Monster Strike, the mobile action RPG that made Mixi (2121) a US$4 billion company late last month, continues to make headlines.
Last week, during its earnings call, Mixi said that Monster Strike has generated about US$1 million per day in the April-June quarter.
This number has grown to roughly US$2 million in July – and the game is still available in Japan and Taiwan only.
Mixi and LINE Collaborate
Today, Mixi and LINE Corp. have announced a quite spectacular deal under which both companies will start marketing each other’s biggest game. Last week, LINE said its top title is LINE Pop, which boasts 44 million downloads worldwide.
The LINE-Mixi agreement is essentially a so-called collaboration for Monster Strike and LINE Pop, a marketing tool that is virtually unknown in the West but very common in Japan.
In most cases, collaborations are limited to having the characters of a game from the partner appear in one’s own game.
This is also the case in the LINE-Mixi deal, as can be seen below:
Here is a Line Pop screenshot showing the red dragon and other creatures from Monster Strike:
And here are two LINE Pop characters appearing in Monster Strike:
In Japan, the collaboration will be kicked off inside the two games on Wednesday and last through September 24.
(In other words, collaborations could also be labeled as special events – a marketing tool Japanese mobile game companies have introduced and mastered like no other companies elsewhere.)
Monster Strike Also To Appear In Line Pop TV Commercials
In the case of the LINE-Mixi deal, the collaboration goes one step further, outside the game.
As I mentioned repeatedly, Japan is the only country in the world in which mobile games are being regularly advertised on national TV (in heavy rotation, nation-wide). No big game can’t afford not to be shown on TV over here anymore.
The LINE Pop and Monster Strike collaboration will also be pushed on TV, with a total of three spots (all rolled into one in the following video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeIEG_s_Q0A
The three LINE Pop / Monster Strike TV spots will be aired in Japan starting tomorrow.
(As a quick side note, Mixi also announced that Monster Strike will get a big update on Wednesday: version 2.7 will feature new menus, a bigger monster box, a revamped title screen, and more.)
