Today marks the fifth anniversary of the release of Supercell’s card-based strategy mobile game, Clash Royale.

Clash Royale was soft-launched on Jan. 4, 2016, for players in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. It was Supercell’s fourth published game after Gunshine, Hay Day, and Clash of Clans. The cards in the game were based on the latter game.

Related: Clash Royale season 19 is now available

At that time, the game boasted of just 42 cards. A lot has changed in five years, with Clash Royale now having 102 cards. The game underwent a global release on March 2, 2016. Upon its release, the game quickly became the most downloaded and top-grossing application on Apple’s App Store in the United States.

Being a real-time strategy game unlike Supercell’s past titles, the Finnish company was able to venture into esports with Clash Royale. After the initial success of Clash Royale esports, the franchised Clash Royale League (CRL) was launched in 2018 featuring five regions. These were China, Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America.

In 2021, the CRL has returned to the game’s roots of individual competitions, just like in 2016 and 2017. The CRL 2021 has a total prize pool of $1,644,000 featuring eight seasons of competition. The top 32 players will compete in the CRL World Finals at the end of the year.

Related: Clash Royale League 2021 has officially begun

Today, the game’s 19th season, called Frozen Peak, kicked-off as well. It has introduced a new Royale Pass along with a tower skin and emotes to the game.

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