One of Japan’s biggest games is trying to repeat its success in North America, and developer GungHo Online is pointing to signs that it’s growing, albeit slowly.
Puzzle & Dragons, a role-playing puzzle game for iOS and Android, has just hit 2 million total downloads in North America. This is a significant milestone, as GungHo hopes to find an audience in the West.
That 2 million number, while large, doesn’t fully represent the game’s total player base. We’ve reached out to GungHo to determine Puzzle & Dragon’ daily and monthly active users in North America, and we’ll update this post with any new information.
In Japan, Puzzle & Dragons is a massive hit. People there have downloaded the title more than 23 million times to date. In its most recent fiscal quarter, GungHo generated more than $420 million in revenue last quarter, and that is primarily due to the phenomenal success of the RPG-puzzler.
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Puzzle & Dragons is regularly No. 1 in Japan’s top-grossing mobile apps. but it isn’t quite matching that performance in North America. Currently, GungHo’s hit is the 28th most-grossing game on iOS in North America, according to data-tracking firm App Annie. While it frequently jumps as high as the top 10, it is still behind titles like King’s Candy Crush Saga social-puzzler.
In an effort to increase its presence in the west, GungHo has partnered with Angry Birds developer Rovio and Clash of Clans studio SuperCell to do cross-over promotions with those games. GungHo even teamed up with Japanese investment company SoftBank to acquire a 51 percent stake in SuperCell to help further its North American efforts.
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