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Asia fanfare helps Yostar’s Azur Lane sink over $170m in revenue

The chibi-styled strategy game launched in May of last year

Asia fanfare helps Yostar’s Azur Lane sink over $170m in revenue

Correction: Previously the data provided by Sensor Tower showed Azur Lane's revenue for August as $14.5 million, this data was incorrect and has been altered to $6.8 million. The prior year's data has been amended from $4.9 million to $2.5 million.

Original story: Japan-based games developer Yostar's naval strategy game Azur Lane has racked up more than $170 million in revenue since launching in May 2017.

According to Sensor Tower, Azur Lane made grossed $6.8 million last month alone, which is a 200 per cent increase on the $2.5 million made in August the year prior.

Regarding downloads, the naval-themed strategy title saw 661,000 installs worldwide. The haul of installs represents a 286 per cent increase on July and a 300 per cent year-on-year increase compared to August 20178.

Plundered

Much of the game’s fanfare has come from the East, With Japan and China putting up $139 million and $28 million respectively. The combined total accounts for 99 per cent of all revenue.

Downloads tell a similar tale with 85 per cent of the 3.6 million download total coming from the pair. It should be noted, however, that the figures do not include Android revenue or downloads in China.

The Japanese market is known within the industry for being lucrative but tough to crack as it's dominated by local developers. Those same companies, however, can also struggle to make themselves known on the global scene. 

According to Yengage's chief operating officer Kazuhiro Kimura though, the problem is dissipating as the Japanese games market has come out from its closed-off period.


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.