Jujutsu Kaisen Phantom Parade, Pokémon Sleep and Suika Game spinoffs among top downloaded mobile games in Japan 

Sensor Tower Japan recently published their data on the topmost profitable and downloaded mobile games in Japan for the latter half of 2023. The charts reveal a surprising mix of fast-growing new releases and older games with enduring popularity. 

In terms of profits, Monster Strike and Fate/Grand Order continued to hold the top two spots. Monster Strike raked in $280 million USD and was also the number 1 in the profits chart from 2022. Monster Strike debuted in 2013, and an English version was playable in North America and Australia between 2014 and 2017. Despite this, the “game that saved Mixi” (the company behind Japan’s once popular social networking site) shows no signs of slowing down in Japan.  

In terms of download numbers, Royal Match moved into the number 1 position with Pokémon Sleep not far behind. Released in July 2023, Pokémon Sleep’s largest market is Japan with the country accounting for 70% of revenue and 30% of downloads for the sleep monitoring app. As an aside, an independent research study found that Pokémon Sleep users enjoy a better night’s rest than non-users (Related article). 

Versions of the Suika Game also performed strongly. Suika Game: Matching Challenge was the third most downloaded game and second in terms of download growth. Suika Game: Juicy Fruits Match also received a growing number of downloads. This shows that interest in clones and spin-offs of the widely copied fruit-stacking puzzle game is still strong in Japan.  

Jujutsu Kaisen Phantom Parade performed especially well considering it was only released on November 21. In the last month of 2023, it managed to become the 4^th most downloaded game and 3^rd in terms of download growth. It also took the number 3 spot for revenue growth. The RPG is the first mobile game adaptation of the highly popular Jujutsu Kaisen manga and anime.   

Although Chinese developer miHoYo’s Genshin dropped down to number 7 in terms of profits, this was more than made up for by Honkai: Star Rail, which was a new entry in at number 5 in terms of profit growth. Apparently, Honkai: Star Rail recorded over 200-million-dollar revenue growth in Japan in 2023 (Related Article). 

The charts also featured many forays into mobile games from popular IPs. This included Capcom’s Monster Hunter franchise, which was developed into the mobile game Monster Hunter Now by Niantic and released worldwide in September 2023. The augmented reality game seems to take cues from Niantic’s previous effort Pokémon Go, allowing you to hunt monsters in your real-life surrounding area. Although Pokémon Go’s revenue fell in the last half of 2023, it is hanging on at number 10 in the revue chart. 

Overall, if you want to release a profitable mobile game in Japan, it seems that puzzle games and popular IPs are the way to go.