Within its first year, Clash Royale generated over US$1 billion in revenue.[7] By its third anniversary, total revenue had reportedly reached approximately US$2.5 billion, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.[8]
Gameplay
Clash Royale 1v1 and 2v2 gameplay
A screenshot of a 1v1 battle
A screenshot of a 2v2 battle
Clash Royale is a real-time strategymobile game incorporating elements from collectible card games, multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) and tower defense. Players compete in head-to-head battles to destroy opposing towers while defending their own.[9] The primary game mode features 1v1 matches in which players earn trophies and progress through a series of themed arenas, unlocking new cards and gameplay features as they advance.[10] Upon reaching a sufficiently high trophy count, players gain access to ranked play, which is divided into seven leagues: Master I, Master II, Master III, Champion, Grand Champion, Royal Champion, and Ultimate Champion.[11][12]
Battles take place in an arena where each player has three towers—one King Tower and two Princess Towers.[13][14][a] The arena is divided into two halves by a river, with bridges on the left and right forming two lanes where players can focus their attacks.[9][16] Each player uses a deck of eight cards,[10] four of which are available in their hand at any given time.[17][18] Cards are deployed onto the arena by spending elixir, a resource that generates passively over time up to a maximum of 10.[17][19]
Cards may represent troops, buildings, or spells. When deployed, troops typically advance towards enemy towers; some target opponent's troops on the way while others charge directly towards the tower.[10] Princess Towers automatically attack enemy units that enter their side of the river.[20][21] The King Tower becomes active after a Princess Tower is destroyed or once the King Tower has taken damage, and will then assist in defending against enemy troops.[citation needed] Buildings and spells can be placed to defend territory or cause effects like damaging enemy units and structures.[14][18] Most troops and buildings can only be deployed by players onto their own side of the arena, corresponding to the lower half of the screen, while spells can be used anywhere on the arena. If a player destroys an opponent's tower, they gain access to part of the opponent’s side of the arena beyond the river.[14][18]
Battles last up to three minutes in normal time, with elixir generation doubling during the final minute. A player wins by destroying the opponent's King Tower or by destroying more towers than their opponent by the end of normal time. If both players have destroyed the same number of towers, the match enters overtime, where the first player to destroy a tower wins.[22] If no tower is destroyed within two minutes of overtime, a tiebreaker is applied in which the player with the tower on the lowest remaining health loses.[14] During the final minute of overtime, elixir generation is tripled.[23]
Deck-building is an important strategic element in Clash Royale.[9][24] Between battles, players can select any eight cards from their collection to form their deck.[10][25] Players can collect cards from chests earned through gameplay, purchase them from the in-game shop, or join a clan and request them from clan members. Cards can be upgraded using in-game currency, which increases their effectiveness and contributes to the player's "King Level"—the level of their account which also affects tower strength.[10][14] Card levels are an important consideration when building a deck, as higher-level cards are stronger; however, players must also account for the synergy between cards in their collection. In-battle strategy varies depending on the deck, but generally consists of efficient elixir management, precise card placements and timings, and tracking an opponent's elixir and cards.[14][26]
Other game modes
Throughout its development, Supercell has introduced numerous additional game modes. A cooperative 2v2 mode allows players to team up with friends or other online players.[14][27] The game also features permanent and limited-time challenges and events, which require an entry fee in in-game currency and reward players based on the number of wins achieved before three losses. Variants include the draft challenge, in which players select from a series of two-card choices to build their deck before each battle, and various events added to celebrate the introduction of new cards or features.[14][28]
Clan Wars, introduced in April 2018, allowed players to work together as a clan to battle other clans. This mode was replaced by Clan Wars 2 in August 2020. In the updated format, players must construct four unique decks without overlapping cards,[14] which are used to attack opposing clans' defences.[29]
In July 2025, Merge Tactics was added as a permanent game mode. This mode features a four-player, turn-based format in which players select units to deploy and combine them to strengthen them before they are sent into automated battles, with gameplay comparable to Rush Royale.[30][31]
Clash Royale regularly includes limited-time game modes. In March 2018, for the game's two-year anniversary, Supercell introduced Retro Royale, which restricted gameplay to cards available during the game's soft launch.[32] The mode returned temporarily in March 2025, this time limiting card selection to those released as of 2017.[33] In June 2024, a limited-time mode replaced the King Tower with a Goblin Queen. As goblin-themed cards are played, the Queen's ability charges up, culminating with the release of several Goblin Babies across the opponent's side of the arena. Progression in this game mode followed a similar trophy-based system as the primary game mode.[34][35] Ranked 2v2 play was introduced as a limited-time mode in November 2024[36] and reintroduced briefly in February 2025, allowing players to team up and play competitively against other teams.[37]
Development and release
Clash Royale was developed by Supercell, a Finnish game company known for the mobile games Clash of Clans (2012), Hay Day (2012), and Boom Beach (2014).[38] The concept for the game came from a prototype called The Summoners that had been developed prior to the release of Clash of Clans, but was abandoned due to the difficulty of developing a real-timeplayer-versus-player (PvP) mobile game.[39] Development of Clash Royale began in 2014, initially with an original fantasy setting and later coming to be set in the world of Clash of Clans.[40]
While Clash of Clans had primarily been designed to be played on larger, horizontal tablet screens, Clash Royale was made to be played on mobile phones.[40][41] It was one of the first real-time PvP games for mobile.[citation needed]
Clash Royale was soft-launched in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, and New Zealand for iOS on January 4, 2016.[42][43] It was soft-launched on Android for those same countries on February 16, 2016.[44] Both platforms received a global release on March 2, 2016.[45] The game launched for PC globally on October 22, 2023, during the rollout of Google Play Games' PC beta launch.[46]
Upon its release, Clash Royale became the most downloaded and top-grossing app on the U.S. iOS App Store.[47]
Clash Royale received generally favorable reviews from critics according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[48] Reviewers praised the game's blend of different genres and mechanics,[9][19] and the way Supercell simplified these disparate elements to create a game well-suited for mobile.[4][25][49]
Battles were described as accessible and intuitive, but hiding a surprising depth of strategy and complex decision-making.[b] Their short length and fast pace were also praised.[25][49][13][19] Harry Slater of Pocket Gamer enjoyed the flow of battles, with the increasing elixir generation in the last minute leading to "a frantic final scramble".[13]Game Informer's Daniel Tack likewise enjoyed the "fun, fast" gameplay, finding it so addictive that "[a] quick five minute session can expand to eat an hour with terrifying ease".[19]
Jordan Minor, writing for PCMag UK, praised the game's production values and the "cartoony" visuals that he felt were "full of cheery personality".[9] Tommaso Pugliese of Multiplayer.it also enjoyed the colorful art style and praised the variety of units available.[50] The game's matchmaking system garnered mixed reactions. Tack felt the system worked well[19] but Matt Thrower of Pocket Tactics complained it would sometimes place players against opponents with higher-level cards.[25]
The monetisation strategy, including the use of in-game currency to skip chest timers, was received more negatively. Thrower called it "greedy" and argued it put up a paywall for success, ultimately "[making] what could have been a truly great game into merely a very good one."[25] Minor complained that the timers meant the game "goes out of its way to prevent you from playing it",[9] while Nick Gillet, for The Guardian, likened the game's free-to-play model to "[shaking] you down for change".[51] Some reviewers were less negative, such as TouchArcade's Eli Hodapp, who argued that rewards from chests are less important than progressing into new arenas, which is free.[4] Craig Grannell, writing for Stuff, felt that although some would find chest timers restrictive, it helped him limit his playtime to a reasonable amount per day.[17]
Championships
Clash Royale League
Mugi (left) vs Pedro (right) in the Clash Royale League 2023 World Finals
The Clash Royale League was the official team esportsworld championship on a league format, developed by Supercell. It consisted of 5 leagues: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and China. Season 1 started on August 20, 2018. After fifteen games per team during the regular season, playoffs were held in each region, after which the World Finals were held in Tokyo, Japan. The finalists in 2018 consisted of Nova Esports (China), KingZone Dragon-X (Asia), Vivo Keyd (Latin America), Team Queso (Europe), Immortals (North America), and Ponos Sports from Japan. Ponos achieved second in Asia and qualified for the World Finals due to Japan's host status. A seeding tournament ranked the teams. The top two teams from the seeding tournament received a bye and automatically qualified for the semifinals. The 2018 World Champions were Nova Esports.[52]
The second edition saw Team Liquid defeat SK Gaming by 1 HP in the semifinals, widely regarded as the best Clash Royale match.[53] Team Liquid then went on to defeat W.EDGM to claim the world title.
In 2020, the pandemic forced all but two Chinese teams to play from home.
After the 2020 season, the format was changed from team competition to individual competition.[54] The 2021 World Finals was held online.
The 2022-2024 World Finals were held in conjunction with the Clash of Clans World Championship in Helsinki, Finland, the location of Supercell headquarters.[55][56] In 2024, Supercell held Superfest, an event encompassing the beforementioned tournaments with the addition of the Brawl Stars World Finals.[57][58]
The Clash Royale Crown Championship was the official esports world championship of the game in 2017, developed by Supercell.[76] The tournament saw the best players all over the world from North America, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and more compete. The first edition had over 28 million participants from around the world, becoming the world's largest Clash Royale event.[77] The first world champion was Sergio Ramos who beat MusicMaster by three games to one on the Crown Championship World Finals.[78] In the 2017 Crown Championship in London, the top 16 players in the world competed for a $400,000 prize pool.[79] The Clash Royale Crown Championship was discontinued and replaced by the Clash Royale League in 2018.[80]
Clash Royale was part of an esport demonstration event during the 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia. Eight countries are able to participate after having qualified from their respective regional qualification with Indonesia automatically qualified as host.[82]
↑"AESF Game Result"(PDF). Asian Electronic Sports Federation. July 11, 2018. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 31, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
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