girls who are also horses didn't sit well with some critics. But even if it's not for everyone, it's an interesting game that has idol performances, horses, and gacha all rolled in one—in a way that you don't expect.
3 Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle
Total Earnings as of 2023: $3,000,000,000
Dragon Ball Z has a legacy to uphold and never-ending battles, but Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle might be the only place in history where you could stand a chance to control Goku and feel a fraction of his power. But it's no fighting game, it's more of a matching game with cool animation.
That won't stop you from pulling on the best banners to come in the game. Maybe it's because you love Dragon Ball Z, or maybe it's the many characters to choose from and the many teams for you to build that got you invested.
2 Genshin Impact
Total Earnings as of 2023: $4,000,000,000
You're surprised that Genshin Impact is not in first place, because Genshin Impact has been the top-grossing gacha game since its release in 2020. Its limited banners and its oftentimes unforgiving pity system had people whaling for their favorite characters.
Part of the reason for this is the atrociously long reruns of the character banners, with some characters taking a whole year before at least one rerun.
But if not for the character itself, the notorious Spiral Abyss is often a reason for people to pull on the limited banners for a stronger character to put in their teams. But whether you play for the end game, or to find the truth of this world—there's no denying that Genshin Impact is a financial success.
1 Fate Grand Order
Total Earnings as of 2023: $6,300,000,000
If you haven't played Fate: Grand Order, you've at least watched or heard of the anime related to the game. It took the world by storm on its global release in 2017, long after the anime was aired, and it was received with a lot of love that continues on to this day.
It's difficult to separate the terms "mobile", "fantasy sci-fi", and "turn-based gacha" without FGO at the forefront of your thoughts. You play as Ritsuka Fujimaru who travels back in 2004, to save the world and fight its doomed fate.