TopGrossing
Latest
GungHo reports Puzzle and Dragons is earning $3.75 million a day
GungHo Entertainment is a game publisher based in Japan, and the company has just released some really wild financial numbers. According to the latest numbers, GungHo made US$118 million this past April alone, most of it from one game: Puzzle and Dragons, currently available on iOS. Puzzle and Dragons is pulling in so much money (from audiences in both Japan and around the world) that GungHo says it's making $3.75 million a day. In Japan alone, Puzzle and Dragons is claiming 13 million players -- which is over 10 percent of the population there. That is a phenomenal success story, and it gives GungHo a higher market cap than even the legendary game publisher Nintendo. As a result, the company's stock has skyrocketed, and it's even challenging current megapublisher Activision Blizzard for market cap. I liked Puzzle and Dragons, but I think this is a game more targeted at Japan and its vast audience of mid- to hardcore-level gamers. In addition to the addictive puzzle and pet-leveling gameplay, Puzzle and Dragons is also very well structured to keep in-app purchases high, which goes a long way towards explaining how this game has gotten so big so quickly. GungHo's definitely seen some success in North America, as the app has made a few appearances on the top grossing list. But as far as I know, the success in Japan has been much more incredible.
Apple announces the App Store's Best of 2012
Apple has posted its top picks for the entire year of 2012 in the App Store, and you can browse through all of the choices right now. On the iPhone, Action Movie FX has picked up the App of the Year award, and Ubisoft's Rayman Jungle Run has earned game of the year, with music app Figure and social word game Letterpress picking up the runner up slots. Over on the iPad, FiftyThree's Paper has won app of the year, and the spooky The Room has earned game of the year, with Action Movie FX's iPad version and Tiger Style's great Waking Mars as runner-ups there. There are also a ton of great apps listed in other various categories, and Apple has also listed the top downloaded (Angry Birds Space has nailed both top spots in paid) and top grossing apps in each category. Obviously, with any list like this, there are some favorites missing (and if you want to see TUAW's choices, follow along with our own Best of 2012 coverage). But it's definitely been a great and busy year on the App Store, and Apple's collection is chock full of very well-done apps and games for sure.
Capcom's free-to-play Smurfs' Village out-grossing Angry Birds
If you, like me, responded to the release of Smurfs' Village by saying, "Really? A freemium game from Capcom? Based on the Smurfs franchise?" then you probably want to rethink how the App Store works, because apparently it's a hit -- Smurfs' Village has topped even Angry Birds recently for the top grossing app on the App Store. The game is free-to-play, though players can buy "smurfberries" via in-app purchase that work like mojo in We Rule to speed up growth of players' crops or buildings. And those smurfberries must be selling like hotcakes, because the game is trouncing Angry Birds' millions and millions of 99-cent downloads. It'll be really interesting to see what effect this has on the market as a whole. Sega just released a freemium MMO in the form of a game called Kingdom Conquest, and EA is scheduled to do the same very soon. Capcom has been fumbling around for a big hit on the iPhone with all of their various properties, and while the Street Fighter IV game has been doing well, it hasn't seen nearly the intake that this Smurfs game has. Which probably means we can see some more freemium games coming from Capcom and other big companies in the future. You have to wonder who's spending all this money on these things -- are there legitimate game buyers out there shelling out for smurfberries instead of Starbucks, or is this all kids whose parents will be extremely surprised when the iTunes bill comes in next month?
Chaos Rings hits top grossing, going to the iPad
Square Enix's new original iPhone title, Chaos Rings, is a qualified hit; it's currently sitting right on top of the United States' top grossing apps list and at number 18 on the top paid apps list. The reviews are terrific as well, which means that Square Enix has pulled off a hit iPhone game at the surprising price of US$12.99. The company hasn't missed the message, either. It's bringing Chaos Rings to the iPad soon, and is also hard at work on more original titles for Apple's handheld systems. We don't know how the iPad version, Chaos Rings HD, will be priced, or if it will be included for those who have already purchased the game on the iPhone (that'd be great, wouldn't it?). Clearly, though, there is still a market for well-done, top level games (even at high price points). We don't know if Square Enix actually made money on this one (the craft on display certainly didn't come cheap), but App Store customers are certainly buying. At the same time, other big-name developers aren't so sure. Crytek (makers of Crysis for the PC) CEO Cevat Yerli claims that App Store pricing has been nothing but a burden for game developers, and he says that, even outside of Apple's ecosystem, game prices in general are being driven down by the App Store. "It's pushing out games at such a low price that it distorts the perception of what a game should be priced at," he said in a recent interview. "IPad and iPhone are both doing a real disservice to game prices by allowing games at such low price points – it is an issue the industry has to address." That's an interesting take. There are certainly a number of factors involved in lower game prices lately (not the least of which is digital distribution, which has grown immensely in the past few years). However, a game like Chaos Rings seems to prove that it's still all about the gameplay. If game developers can make a great game that players want to play, they can more or less name their price.
