The Charticle

30 million downloads strong, but how well does Marvel: Contest of Champions monetise?

Valued superheroes

30 million downloads strong, but how well does Marvel: Contest of Champions monetise?

After a couple of flops - Wartune and The Hunger Games: Panem Rising - Kabam kicked up a gear at the end of 2014, with the release of Marvel: Contest of Champions.

The Kabam Vancouver-developed licensed 3D beat-'em up has been a very strong performer for the company, something it underlined with the news that it's received over 30 million downloads to-date across Google Play and the Apple App Store.

And that before its release in lucrative Asian markets such as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Yet, as we all know, downloads aren't necessarily revenue, which is where our Charticle - which tracks a game's top grossing performance in key countries - comes into play.

English-speaking success

On iOS, the game's performance in terms of download chart position, has been strongest on iPad, hitting the top 10 in 150 countries, compared to 114 countries for iPhone.

Its monetisation has been stronger on iPhone, however, so we'll consider that chart.

Looking at its position in the top grossing iPhone charts for the US and UK, we can see it launched straight into the top 20 in both countries.

Then, after a slight decline into the top 40 during January, has since risen strongly back within the top 20. Considering the competitive nature of these charts, this is an excellent performance .

In Australia, Marvel: Contest of Champions has experienced more download volatility, and has slipped into the top 60 position.

Considering the same three countries on Google Play, the lines are more in-sync with each other.

Again, the game launched well, dropped off January, only to rebound and march steadily up the top grossing charts, where it now finds itself well within the top 20 in Australia, the UK and the US.

Euro vision

When we consider the two key European markets - France and Germany - Marvel: Contest of Champions' performance is broadly similar on iPhone and Google Play.

The game has done marginally better in France on both platforms, where it's constantly been a top 20 top grossing app. In Germany, it's stable in the top 30 on both platforms.

Again, it's a strong performance and one Kabam can be very happy with.

China awaits

As stated, Kabam is currently in negotiations over the Chinese release of Marvel: Contest of Champions - it's not yet been release on iOS or the fragmented Android market in China, nor in Hong Kong or Taiwan, where Google Play is available.

Hence, our coverage of the Asia market is limited to South Korea and Japan.

As can be seen by the fact we're using a graph that's rebased from a top 100 to a top 500, in neither country has the game performed as well as in the west.

In South Korea, the game is top 100 top grossing on the lucrative Google Play chart and top 50 on the iPhone top grossing chart.

But in Japan, Marvel: Contest of Champions has struggled to make any impact, remaining outside the top 300 on Google Play and regularly outside the top 200 top grossing on iPhone.

Of course, the unanswered question, will be with Marvel: Contest of Champions' Chinese release follow the game's western performance or that of Korea and Japan?

The Chinese, Korean and Japanese markets tend to be very different to each other, and on occasion, the Chinese market is the most western.

That will likely be the starting point of Kabam's discussions with app distribution platform like Tencent, Baidu and Qihoo 360.

Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.