As we all know, the Japanese mobile game market a few years ago had a characteristic - xenophobia. "Monster Pinball" and "Dragon Maze City", which dominate the best-selling list, are all local products. At that time, it was very difficult for overseas mobile games to go through the Japanese market, and it was not easy for Japanese mobile games to go global.
"Monster Pinballs" was almost completely wiped out overseas, and "Dragon Lost City" is slightly better. But there are also special cases, and the "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars" mobile game adapted from the world-renowned Japanese manga IP "Dragon Ball" is one of them.
"Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars" can be said to be the most "popular" product in Japanese mobile games, and was launched in February 2015. Data shows that at the end of 2019, the game joined the $2 billion club; It took just 20 months to reach another $3 billion milestone in July 2021.
The 8th anniversary topped the dual-platform best-selling list, and it is expected to exceed $4 billion in 2023
According to Sensor Tower's latest data, as of the end of January 2023, the cumulative global revenue of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars has exceeded $3.7 billion. In terms of regions, Japan is undoubtedly the largest market for Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars, accounting for 56% of revenue. The second place is the US market, accounting for 25.5%. In third place is the French market, but with only 4.8%.
In February 2023, "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars" celebrated its 8th anniversary, and achieved a breakthrough in revenue with TV commercials, anniversary celebrations, limited-time card draws and other activities. According to the list of seven Mai data, "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars" ranked in the top 10 best-selling lists of the Japanese App Store for as many as 27 days in February.
In the same month, "One Piece: Bounty Hunter" also achieved good results, as the publisher of two products, Bandai Namco made a lot of money in the mobile game business in February.
Being able to control the proportion of revenue in the Japanese local market at more than 50% is really "outlier" for a Japanese mobile game. It shows that it is more popular with players in overseas markets.
In the global puzzle RPG revenue ranking from January ~ December 2022, "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars" ranked third. The first place is "Monster Pinballs", and the second place is "Doomsday Hustle" of Sanqi Interactive Entertainment. "Dragon Maze" ranked fourth, and the revenue data is not as bright as "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars". Following this trend, this product is expected to complete a feat of $4 billion in 2023.
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars will celebrate its 8th anniversary in February 2023 with a TV commercial and in-game event "さわげ元気玉! The 8th Anniversary Ultimate DOKKAN Thanksgiving Festival was also launched. W DOKKAN CEREMONY, "SUPER SAIYAN 3 SON KONG AND SUPER SAIYAN 2 VEGETA" AND "SON KONG (GT) & SUPER SAIYAN 4 VEGETA" APPEARED. In addition, in the first 400 hours after the opening of the ceremony, for every three draws of ten-in-a-row, one ten-in-a-row will be given free of charge. This frenzied strategy helped Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars continue to maintain stability after a short period of time in the best-selling rankings.
On January 28, 2023, on the best-selling list of the Japanese App Store, the product only ranked 173rd. However, it quickly reached the top the next day. In addition, it maintained the top position until February 3, and remained within the top 5 for the next four days.
Not only the App Store, but also Google Play in Japan rankings are similar. On February 2, 2023, to commemorate winning first place on both platforms, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars launched 100 "Dragonstones" and 3,180 potential ability jade and other benefits in-game. This is similar to our previous coverage of the Granblue Archive's welfare strategy after it topped the bestseller list in January, all to record a historic moment.
With five arrows in unison, Bandai Namco is expected to sell three times a month
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars has grown to become the king of revenue for Bandai Namco Entertainment. According to Sensor Tower's data, from July 2022 ~ to January 2023, the company's mobile games accounted for the proportion of revenue in the Japanese market: "Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars" ranked first with 24%, the 2nd and 3rd places were "One Piece: Bounty Hunter" (19.9%) and "One Piece Treasure Hunt" (9.6%), "Idol Master Cinderella Girl Starlight Stage" (8.6%) ranked 4th, and another Dragon Ball IP mobile game "Dragon Ball Guild Wars Legend" (7.9%) ranked 5th.
In December 2022 and January 2023, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars, and "One Piece: Bounty Hunter" sold well, and Bandai Namco Entertainment continued to be the number one in the Japanese publisher revenue list.
According to the user usage data released by Sensor Tower, the most supported user groups in the user distribution of mobile games adapted from the Dragon Ball IP, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars and Dragon Ball Guild Wars Legends, are different. The former has the most players aged 25-34, while the latter accounts for the highest proportion of players aged 35-44. In other words, Dragon Ball Z: Burst Wars has younger users and a larger base.
The data also shows that February has been the highest revenue month in the Japanese mobile game market in recent years, and February 2023 should be no exception.