Wuthering Waves
Documents about Wuthering Waves
Black Myth: Wukong Heralds the Age of Prestige Chinese Games on Live Streaming
The launch of Black Myth: Wukong marks a significant milestone in the rise of prestige Chinese gaming, demonstrating that high-quality, AAA titles from the region can achieve massive global engagement on live-streaming platforms.
- Black Myth: Wukong generated 32.3 million hours watched in its debut week, with its launch day viewership of 8.4 million hours ranking as the second-highest for any game in the past five years.
- The game achieved significant global reach on live-streaming platforms, with 8 different nationalities represented in its top 10 most-watched streamers and Canadian streamer Shroud securing the top spot with 818,000 hours watched.
- While Chinese-developed games currently account for only 7.8% of total live-streaming viewership over the last 12 months, the industry is shifting toward high-quality AAA titles beyond the traditional mobile/gacha market.
Zenless Zone Zero Revamps Gacha Games
The release of miHoYo’s Zenless Zone Zero serves as a case study for the evolving landscape of the gacha RPG genre.
- Zenless Zone Zero generated $24.6 million in its first five days, trailing the launch-period revenue of miHoYo's previous titles, Genshin Impact ($35.3 million) and Honkai: Star Rail ($55 million).
- The game achieved 7 million hours watched on live-streaming platforms during its release week, significantly lower than the peak weekly viewership of 14.5 million for Genshin Impact and 11.4 million for Honkai: Star Rail.
- Despite lower revenue and viewership, Zenless Zone Zero saw record-breaking pre-registration interest with over 45 million sign-ups, exceeding the combined pre-registrations of Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
Zenless Zone Zero: Mobile Performance and Comparison to Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail
Zenless Zone Zero, the latest action RPG from miHoYo, achieved a significant global launch on July 4, 2024, generating $3.69 million in mobile in-app purchase revenue within its first 24 hours.
- Zenless Zone Zero generated $3.69 million in mobile IAP revenue during its first 24 hours following its July 4, 2024, global launch.
- The game's initial 24-hour mobile revenue trailed miHoYo's previous hits, with Genshin Impact earning $4.6 million and Honkai: Star Rail earning $8.3 million during their respective launch days.
- China is the primary market for the title, contributing 57.6% of total revenue, followed by Japan at 19.7% and the US at 11%.
Wuthering Waves Already Generated Over $110 Million Across Mobile and PC
The action role-playing game Wuthering Waves has achieved significant commercial success shortly after its launch, generating an estimated $110.2 million in global revenue across PC and mobile platforms.
- Kuro Games' title Wuthering Waves has generated over $110.2 million (800 million yuan) in total revenue across PC and mobile platforms.
- The game is projected to reach 1 billion yuan ($137.8 million) in global player spending by the end of its first month if current momentum continues.
- Mobile revenue alone reached approximately $43.6 million, with China accounting for nearly 24% of that total.
Mobile Gaming Pulse: May 2024
The mobile gaming landscape in May 2024 was defined by the high-profile launch of Supercell’s Squad Busters and a significant surge in the popularity of anime-themed titles.
- Supercell’s Squad Busters reached 44.3 million global downloads and $28 million in consumer spending within days of its May 29, 2024, launch, supported by massive digital ad spend across major social platforms.
- Dungeon & Fighter Mobile, published by Tencent in China, generated over $100 million in iOS consumer spending in May 2024, securing the top spot for worldwide revenue growth.
- Anime-themed games dominated the May 2024 breakout charts, accounting for three of the top ten breakout downloads and eight of the top ten breakout revenue earners.
Wuthering Waves Approaches $40 Million in Mobile Revenue, Hits 30 Million Downloads Globally
Kuro Games’ title, Wuthering Waves, has achieved significant commercial success within its first month of global availability. The game reached a milestone of 30 million downloads across PC, iOS, and Android platforms.
- Wuthering Waves reached 30 million global downloads across PC, iOS, and Android within its first month of release.
- The title generated approximately $39.2 million in mobile in-app purchase revenue during its first month, following a $10 million performance in the first five days.
- Mainland China is the leading revenue market at 26%, followed by Japan (22%), the United States (16%), South Korea (14%), and Taiwan (6%).
Top Games in Live Streaming: May 2024
The live streaming industry experienced modest growth in May 2024, with total viewership across the top 100 games increasing by 3.5%, or approximately 50 million hours watched compared to April.
- Total viewership across the top 100 streamed games grew by 3.5% in May 2024, representing an increase of 50 million hours watched compared to April.
- Minecraft viewership surged 172.6% to 76.8 million hours, securing the #4 spot due to 15th-anniversary community events and challenges.
- Diablo 4 experienced a 500% viewership increase to 11 million hours, driven by a Steam price promotion and the release of the 'Loot Reborn' Season 4 update.
The Shared Gacha Game Audiences of Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact
The release of Wuthering Waves has sparked significant industry discourse regarding its similarities to established titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
- Wuthering Waves has captured a significant portion of the existing gacha audience, with 70.5% of Honkai: Star Rail viewers and 62% of Genshin Impact viewers also watching Wuthering Waves content.
- The release of Wuthering Waves in May 2024 coincided with a 25.6% drop in hours watched for Genshin Impact on live-streaming platforms.
- Audience overlap is significantly lower for non-anime-styled gacha games, with Wuthering Waves sharing only 31.6% of its audience with Raid: Shadow Legends and 21.4% with Marvel Strike Force.
Q2'24 Gaming Deals Report: Gradual Recovery
The second quarter of 2024 gaming industry analysis highlights a period of sustained activity in early-stage venture capital and a growing market for independent and mid-sized titles.
- Steam full-game sales grew 27% year-over-year in Q2 2024, driven primarily by strong performance from independent and mid-sized titles.
- Asia led global early-stage investment with $320 million across 28 deals, while North America dominated late-stage venture capital with $239 million across seven deals.
- BITKRAFT was the most active early-stage investor by volume with 18 rounds, while a16z Games led in total deal value with $124 million invested.
Wuthering Waves: The Next Big Gacha Game in Live Streaming
The launch of Wuthering Waves marks a significant entry into the competitive gacha gaming market, challenging established titles like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail.
- Wuthering Waves generated 10.1 million hours watched across all streaming platforms during its debut week, peaking at just under 200,000 concurrent viewers.
- The game launched with significant technical issues, including crashes and animation glitches, which were mitigated by rapid developer patches and the distribution of free in-game currency to players.
- Gacha streamer Tectone was a major driver of engagement, contributing 919,000 hours watched, which accounted for nearly 10% of the game's total debut week viewership.
Wuthering Waves Hits Almost $10 Million in Mobile Revenue in Five Days
The launch of the free-to-play gacha title Wuthering Waves by Chinese studio Kuro Games demonstrates strong initial market performance.
- Kuro Games' Wuthering Waves generated $9.78 million in mobile in-app purchase revenue and reached 5.93 million global downloads within its first five days following the May 22, 2024, launch.
- The Apple App Store is the primary driver of commercial performance, accounting for 84% of total mobile revenue and 54% of total downloads.
- China is the leading market for the title, contributing 39% of total revenue and 25% of all global installs, with the United States ranking as the second-largest market.