Akira Toriyama’s IPs brought in $10 billion in mobile game revenue in the past 10 years 

Mobile games aren’t the first thing you think of when you hear the name Akira Toriyama, one of Japan’s most prolific manga artists. But the impact of Toriyama’s designs and worldbuilding has been huge in mobile games too, as suggested by a report published by Sensor Tower on April 3. 

The report analyzes the performance of mobile games that use Toriyama’s IPs. The artist is famously credited for the character designs in the Dragon Quest series, and according to data provided by Sensor Tower, Dragon Quest mobile games have generated over $4 billion in cumulative global revenue over the past decade (from March 2014 to February 2024). Key among these games is Dragon Quest Walk, the geolocation-based RPG from 2019 that has outsold even Niantic’s Pokémon GO in Japan. This title makes up 44% of the Dragon Quest series’ mobile game revenue in the past decade. 

While the revenue from Dragon Quest mobile games comes predominantly from the Japanese market, titles based on Toriyama’s Dragon Ball series enjoy global popularity, especially Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle and Dragon Ball Legends. The cumulative global revenue for these two titles in the period from January 2015 to February 2024 is estimated to be nearly $5.5 billion. Combined with the previously mentioned Dragon Quest titles, the total revenue is close to 10 billion dollars. 

The report also mentions some interesting differences in Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle and Dragon Ball Legends’ user demographics. Overseas players are younger than Japanese players – while the US player base is predominantly aged 18-34, Japanese players mostly belong to the 35-44 age group. Furthermore, a comparison of user engagement between Japan and the US shows that the average number of sessions per week and average time spent per week are higher in the US than in Japan, perhaps indicating a higher level of enthusiasm for the series.