Million Victories’ big year and ambitions for a billion dollar future

France-based developer Million Victories was first founded in 2017, with the goal of shaking up the strategy genre through its debut title Million Lords.

In 2023, it raised $6.5 million in Series A investment to expand the title around the world, as well as fund new games.

We caught up with the company’s CEO Benoit Ducrest to discuss how the studio’s mission is going, where the funding has gone, and its dreams to make Million Lords a $1 billion game.

PocketGamer.biz: First, can you tell us a little about Million Victories?

Benoit Ducrest: I have always been a gamer with a deep passion for strategy games and RPGs. I founded Million Victories to make the emotions and excitement of MMO games accessible to everyone.

What I enjoy most is seeing our player community grow year after year and reading their feedback. When players say that Million Lords is the strategy game they have always been waiting for, it’s incredibly fulfilling and reminds me of why we started this journey.

How were things for the Million Victories team in 2024? You previously had a funding round where you raised $6.5m. What impact has that had?

2024 was a pivotal year for Million Victories, marked by several major milestones. Our funding with Griffin Gaming Partners and Eurazeo enabled us to accelerate growth, doubling our revenue from 2023 and surpassing $1m in monthly bookings.

It also allowed us to strengthen our team with key strategic hires, bringing in top talent in both technology and marketing to support our long-term ambitions. These combined efforts have set the stage for an even stronger 2025, with clear momentum for further scaling.

The industry has been facing numerous changes with the likes of the DMA and market challenges such as layoffs. How are you at Million Victories trying to navigate some of these industry shifts?

When you have a great game that players love, market challenges become much more manageable! For example, in 2024, we achieved our highest-ever return on ad spend while significantly increasing our budget.

For us, this is the perfect moment to disrupt the 4X market and rise to the top.

We spoke in 2024 about Million Lords and the big leap from 2D to 3D. How have players received that update and what impact has it had on the game overall?

We’re thrilled with how the 3D update has transformed Million Lords. It has enhanced the player experience and, more importantly, opened up endless possibilities for future developments.

This transition gives us greater creative freedom, allowing us to expand and enrich the game more easily. And this is just the beginning, it’s the first step in a much larger vision for Million Lords.

In our last interview with Million Victories, there was hope that Million Lords could one day generate more than $1bn. How is that going?

We don’t just hope to surpass $1bn in lifetime revenue. We have solid reasons to believe we will. Million Lords’ retention and monetisation already outperform most strategy games that have reached $1bn in revenue. Our unique gameplay and mechanics set us apart in the market, and players consistently tell us they’ve been waiting for a game like this.

Moreover, our marketing strategy continues to deliver outstanding results. As we scale our budget, our ROAS keeps improving, which is a rare achievement in this industry. With these combined strengths, we are confident that we can reach 100 million+ downloads and establish Million Lords as a top strategy game in the market.

What can you tell us about your ambitions to expand into other regions, such as Asia? What do you think about the growth we are seeing in these regions? What are your hopes for reaching an audience there?

We’re already seeing success in Asia, particularly in countries like Japan and South Korea, even without focused marketing efforts. This is a strong indicator of the potential in the region. There’s no doubt that these two countries represent exciting growth opportunities for us.

For now, our priority is strengthening our presence in key Western markets, where we see significant room to grow. Once we’ve achieved these goals, we’ll be in a strong position to expand strategically into Japan and Korea, building on the momentum already in place.

Another exciting opportunity for us is expanding to PC. This platform aligns well with strategy game players and will help us extend our reach beyond mobile.

Bringing Million Lords to PC will allow us to engage a broader audience, particularly those who prefer deep, long-form gameplay experiences on larger screens. This expansion will reinforce our presence in existing markets and open doors to new communities of dedicated strategy players.

The Million Victories team was also in the process of the prototyping phase of a new project. Is that still the case, and is there an update you could give on that?

We’re very pleased with the progress of our prototype and see exciting potential in it. That said, our top priority remains Million Lords.

The game continues to grow, and we know there’s still so much more to achieve. While we’re always exploring new ideas, we’re focused on maximising Million Lords’ impact and delivering the best possible experience to our players.

Finally, is there anything else going on at Million Victories that we should know about or be on the lookout for?

2025 is set to be a milestone year for Million Victories. Our next fundraising round is well underway, and it will be a key driver in accelerating our ambitions. This investment will allow us to scale faster, strengthen our team, and introduce key new features to take Million Lords to the next level.

One of our main priorities is launching PvE content, which will introduce new progression systems and long-term objectives. This addition is expected to enhance player engagement and push D30 retention to 10%, reinforcing both monetisation and overall growth.

So far, we’ve consistently doubled our revenue year-over-year, but with this funding and the improvements it enables, we anticipate accelerating that growth to 3x or even 4x in the coming years. This will position us for the next phase of expansion and further establish Million Lords as a major title in the strategy genre.

Exciting times lie ahead, and we’re just getting started.