What the D2C Monopoly Go store did right to drive $5B in game revenue

From WWE Champions and Tiki Solitaire TriPeaks to Stumble Guys, the Scopely team are old pros at building high-quality games that users love, then enhancing the player experience with D2C channels that tap into player motivations to drive more revenue, engagement, and retention. (You can read more about the Scopely Marvel Strike Force and Star Trek fleet Command web shops in our deep dive here.)

This expertise in D2C has helped the company reach over $10 billion in revenue. And one of the biggest drivers of that revenue is Monopoly Go. The game, which was launched in 2023, became the fastest mobile game in history to reach $3 billion in revenue - and it has since exceeded $5 billion. Behind all that success is a D2C webshop launched in October 2024 that’s helping drive direct revenue from the game’s most loyal players. The Monopoly Go store, also called the Tycoon Club, is an invite-only web store with exclusive features that improve the VIP player experience and encourage them to spend more and retain for longer.

Ahead, we’re diving deeper into the Monopoly Go web store to uncover the rewards, incentives, and features it offers to players to build real value and increase spend. Looking at an industry leader like Scopely and their D2C approach can help inspire your own web shop and determine how best to tap into your player motivations with the right mix of incentives.

How do players get invited to the Monopoly Go store?

Players need to wait to receive an invitation to the Tycoon Club - which happens after they reach board level 10 and have been playing for at least one month.

Restricting access to the Monopoly Go store motivates players who know about its existence (e.g. through social media or other friends) to keep playing so they can earn that invite. But more importantly, it means that only engaged and loyal players get access to the webshop - which is the target audience for a D2C channel.

Shifting the spend of even a percentage of these high-value players can yield significant revenue, especially since it’s free from the 30% commission fees of platforms like Apple and Google. Look at it this way: Monopoly Go made over $334 million in revenue in Q1 2025 from in-app purchases on mobile. If they shifted even 20% of total player spend to the web (much of which comes from the highest spenders), they’d save over $19 million in app store fees.

Key features and incentives on the Monopoly Go store

The Tycoon Club is especially effective at increasing spend and retention because it taps into the player motivations at the core of the game: playing with friends (“your real social graph” of friends and family that users could easily invite to the game and play with).

“It’s a game that’s fun, not just because of the mechanic itself, but because of who you are playing it with.” - Javier Ferreira, co-CEO of Scopely

Showing players the value of the shop through a tutorial

Before players browse offers and start spending, the first thing they see after accepting their invite to the Monopoly Go store is a branded tutorial that guides them through all the features and incentives that await them. There are a few advantages of having this kind of tutorial on the webshop:

• Reduces friction: players know exactly how to use the webshop after the tutorial walk-through, which makes it easier for them to make purchases and convert
• Builds credibility: webshops aren’t a familiar concept to most players. A branded tutorial makes the Monopoly Go store feel credible and safe while educating them on what the shop is and how to use it
• Highlights value early-on: the tutorial demonstrates the webshop’s value for players at an early touchpoint by showing them what’s exclusive to the Tycoon Club and why they should choose to spend here, rather than in the Monopoly Go game

Web-exclusive bonuses that give players more bang for their buck

The Monopoly Go store gives players web-only bonuses with every purchase. For example, in-game players see Rolls in multiples of 40, 100, 220, 525, 1,700, and 3,700. But on the web, they can get more Rolls at the same price, like 4,300 Rolls for the same price as the in-game pack of 3,700 - that’s over 16% more Rolls on the web! 

Offering bonuses like these instead of discounts (e.g. 30% off a pack of Rolls) is a best practice for building more value for players - a discount can have the negative consequences of reducing perceived value and instilling a habit of only purchasing at discounted prices. You can learn even more about discount and rewards strategies in our blog.

For bundles, players get additional Rolls and/or cosmetics (e.g. sticker packs) with every purchase only on the Monopoly Go web store. Plus, every purchase includes Loyalty Points that players can redeem in the Benefits section in the store (we’ll get into this later). Offers and bonuses like these that players can only get on the web are one of the best ways to build value on a webshop - they give players more with their purchase, which is a real reason for them to spend on the web, rather than in the Monopoly Go game.

Loyalty Points incentivize repeat purchases

The Tycoon Club has a loyalty program that rewards players with Loyalty Points for their spend and engagement on the Monopoly Go store. The program - found in the Benefits section on the webshop - includes the following features:

• Tycoon Pass: A milestone system that rewards players for purchases made using Loyalty Points. Loyalty Points are earned through webshop purchases, so this system incentivizes spend on the web and more conversions. Players can also earn a final, big payout if they fill the progress bar before time runs out, which encourages urgency and immediate spend
• Shop: Players can use their Loyalty Points to purchase in-game items, like sticker packs, cosmetics, and exclusive bundles. Let’s hone in on the cosmetics for a second: since only Tycoon Club members can purchase them, it’s a way for players to show off their elite status and get a sense of pride. The Monopoly Go game is a social-based title, so social status and cosmetics are an important part of gameplay - which makes an exclusive offer like this in the loyalty store feel even more valuable
• Daily reward wheel: Each day that players return to the Monopoly Go store, they can visit the loyalty program page and spin a Daily Wheel to earn rewards. Players want to earn the free rewards, so they’ll return to the webshop each day for their chance to spin the wheel - creating a habit out of visiting the web and promoting long-term engagement. Note: players can also spend Loyalty Points to spin the wheel again before the 24 hour timer is up, which makes the points feel even more valuable and useful 

Daily rewards players keep returning to the webshop 

In addition to the Daily Wheel players can spin in the loyalty program, they also get access to a Monopoly Go rewards section in the main Shop. Here, they can claim a daily free gift that rotates every 24 hours. A free, rotating reward is a way to encourage players to return to the webshop every day so they start making a habit out of it. The more the visit, the higher the chances they’ll browse and make purchases. Also, as users become more familiar with the web store and visit it more frequently, the experience of heading out of the game and going to the Monopoly Go store to make purchases feels less difficult - reducing friction of the process.

Marketing the Monopoly Go store

Monopoly Go drives traffic to the web store using a few key strategies. And remember: since the Tycoon Club is invite-only, the game’s approach to marketing is to emphasize its exclusivity and value to motivate players to keep playing and engaging.

Social media

The Monopoly Go game boasts over 10 million followers on Facebook and over 5 million on Instagram. Since the gameplay is so social and relies on players’ existing social networks, it makes sense that the game relies on these platforms for much of their marketing, too. One way it does that is by posting on Facebook. For example, when they launched the Monopoly Go store in October, they published a Facebook post to announce it went live, its exclusivity, and its value (“Grab freebies & progress towards unique rewards!”). Linking to a blog post on the game website that gave more detail about the Tycoon Club was a way to build even more value for players while letting them know what the club actually was and how to use it.

And on the Monopoly Go Instagram, there’s both a dedicated Highlight that sends players to the game website when clicked, and a Story that gives players an in-depth look at the Tycoon Club - with a link to either open the game if it’s already installed or download it from the app store. Both of these social media strategies serve to pique player interest in the Monopoly Go store and explain enough of its value to encourage users to head in-game or to the website to explore it for themselves.

Monopoly Go codes 

One of the features on the game website are Monopoly Go codes that players can enter to earn rewards. As of now, these codes can only be found inside of the Monopoly Go board game. Users need to purchase the real-life game to get the code, then head to the website to redeem the rewards. However, Scopely does have plans to roll out more Monopoly Go codes to Tycoon Club members through other channels, like social media and email. The idea behind the codes is to drive players to the web, where they can browse offers and explore the different features available to them.

On-site

The Monopoly Go website includes links and callouts to the Tycoon Club that let players know what they can expect and why they should shop there. For example, a blog post on the website announced the launch of the Monopoly Go store and gave an extensive overview of all the features that players could expect there. Since this was a new feature at the time, it was crucial to use the post as a long-form way to let players know what the webshop was and dive into detail about why they should use it (e.g. Monopoly Go rewards, the loyalty program, and extra content like the Tycoon Stats). 

Also on the game website is an FAQ section - here, players can find information about the Monopoly Go store, including when they’d get invited, more details about the loyalty program, and new features they can unlock. While this isn’t a traffic driver directly to the shop page of the Tycoon Club, it does help players learn more about the web store and build its value by showcasing the exclusive features and benefits.

Tap into player motivations with your D2C channel

Take a tip out of the Monopoly Go store playbook by constructing a webshop that speaks directly to your unique player motivations. What Monopoly Go did to translate the social and competitive aspects of gameplay into appealing offers and features on their D2C channel is inspiring - now you just need to act on the idea! If you’re interested in building a custom webshop that’s tailored to your gameplay and users, reach out to us at Stash. 

And if you’re seeking even more inspiration, we’ve got an eBook full of real-life examples (over 100!) from other gaming industry leaders. Download the eBook now to learn about their approach to D2C and how to build and grow a webshop that builds real value for your players so they choose to spend here, rather than in-game.