Things are heating up in Japan's free-to-play mobile market, as Colopl's flagship title Quiz RPG crossed the 26 million download milestone in Japan on 31 May.

This growth is particularly impressive considering Quiz RPG started off 2014 with a modest 17 million downloads to its name.

By adding close to 2 million downloads a month, Quiz RPG is rapidly closing in on GungHo's billion-dollar baby Puzzle & Dragons which reportedly hit 28 million downloads in Japan on 27 May.

What's particularly interesting is that Quiz RPG is growing at a much faster pace than the two-year-old Puzzle & Dragons.

Colopl needed just 18 days to jump from 25 to 26 million downloads, while Puzzle & Dragons took 37 days to increase from 27 to 28 million.

Numbers game

But while Puzzle & Dragons' growth in Japan has been slowing as of late, it's still well ahead of Quiz RPG in the top grossing charts - which is where the real bragging rights are.

Unfortunately, though, Puzzle & Dragons is struggling on this front as well with pressure being applied by Mixi’s upstart Monster Strike. In the past two weeks, Monster Strike has twice surpassed GungHo's flagship title to claim the top grossing spot.

But all's not doom and gloom for GungHo. Puzzle & Dragons Z found solid success on Nintendo's 3DS when it launched in Japan this past winter, and an expansion to the mobile version - dubbed Puzzle & Dragons W - is expected this summer.

[source: Serkan Toto]