State of Survival: Revenue and Player Statistics (2019 – 2026)

State of Survival has been one of the more durable zombie strategy games on mobile, and the data tells a clear story of a title well past its peak but still pulling in serious money. Here is what the numbers say about its downloads, revenue, and player base heading into 2026.

Key Stats for 2026

Data source: AppMagic.

Is State of Survival Still Popular in 2026?

State of Survival is still popular, but it is a fraction of what it was at its height. The game peaked hard in mid-2020, when downloads and active users hit their all-time highs and revenue followed shortly after in early 2021.

Since then, every core metric has come down sharply.

Downloads are off about 95% from the peak, monthly revenue is down roughly 93%, and MAU has dropped around 91%.

That sounds brutal, and the decline is real, but a game still pulling more than a million monthly players and millions in monthly revenue six years after launch is doing better than most of its 2019 cohort.

Data source: AppMagic. 

Game Overview

Data source: FunPlus and Apple App Store.

How Many People Play State of Survival?

State of Survival remains one of the most played mobile games in the survival strategy category, with DAU sitting in the mid-200,000s and MAU hovering around 1.4 to 2 million across the past year.

State of Survival DAU & MAU Stats

Data source: AppMagic.

How Many Downloads Does State of Survival Have?

State of Survival has crossed 137 million all-time downloads, putting it firmly among the most downloaded games in the zombie strategy space.

The bulk of that volume came in 2020 and 2021, when the game was scaling aggressively. Install volume has shrunk every year since.

Data source: AppMagic. 2026 YTD covers complete months only. 2019 is a partial year (launch from April).

How Much Money Does State of Survival Make?

State of Survival has generated $1.69 billion in lifetime revenue, with its most recent full year (2025) bringing in $63 million. That is a long way down from the $516 million peak in 2021, but it shows how much money a mature 4X title can keep printing years after its install base stopped growing.

State of Survival Revenue Statistics (2019 – 2026)

Data source: AppMagic. Figures reflect in-app purchase revenue, reduced by platform fees and inclusive of taxes. 2026 YTD covers complete months only. 2019 is a partial year.

How State of Survival Makes Money

State of Survival runs on the classic 4X strategy monetization model. It is free to play, makes almost all of its money through in-app purchases, and concentrates revenue among a small group of high spenders.

This is one of the more lucrative top-grossing games in the survival category for a reason.

Whale-Driven IAP Is the Engine

The monetization here is built around competitive pressure. Progression is gated by time and resources, and players buy their way past those gates with packs, speed-ups, and resource bundles.

A small share of whales drives the majority of revenue, which is standard for the genre and is exactly why ARPDAU sits at a healthy $0.79.

Packs, VIP, and the Battle Pass

The core offers are bundles tied to events, a VIP system that rewards cumulative spending with permanent perks, and recurring passes that give daily value to keep spenders logging in. Starter packs convert new players cheaply, then offer prices climb as accounts grow more valuable.

Heroes and IP Collaborations

Hero acquisition and upgrades are a major revenue driver, and FunPlus uses licensed crossovers to push them.

The game has run collaborations with AMC’s The Walking Dead, Capcom’s Resident Evil, and DC’s Joker, each adding paid hero content and themed cosmetics that spike spending during the event window.

Monetization Efficiency

Data source: AppMagic.

Monetization efficiency here is strong.

Revenue per download above $12 is excellent for a mass-market mobile game, and it confirms that State of Survival converts a meaningful slice of its players into high-value spenders. The DAU/MAU ratio of around 14% is on the lower side, which is typical for a 4X game where a lot of accounts check in occasionally rather than daily.

Player Demographics

Most of the State of Survival audience sits in the adult male, strategy-loyal segment that defines the 4X genre. Direct first-party demographics are not public, so the picture below is drawn from genre-level research on the kind of gamers these games attract, plus the game’s own platform split.

Data source: ESA and ActivePlayer.io.

User Acquisition Snapshot

State of Survival is a paid-UA machine, not an organic darling. The growth curve, the spend pattern, and the sheer ad volume all point to a game that bought its 137 million installs through aggressive performance marketing across Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and programmatic video.

The creative is what makes it work.

FunPlus runs both polished CG story spots and live-action shorts where two people argue over whose base and heroes are stronger. That second format leans into the core city-building and hero power fantasy, which is smart, because it actually sells the loop the game delivers.

IP collaborations double as UA events

The licensed crossovers are not just monetization plays, they are acquisition spikes. The Walking Dead partnership alone reportedly brought in around 20 million new players and pushed the game past 100 million downloads.

Each Resident Evil, Joker, or Walking Dead drop gives the UA team a fresh creative hook and a reason for lapsed players to come back.

The game is in mature, monetization-led mode

Make no mistake about the phase this game is in. State of Survival is in mature growth bordering on managed decline. New installs are shrinking year over year, but revenue per user stays high, which tells you the current strategy is squeezing value from the existing base rather than chasing big new-user growth.

Current performance is driven by monetization of loyal spenders and event-based reactivation, not by acquiring large volumes of fresh players. The live ops calendar, seasonal events, and crossovers exist to keep whales engaged and pull churned players back, not to top the download charts.

What This Means for Studios Running Similar Games

The lesson here is that a strong user acquisition engine plus disciplined live ops can keep a six-year-old title profitable long after its peak. The hard part is the creative, the targeting, and the testing cadence that keeps cost per install in check as a game ages.

That is the work we do at Udonis, helping studios sharpen paid social, creative testing, and growth strategy to get more out of every UA dollar.

References

1. AppMagic. 2026. Mobile App Data.
2. Apple. 2026. State of Survival: Zombie War on the App Store.
3. CBR. 2022. The Wild World of Mobile Game Ads.
4. Entertainment Software Association. 2025. Global Video Games Report 2025.
5. FunPlus. 2024. State of Survival Official Site.
6. Pocket Gamer. 2023. State of Survival Resident Evil Collaboration.