Mamon King, a monster-raising simulator inspired by the Monster Rancher series, has outperformed developer LiTMUS’s expectations. What was once a risky venture co-designed and co-produced with Japanese gaming YouTuber Yoshinama has since exceeded its initial sales projections sixfold, selling a total of 60,000 copies in just nine days.
According to an official press release by LiTMUS, Mamon King previously held the top spot in the Japan Steam store Top Sellers list and was the second most-downloaded piece of software on the Japan My Nintendo Store. Though the title has since dropped to 91st place on Steam and 41st place on the My Nintendo Store, both LiTMUS and Yoshinama are proud that the title has reached its intended audience.
Interest in Mamon King grew after an impassioned Yoshinama decided to invest 25 million JPY (roughly $160,000 USD) of his own money into his dream game. Despite not knowing much about game development, his eagerness to learn and see the project through drove LiTMUS game director Yu Totsuka to give him and Mamon King a chance.
Totsuka admitted that Mamon King was initially a low-priority project due to its genre and scale. Upon hearing how determined Yoshinama was to push through with the game despite the risks, however, Totsuka decided to partner with the YouTuber to make the latter’s dream game come true.
Speaking to AUTOMATON JAPAN, Totsuka was astonished at Mamon King’s sales numbers and thanked the community for the support:
“I thought to myself that we could realistically aim for up to 30,000 copies in a year, but 10,000 (in a week) was undeniably a very high hurdle. I didn’t want to get people’s hopes up, so I kept quiet. I was astonished when I found out that we sold 60,000 copies in just one week. This is all thanks to the community Yoshinama-san built and everyone who supports that community. Thank you so much. We’re currently preparing for an update, so please continue supporting Mamon King!”
Yoshinama also expressed his gratitude to players:
I’m genuinely shocked by the first week’s sales exceeding expectations. I believe this is because my fellow streamers, friends, and even people I’ve never interacted with played Mamon King, further increasing the chances for others to learn about this game. I can’t thank you all enough. I plan to bet everything on the next project with these sales and create an even better game! Please continue supporting Mamon King.
As mentioned by the two developers, Mamon King will receive a future update that expands on the base game. Likewise, all of the money Yoshinama receives from the title’s sales will be put into crafting another, even better game. A physical Nintendo Switch edition of Mamon King is also in the works, so fans have something to look forward to in the coming years.
Mamon King is available on Windows (Steam) and Nintendo Switch.
Only japan
What was the whole point of this article????You didn’t even mention how much he made . He spent $160,000. Ok but how much did he make with the 60,000 copies sold. Fucking stupid writer
@Edwin Vargas: just a tad harsh there, ya think?
I suppose the developer also put money on it?
160k doesn’t seem like a lot.
@Edwin Vargas
Do the math, man!
i googled. it sells arounnd $8.44… lets just round it down to $8… so approx. $480,000.
No need to be rude. a quick search would do. unless you’re an imbecile who can’t even do basic research on the internet
Good job.
@gmg google mo gago you completely ignored sales tax(~20%) and platform fees(30%).
I was going to say go look up how much the game cost and calculate it yourself but looks like you got someone else to do it for you…
Buying it right now just on principal
Yeah, sure.
Even the sloppy game made by Houshou Marine was downloaded by far larger number of people.
This looks amazing to be honest, for a game made by YouTubers. The quality standards and median is much higher in Japan though, gotta remember.
Can’t wait to play it on my Switch 2 after buying it physically, from Japan, and to play it in Japanese! Why? Let me see….
Amazing Japanese game breaking barriers and outperforming expectations:
Localizers: How can I ruin it?
There are many methods for this, but the classic go-tos seem to be “Insert my idealism and values, and use fictional characters to virtue signal and arm-chair activize for me”, “Make everything political, especially gender because that’s what’s relevant in modern politics and drama”, and “I got hired to translate for a game! Time to write a fanfic!”
Lol GGs, i feel bad for yall that want no part in this but also don’t know Japanese. It’s impossible to be a sane gamer and keep the mucky waters from getting inside your ship, without knowing Japanese these days and playing your Japanese games in their original language. Sad sad days. Decades ago, it used to be just translating-incompetence plus some fanfic, completely left-field name changes and personality swaps, by people trying to make a quick buck. But now it’s so so so much worse, with how the general population and “politically correct” shi is in the 2020s and 2030s and beyond. Ah well. Enjoy your sludge while I play in Japanese, with no loser mucking things up and distorting the creators’ visions.
Even if he sold each copy for $5 do the math, right?
@ Edwin, man grow up. Why did you read in first place if you don’t wanna know how much is a game? Loser