Monster Strike has slowly grown into an immense mobile success, if numbers reported from GamesIndustry International are any indication.
We first reported on Mixi’s popular mobile game last December, where we discussed how it was gaining ground on GungHo Mobile’s unstoppable Puzzle & Dragons, amongst other competitors. Over the months, however, it’s become an even bigger hit.
How much bigger Mixi’s earnings report show that the game made more than $3.7 million a day for the fourth quarter of FY 2014 (which ended March 31, 2015), based on its overall ¥40 billion ($333.8 million) revenue for that quarter. It’s passed Puzzle & Dragons to become the most popular mobile game in Japan, and it’s also gaining popularity in other countries as well.
Mixi’s revenue for the entire fiscal year 2014 was ¥111 billion ($927 million), an 829 percent increase year-over-year. Mixi’s profits were ¥33 billion ($275.4 million), up from ¥227 million ($1.9 million) the previous year.
As you can see from the chart above, the growth has been amazing in the last year, with growth quadrupling since the beginning of the 2014 sales season.
That’s a huge success for a game that’s only been out since October 2013, and it’s not likely to slow down anytime soon, with more and more players coming aboard. As a result, Mixi will host a Monster Strike Festival in Japan sometime this year to celebrate its fans, along with releasing an animated series based on the game. It’s also been announced for Nintendo’s 3DS handheld system, although there’s no word if it’ll be released in other regions just yet. (Nintendo could announce something as soon as next month with its E3 digital presentation.)
Monster Strike has also seen tremendous international growth, with Taiwan and Hong Kong gaining a great deal of attention, judging by the charts below. North America and South Korea aren’t far behind though, which indicates that the various Monster Strike products could end up in these markets as well, provided the game continues to be popular.
Mixi intends to use the game, along with its various mergers and acquisitions, to help it grow in 2015. It’s got good stature in the market, with ¥65.4 billion ($545.9 million) in cash and deposits, up from ¥17.8 billion ($148.6 million) the year before.
If it stays on track, it could earn as much as ¥185 billion ($1.54 billion) by the end of the fiscal year, with ¥52 billion ($434 million) in profit. Not bad for a little bunch of Monsters.