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NetEase’s PUBG-like Knives Out reaps $24 million in February thanks to unexpected success in Japan

Japanese players contributed to 80 per cent of global sales outside of the Chinese Market

NetEase’s PUBG-like Knives Out reaps $24 million in February thanks to unexpected success in Japan

NetEase’s Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds-like mobile game Knives Out netted global sales of $24 million in February thanks by and large to its performance in the Japanese market.

According to a report in Seeking Alpha which obtained data from Sensor Tower, 80 per cent of sales outside of China for the month came from Japan. The unexpected success from outside of the Chinese market helped the game make the leap from the $2.5 million in net sales in January to $10 million in February.

Specifically, the data shows that Japanese players accounted for 89 per cent of the $8 million brought in on the iOS App Store outside of China, and 83 per cent of the $2 million made through Google Play.

NetEase’s battle royale title currently holds the top spot as Japan’s most downloaded iPhone app while also ranking eighth in the top grossing chart.

In China Meanwhile the title is said to have generated $12 million in revenue on the iOS App Store. The report couldn’t say for sure how much was made through third-party Android stores but believes it to be in the region $2 million, with 83 per cent of it coming from Japan.

In total, that means the game generated an impressive $24 million in February.

Wallets out

Japan is a much-coveted market for mobile games developers, with the country’s average revenue per paying user said to be the highest in the world at $89.88.

NetEase’s build-up of a popular following before the introduction of monetisation within its battle royale titles could now be showing signs of paying off.

The Chinese publisher originally released Knives Out in beta in November of last year before pushing it live in December. The game was quick to achieve success and surpassed 100 million downloads within its first month alone.

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Staff Writer

Iain is a freelance writer based in Scotland with a penchant for indies and all things Nintendo. Alongside PocketGamer.Biz, he has also appeared in Kotaku, Rock Paper Shotgun, PCGamesN and VG24/7.