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Mixi’s Japanese gacha giant Monster Strike has surpassed $8 billion in net revenue and $11.4bn gross on mobile after 11.5 years.
Created by ex-Capcom game designer Yoshiki Okamoto, the card collecting title launched in September 2013 and quickly established itself in Japan, displacing Puzzles & Dragons in the country’s top grossing charts in 2014.
With the bulk of its paying player base residing in Japan, Monster Strike’s English version closed down in 2017 but the title still went on to become the highest-earning app of all time one year later, according to Sensor Tower.
Game design consultant Jakub Remiar spotted that Monster Strike has since reached $8bn net in lifetime revenue, based on Sensor Tower figures, with 99% of those earnings having come from Japan. He also noted that Monster Strike was the second game to ever reach $1bn in revenue and attributed its success to its gacha system.
Hitting a home run
Sensor Tower data suggests that Monster Strike generated $2.5 million by the end of 2013 and quickly ramped up to $608.7m in gross annual revenue in 2014. The title first surpassed $1bn in 2015 and went on to achieve four consecutive years of 10-figure player spending. It peaked at $1.7bn in 2016.
Even in its first year after shutting down in the West, Monster Strike again surpassed 10 figures with $1.4bn in gross player spending in 2018.
After falling to $990.3m in 2019, gross revenue again surpassed $1bn in 2020, though earnings have fallen since. Most recently, the game generated $570.7 million in 2024 – less than a third of its peak.
After Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan represent Monster Strike’s most lucrative audiences, and yet each has contributed less than 1% of lifetime revenue. The title continues to be available in these regions despite having long since closed down in South Korea and the West.
Naturally, Japan also has a strong lead in lifetime installs, followed by Taiwan and Hong Kong. Mixi revealed that Monster Strike surpassed 50m global installs on April 24th, 2019.
AloJapan.com