Blue Archive earns over 70% of its revenue from Japan, but who's playing?

Nexon Games’ Blue Archive may have released in Japan over 3 and a half years ago, but it still retains a loyal following. According to a report by Sensor Tower published on September 17, 2024, the South Korean mobile game’s biggest market by a long shot is Japan, both in terms of active players and revenue.

Nexon Games’ Blue Archive is a free-to-play visual novel meets RPG with gacha elements. It was first released in Japan back in February 2021, with a global release later in the same year. The player becomes a Sensei tasked with helping the academic city state of Kivotos avoid all manner of threats. To do this, you must assemble and mobilize units of six students. The characters are drawn in a cute, appealing anime style, however a lot of the game’s enduring appeal is the students’ different personalities and Blue Archives’ complex lore and detailed story.

Blue Archive download and revenue share by market pie charts Sensor Tower — *Blue Archive’s market share. The piechart on the left shows the percentage of downloads by country and the chart on the right shows revenue share. Japan is indicated in green.*

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Sensor Tower’s report on Blue Archive spanned from its February 4, 2021 release date in Japan up to August 3, 2024. It shows that Japan accounts for 34% of all Blue Archive downloads, and 72% of total revenue- making it the game’s largest market in the world. The average amount each downloader in Japan spent was over $45 USD. Although the high number of players in Japan is enough to make the country Blue Archive’s top earning market, South Korean and American players tended to spend more in-game.

So, who is dropping money on Blue Archive in Japan? As of Q2 of 2024, the game’s playerbase in the country is 90% male. Those aged 25 to 34 make up the largest percentage of Blue Archive players, closely followed by those in the 18 to 24 bracket. The game has a high user retention rate and the number of active monthly users in Japan has continued on a steady upward trend.

Blue Archive player demographics in Japan Sensor Tower — Blue Archive’s playerbase in Japan. The bar graph on the left shows the percentage of male (blue) and female (pink) players, while the graph on the right shows the percentage of players by age group.

The study also found that Blue Archive players were also likely to be into other games that prominently feature female characters and rich stories, including Goddess of Victory: Nikke, Gakuen Idolmaster and Arknights.

As a side note, Blue Archive has been getting a lot of attention lately due to a very similar (now cancelled) game project launched by its former devs. In a plot twist, a completely different game is now being developed under a parody of the project’s title.