Japanese game industry data provider KADOKAWA ASCII Research Laboratories just published the top 10 grossing mobile games for Japan in CY2022.
Here is the overview (gross sales, Japan domestic only, iOS and Android combined) – based on the company’s estimates*:
1) Monster Strike from Mixi: US$705M
2) Uma Musume Pretty Derby from Cygames: US$675M
3) Fate/Grand Order from Sony subsidiary Aniplex: US$473M
4) Puzzle & Dragons from GungHo Online: US$319M
5) Genshin Impact from HoYoverse: US$286M
6) Pro Baseball Spirits A from Konami: US$263M
7) Dragon Quest Walk from Square Enix and Colopl: US$215M
8) Knives Out from Netease: US$185M
9) Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle from Bandai Namco: US$182M
10) Pokemon Go from Niantic: US$173M
*We have seen a drastic change in the US$-yen rate recently, making the US$ sums above look smaller compared to previous years. Currency conversion at time of writing: 100 yen = US$0.76.
A quick analysis shows:
- The vast majority of games are published by publicly traded companies
- There is a large gap in absolute revenue between the top 2 and the rest
- 30% of the top are foreign-made games: HoYoverse and Netease made it into the top 10 from China whereas Niantic uses Japanese IP for Pokemon Go but is from the US (all of them operate office in Tokyo)
- The newest game in the ranking is Uma Musume (released in February 2021)
- Konami did a great job in revitalizing Pro Baseball Spirits A (released in 2015) in 2022
- The list includes two location-based games (Dragon Quest Walk and Pokemon Go)
- Revenue from these top 10 games accounts for roughly a third of Japan’s entire mobile gaming market
