Cygames
CompanyJapan
Documents about Cygames
Article
Top Grossing Mobile Games in Japan (2025 & 2026)
The Japanese mobile gaming market remains a distinct and highly lucrative landscape characterized by a significant divide between revenue-generating titles and high-volume download leaders.
- Japan generates 11.5% of global mobile gaming revenue from only 2.0% of the world's mobile players, highlighting an exceptionally high average revenue per user (ARPU) market.
- The Japanese mobile market is dominated by domestic gacha and RPG titles, with long-running franchises like Monster Strike, Fate/Grand Order, and Uma Musume consistently securing top revenue positions.
- In 2025, Pokémon TCG Pocket and Last War: Survival led the market in revenue with $326.1 million and $326.0 million respectively, though Pokémon TCG Pocket's revenue cooled to eighth place by mid-2026.
UdonisJul 2026
Article
Umamusume: Pretty Derby Deconstruction
Umamusume: Pretty Derby, developed by Cygames, achieved rapid dominance in the Japanese mobile gaming market following its release in early 2021.
- Umamusume Pretty Derby achieved market dominance in Japan, generating nearly double the 30-day revenue of the long-time top contender, Monster Strike, as of April 29, 2021.
- The game's success was bolstered by a multi-year franchise strategy, including four manga series and two anime seasons, with the game's March 2021 launch strategically timed to coincide with the second anime season.
- The core gameplay loop involves a time-intensive, multi-stage training process that can take up to an hour per session, requiring players to invest significant time to develop characters for PvP and PvE content.
GameRefineryMay 2021
Article
Dragalia Lost: Meet Nintendo's New Cash Dragon
Dragalia Lost serves as a strategic case study in the intersection of Nintendo’s intellectual property and the specialized free-to-play design expertise of Cygames.
- Dragalia Lost represents a strategic partnership between Nintendo’s brand-building expertise and Cygames’ proven free-to-play monetization systems, aiming to replicate the success of titles like Fire Emblem Heroes.
- The game utilizes a complex, multi-layered progression system—including adventurers, dragons, weapons, and a Halidom kingdom builder—to drive a high ARPI (Average Revenue Per Install) of approximately $15.
- Cygames employs a massive gacha pool containing 190 items, including 70 characters, 40 dragons, and 80 Wyrmprints, supported by a pity mechanic to mitigate player churn caused by poor pull luck.
Deconstructor of FunNov 2018