Text/Yiguang Flow

The summer season has come to the end of August, and the actions of the main new tours have also come to an end.

Unlike the lively head competition in China, the majority of the Japan market is still firmly controlled by local established products. Up to now, among the 10 products with the highest cumulative revenue in Japan in 2024 (estimated by third-party platforms, excluding PC data, the same below), only "Honkai: Star Dome Railway" in fifth place, "Legend of the Mushroom Brave" in seventh place, and "Genshin" in ninth place are foreign games.

Among the new products, the best performance in Japan is Bandai's "School Idol Master", and the rest of the new products that can enter the top 100 in total revenue are almost all from Chinese manufacturers, among which in addition to several high-flying global promotion domestic masterpieces, there are also many new products with more differentiated playing styles and ideas.

Source: AppMagic

"The Legend of the Mushroom Brave"

From February to August, the total revenue was about 21.836 billion yen (1.05 billion yuan, data source: Game-i, the same below)

From the beginning of the 4399 product in Taiwan and Hong Kong in November, to the Korea market in December, and then to the Japan market in February this year, almost all of them occupied the top of the best-selling list everywhere at a breaking speed. In Japan, the revenue of "Legend of the Mushroom Brave" reached an all-time high of 5.297 billion yen in March and 5.930 billion yen in April.

Within 4 months of its launch, its total revenue in Japan exceeded $100 million, and the revenue share of "Legend of the Mushroom Brave" in Japan surpassed that of Korea, becoming its largest source of revenue. According to third-party platform statistics, in June, players in the Japan market spent an average of 330 minutes per month, and 44% of the downloads came from ads. This shows how popular this product is in Japan.

However, since June, the monthly flow of "The Legend of the Mushroom Brave" in Japan has shrunk to the range of 18~2.8 billion yen, entering a period of steady development. So far, the total revenue of this game has reached 21.836 billion yen (about 1.05 billion yuan), which is the strongest new product in the Japan market this year.

"School Idol Master"

May-August: Total revenue: approx. 10.911 billion yen (525 million yuan)

"Gakuen Idol Master", jointly launched by Bandai and Cygames, can be said to be the handle of this year's local products in Japan, and since its launch, it has almost broken into the top of the best-selling with a crushing attitude.

In the first month of the service, it soared to the first place in the local downloads, which was 1.5 times that of the rest of the products in the same period.

In our previous article, we talked about the reasons for the success of this product: we have thoroughly understood the payment logic of the horse racing lady + the heritage of the idol master IP + the endorsement of the two major consortia. The success of this product has directly increased the revenue proportion of Bandai Namco's idol master series IP by 20 percentage points, nearly doubling.

Judging from the change in revenue, within half a month of the launch of the service in May, the total revenue of "School Idol Master" reached 2.070 billion yen, and the next two months were 3.170 billion yen and 3.884 billion yen respectively, the latter is also the game's current monthly peak turnover. At present, more than half of August, the revenue of this game reached 1.787 billion yen, and the growth trend is slowing down.

But in any case, the revenue generated by 10.911 billion yen (about 525 million yuan) in only three months after it was put on the shelves also shows the dominance of "Gakuen Idol Master" among Japan's new products this year.

"Spell Return: Phantom Night Walk"

Total revenue for this year is about 7.443 billion yen (358 million yuan)

Strictly speaking, "Spell Returns: Phantom Night Walk" is not a new product this year, but it was launched at the end of November last year, and soon rushed to the top of the best-selling list of the App Store, with a very bright performance, and as of the first half of this year, its total revenue has exceeded 100 million US dollars, which can be used as a reference for new products.

"Spell Return" is a typical "IP change" mobile game, even if the IP itself is very popular, it is difficult for the game to get rid of the trend of such games starting high and going low.

In December last year, the total revenue of this product reached 6.116 billion yen, and in the second half of last year, it totaled 8.232 billion yen in just one month and 10 days. However, since February of this year, the game has only reached 2.11 billion yen in June when it celebrates its semi-anniversary, and the rest of the time it has been less than 1 billion yen.

In the seven and a half months so far this year, the total revenue of "Jujutsu Kaisen" has been 7.443 billion yen (about 358 million yuan), which is not even more than the revenue of last year's month and a half.

Jeopardy Zero

July-August: Total revenue: approx. 3.631 billion yen (175 million yuan)

As miHoYo's core product this year, "Jeopardy Zero" is the focus at home and abroad, ranking 11th in Appmagic's global revenue list in July with a revenue of $60.7 million in the first month of its launch. Among them, the revenue of this game in the Japan market accounted for about 30%, about 2.736 billion yen.

Regarding the game itself, I have talked many times before, so I will not make an evaluation, from the perspective of its performance in the Japan market alone, it basically stabilized in the top ten best-selling range in July, and after entering August, "Jeopardy Zero" experienced a trough period of more than two weeks on the Japan App Store, with the lowest best-selling ranking of 44, and the day before yesterday it rushed to the first best-selling place, which is a historical peak.

Up to now, the revenue of "Jeopardy Zero" in the first half of August in the Japan market was 894 million yen (about 43 million yuan), which is generally unable to reach the peak monthly turnover level of the other two top new products for the time being. As for whether it can become another top new product in the Japan market this year, it depends on its performance in the second half of August and the stability of long-term revenue.

Saint Seiya: Legend of Justice

Total revenue for the year is about 3.337 billion yen (161 million yuan)

The game entered the Japan market in January this year and has been very stable, basically maintaining a monthly turnover of more than 500 million yen in the first three months, and basically maintaining a monthly turnover level of 300 million yen in the following months.

As we mentioned in the article earlier this year, the release strategy of "Saint Seiya: Legend of Justice" is very ingenious, which not only captures the market gap, but also meets its own ability level, so it can eat the cake that mainstream manufacturers ignore.

Since its launch, this product has basically maintained the advantage of staggered competition, and even became the third fastest revenue growth game in Japan in the first half of the year. And it is quite different from the first "Legend of the Mushroom Brave", coupled with the basic disk of the Saint Seiya IP, which has stabilized its own user base after a few months of operation. After other new products are launched in the summer file, the impact on it is not obvious.

So although this game doesn't seem to have many flashes, it has actually accumulated 3.337 billion yen (161 million yuan) in revenue this year, and as long as the product life cycle is extended, it can live more moisturizing in Japan.

Love and Deep Space

Total revenue for the year is about 2.780 billion yen (134 million yuan)

From the earliest Nuan Nuan to the current "Love and Deep Space", the women of Paperfold have become more and more capable of exporting to the game. In particular, this work "Love and Deep Space" basically occupies the track of "National B 3D + Battle" alone.

In the previous article, we also talked about the attraction of this product to overseas players, and when it comes to the track where there is only oneself, it will reach the stage of global all-in-one.

Looking at the revenue alone, the monthly turnover of "Love and Deep Space" in Japan peaked at 477 million yen, and since the revenue in February and March exceeded 400 million yen, its revenue reached 439 million yen just over half of August, which shows that the overall revenue in August will reach its new height. It is enough to see that after the female game has enough accumulation, the explosiveness cannot be underestimated.

"Singing Tide"

May-August: Total revenue: approx. 2.161 billion yen (104 million yuan)

Strictly speaking, the performance of "Ming Tide" in the Japan market is not as bright as it seems. Judging from the list, after its launch in May, its App Store best-selling ranking hovered between 9~30, and even quickly topped the best-selling list in early June, and from the point of view of the speed of climbing, it is also the best among the new products in the Japan market this year.

It's just that if you stretch the long-term axis, you can find that the stability of "Singing Tide" is not high, and after the rapid rise to the top, there is a period of large fluctuations, and the bulk of the revenue in general depends more on the outbreak of each new version and new card pool.

The specific reflection is in the revenue data, we can see that "Ming Tide" in the Japan market in June harvested 1.058 billion yen in revenue, reaching the peak since its launch, the first half of August revenue is 200 million yen, if there is a small outbreak in the second half of the month, then the total revenue in August may be able to stabilize the 655 million yen level in July, otherwise there will be a downward trend.

I'm Upgrading Alone: Arise

From May to August, total revenue was about 1.971 billion yen (95 million yuan)

With first-class IP, top-notch painting, and large-scale promotion of film and game linkage, the performance of "I Upgrade Alone: Arise" in the Japan market can only be said to be unsatisfactory. The revenue scale of 895 million yen in the first month, halved in the second month and then maintained a stable trend, and it is also a fast-selling trend of traditional Korean games on the list.

Of course, the majority of the revenue of this game is still in the Korea market, and for the Japan market, this kind of IP to mobile games has been seen too much, and simple visual stimulation can no longer retain players. With a revenue scale of 1.971 billion yen (95 million yuan) so far, there may still be room for operation in the case of stable operation.

"Slow Life in a Different World"

May-August: Total revenue: 1.251 billion yen (60 million yuan)

This "Slow Life in Another World", which I just wrote not long ago, did not expect to be the goalkeeper of the "Top 100 Cumulative Total Revenue in the Japan Market this Year" so far.

I won't say much about the product itself, but let's emphasize its positioning advantages: first, it is an anti-trend outlet in another world, second, the gap in the corresponding theme in the game, and third, the rhythm and style of the relaxed and casual game. The first two fit the evolution of Japan's local anime themes, and the latter fit the spiritual demands of ordinary people today.

Overall, this seemingly ordinary game has become a small dark horse. What's more, the lower limit of "Slow Life in Another World" is higher, unlike IP modification and pure gacha RPGs, which have huge revenue fluctuations, and the high lower limit has more advantages in long-term operation and can be more streamlined.

In fact, the game's monthly revenue since its launch was 233 million yen, 377 million yen, 429 million yen, and 211 million yen, respectively, considering that it is just halfway through August, then the overall turnover should be more than 400 million yen. It can be seen that this is a slow-heating product, and its peak has not yet arrived.

brief summary

Overall, this year's Japan market has the meaning of "new product cultivation back garden" of domestic games, although the majority is still siphoned off by Japan's old games, but there is still a lot of room for various products and different ways of playing to try. Whether it is an industrialized mobile game masterpiece, a retro IP adaptation, or an anti-trend slow-burning subdivision work, there are opportunities to stand out.

For products that go to sea, it is ideal to travel to the world, but it is also realistic to find a way to make a small profit in a specific market.

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