One of the most lucrative games in the world is rolling over to Nintendo’s handheld platform.
Monster Strike, which is already a huge success on iOS and Android, is getting a 3DS adaptation, according to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu (via Gematsu). The game will debut December 17 for around $40 (4,500 yen). That might sound like a lot of cash for a game you can typically download for free on a smartphone, but developer Mixi is making some huge changes to its game to justify that price. Monster Strike is one of a handful of games that makes approximately $1 billion annually from in-app purchases on iOS and Android. It is part of what gaming-market analyst Serkan Toto calls the “Japanese duopoly” along with Puzzle & copies in Japan alone), it could pad out its revenues with a 3DS version.
The 3DS take on Monster Strike comes as Mixi plans to launch an anime based on the game. You can watch the trailer for that new show below:
Having a 3DS game on the market ensures that Japanese families will have something that they can happily purchase for their children. Japan is one of many nations worldwide that have a handful of regulations that impose limits on how game developers can make cash from children. This makes it slightly more difficult for a free-to-play version of Monster Strike to generate revenues from that audience.
Above: Monster Strike for 3DS features 3D artwork as opposed to the 2D flat menus of the mobile game.
And Mixi is shaking things up to ensure that Monster Strike works on the 3DS. Instead of operating as a puzzle game with some role-playing elements, the studio decided to turn the 3DS game into a full 3D RPG. It will tell the story of a new hero — who looks like he is the same one as in the aforementioned anime.
This adaptation of one of the most popular games in Japan shows that Nintendo still has a market worth addressing even as that publisher turns to embrace smartphone gaming itself. The Mario company still hasn’t released its first mobile game, but it has previously said it will do so before the end of this year. And who know? Maybe that game will do so well that Nintendo will eventually release it for the 3DS.