“Puzzle & Dragons has surpassed 12 million downloads in North America since its release in 2012″.
What is Puzzle & Dragons you ask? Well it’s a mix of dungeon-crawling, monster-collecting, and a gem puzzle game. Players capture and evolve elemental monsters à la Pokemon, and incorporate their abilities with chain combos. This game is a huge deal already, surpassing 62 million downloads worldwide. It was the first mobile game to hit $1 billion in revenue, using the f2p with micro-transactions method.
As 0f Match 2017, P&D had more than 45 million downloads in Japan alone.
In 2013 when the game first took off, developer GungHo Entertainment saw their stock rise 6000%. At that time, they dwarfed the mighty Zynga, doubled EA, and surpassed Nintendo.
According to thinkgaming, Candy Crush Saga ranks #1 for top-grossing mobile games worldwide.
Fate/Grand Order is #2
“Fate/Grand Order[a] is an online free-to-play role-playing game based on the Fate/stay night visual novel game and franchise by Type-Moon. The game is centered around turn-based combat where the player, who takes on the role of a “Master”, summons and commands powerful familiars known as “Servants” in battle against their enemies. The story narrative is presented in a visual novel format, and each Servant has their own personal scenario which the player explores.”
Pokemon GO is #3
The fad that thrust Pokemon into our parks and streets is still going strong.
Clash Royale is #4
The MOBA Arena of Valor is #5
Onmyoji is #6
The anime-inspired turn-based combat game is huge in Asia (over 200 million downloads) and has just received a limited beta in North America to test its potential reception outside of Asia.
Puzzle & Dragons is at #10, behind Summoners War, Clash of Clans, and Monster Strike.
There’s a whole other world of mobile gaming outside my bubble and I found today a fascinating trek. Mobile games are a proven – if different – market, but the sheer availability of mobile devices is unbeatable. On top of that, these games are all free, which blows the accessibility wide open. As a console traditionalist, I obviously hope my preferred way of playing will stay viable, but I’m sure every game publisher has the mobile devil on their shoulder, as it’s an impossible part of the industry to ignore.
We’ve already seen the once-legenday Konami say to hell with AAA games and put their money on Pachinko. I’d hate to see Square Enix take a similar route and make Final Fantasy XVI a f2p mobile cash-cow.
