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Ni No Kuni Cross Worlds to $100M in 11 Days | Talk with Junde Yu GM Gaming at App Annie
Key insights
7 takeaways- 01Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds generated $100 million in gross revenue within 11 days of its initial launch in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and a few other Asian markets.
- 02The game combines kingdom-building mechanics with an action MMORPG structure, featuring a meta-narrative where the player character is a beta tester trapped inside a virtual reality game.
- 03High production values linked to the established Ni No Kuni IP allow for premium pricing on gacha items, as players are already familiar with the characters, voice acting, and storylines.
- 04Strong existing anime and gaming IPs are critical for success in the Japanese market, where TV advertising remains a dominant and effective user acquisition channel.
- 05IP-based games serve as an effective alternative strategy for user acquisition in the wake of IDFA deprecation, which has limited traditional tracking methods.
- 06The success of the title highlights a market trend toward 'monster productions'—high-budget, high-cost games that require significant investment but offer massive, multi-fold returns.
- 07While the game has potential for Western expansion, its performance may be more moderate compared to globally established franchises like Final Fantasy or Dragon Ball.
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Transcript
okay jun day nino cooney crossworlds over a hundred million dollars in gross revenue in just 11 days beating out pokemon go and gentian impact to that milestone it quickly became one of the top grossing games in june in very limited asia release so i think it was released in japan and a handful of other asian countries like south korea taiwan a couple others so nino kuni cross worlds is a japanese rpg created by netmarble published by level five released for android in ios and i wanted to talk to you about that game i know you look at the asian markets really closely and so i wanted to start by asking you juni what is this game and why is it so successful in japan and asia so ninokuni is basically a kingdom builder wrapped in an action mmorpg the ultimate goal for this game is to build a capital city and you can compete with other players as well so it
does have an interesting story of you know a beta tester for a fictional virtual reality game called soul diver and this person got transported into the world of ninokuni itself so all the adventures in the game are also based on a character who's living in a game world so it's like playing a game character who's in a game inside a game so in terms of the engagement so this has the deep world and character building mechanics which makes it highly engaging for daily engagement and in terms of the market traction and like you mentioned they're going after the asian markets so the asian markets are usually the first target markets for these type of games due to the stronger fan base of anime and more affinity towards japanese culture in these markets especially in north asia right and level 5 is known for having strong ip could you speak to the impact of the ninokuni ip to its success so the impact of ip firstly i think in terms of
high production value because ninokuni is an existing ip in japan so it benefits them from having very high production value because the production is linked to other cross media projects and assets so you would already have rich characters rich story line voice acting and so on so this high production value means you can put a premium on the items sold via gacha so you would have the rare characters rare items that people already recognize and appreciate then in terms of reach so first we have to know that i mean japan is a huge market for console games and console games over the years has produced a huge globally well-known eyepiece and these gaming ips have a lot of loyal followers who are not just willing to pick up the game very quickly but also could be transitioning to paying users very quickly so next uh japan is also a very unique market in terms of advertising where tv advertising is huge so ips also work very well on the big screen and finally because of all the recent
changes around idfa so use i i ips has also become a very good alternative to in terms of a different way to conduct user acquisition got it and i noted that the game currently is in very limited release as far as geographies right japan and a handful of other asian countries but in terms of the potential for this title to have success in western markets and more globally what do you think of that potential and when do you think this game could be or will it be released in all those additional markets so if we look at the some of the currently successful japanese games in western markets those are the ones that have either well-known anime ips or well-known gaming ips so they're the ones like your naruto your dragon ball your fake grand order yu-gi-oh final fantasy dragon quest and so on so um with level five they published the previous minokuni titles globally
i think they found moderate success in the western markets so in terms of the game mechanics and the storyline and so on i think it does have great potential but they will probably notice and not enjoy as much lift compared to the other japanese eyepiece i mentioned just now got it and then as far as this game just given its success so far do you think that the game could potentially indicate a bigger trend in the market similar to the impact that gentian impact had what do you think i think definitely so i think that's the trend of decent monster productions right uh kenshin impact cost i think almost more than 100 million dollars over three years to make but the return is multiple-fold and they made that return in less than a year of release so there is significantly high cost production high cost of operation so only the studios or really really huge companies with huge budget can operate these effectively
but as you know and i think you've discussed in your previous shows as well there is some kind of consolidation going going on right now in the gaming and entertainment industry so there will be a number of big companies who will have the resources across the talent as well as the ip to invest amount of time and money to build a game like this that can make billions and last for years got it all right thank you very much for your insights on nino cooney crossworld hopefully coming to the west soon thanks thank you [Music]
Summary
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds achieved significant commercial success upon its initial release in select Asian markets, generating $100 million in gross revenue within just 11 days. This performance outpaced the launch trajectories of major titles like Pokémon GO and Genshin Impact. The game, a mobile-based action MMORPG with kingdom-building mechanics, was developed by Netmarble and published by Level-5. Its rapid monetization is attributed to a combination of high production values, a narrative structure involving a game-within-a-game, and the strength of an established intellectual property that resonates deeply with audiences in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.
The success of the title highlights the strategic importance of high-quality intellectual property in the current mobile gaming landscape. By leveraging existing assets, voice acting, and character recognition, the developers effectively increased the perceived value of in-game gacha items. Furthermore, the use of established IP serves as a critical tool for user acquisition, particularly as industry-wide shifts regarding privacy identifiers like IDFA make traditional targeted advertising more challenging. The game’s reliance on high-production, cross-media assets allows it to capitalize on the loyal fan bases inherent to the Japanese console and anime markets.
Looking toward a global expansion, the title faces a competitive landscape in Western markets where success is often contingent on the strength of specific anime or gaming franchises. While the game possesses the mechanics and narrative depth to appeal to a broader audience, its long-term impact may be defined by the broader industry trend toward "monster productions." These high-budget, high-operation titles require significant capital investment, suggesting that the market is increasingly favoring large-scale companies capable of sustaining long-term development cycles and massive production costs to achieve multi-billion dollar returns.
