Japan’s top smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons is finally going to China, according to press reports circulating in Japan today.
Maker GungHo Online Entertainment (3765) did confirm today there will be a special press event on December 10 that centers on the company’s international plans.
Bloomberg Japan is citing a source that says during the event, GungHo will lay out its intention to bring Puzzle & Dragons to China, together with a China-based partner.
That partner, a concrete release date and launch strategy, and possible changes to the game are likely to be discussed next week, if the rumor is true.
It would not be surprising: while Puzzle & Dragons is still doing well over US$100 million per month in sales (US$108 million in October), the game’s dominance has shrunk after being over 2 years on the market and now facing strong competition domestically, first and foremost by Monster Strike, the mega hit game from Mixi (2121).
Said company was much faster in bringing its flagship app to international markets (Taiwan, the US, China) – before local clones could be created. Today, Chinese-speaking players can choose between an array of Puzzle & Dragons-“inspired” games, i.e. Tower Of Saviors (made by a Hong Kong-based company that brought the app to the US as well).
This and a few other points make me personally feel pessimistic about Puzzle & Dragons’ chances of becoming a mega hit in China as well.
I can only hope for GungHo that their Chinese partner, which in my view will turn out to be Tencent, has some tricks up its sleeve, i.e. offering Puzzle & Dragons on top of a chat app or entering China with a marketing coup such as a collaboration.
GungHo’s stock rose limit-up to 18.09% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. The company’s market cap currently stands at US$5 billion.
