How Metacore cracked Japan's mobile market with Merge Mansion

The significance of Asian markets to many a mobile game’s success cannot be understated.

Historically, this has been most true for midcore mobile games like RPGs, with AppMagic estimates suggesting that China, Japan and South Korea accounted for 65% of player spending in the genre last year.

But in recent years, the puzzle genre has seen a noteworthy rise in popularity in the region too, now drawing 14% of global player spending from these three Asian countries.

Many of last year’s biggest new releases also found their most lucrative audiences in Asia, such as $1bn maker Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket and Infold Games’ Love and Deepspace.

And, importantly, 2024’s most successful new releases were all developed in Asia.

With this in mind, how can overseas studios hope to compete for a share of Asia’s gamers? Should they aim for marketing campaigns with global appeal, or do they need to focus more locally? And, how can Western studios better tap into cultural clues and opportunities in Asia overall?

To explore these questions and more, we speak with Merge Mansion’s product marketing manager Shuhei Watanabe, whose cross-cultural experience ranges from roles at Google Japan to Finnish games maker Metacore.

His first-hand knowledge includes cross-media collaboration, navigating high-context markets and delivering "hyper-local" campaigns to specific regions of the globe. And, in particular, Watanabe shares with us his insights in building trust and resonating with Japanese audiences.

"Japanese users expect an incredibly high standard of quality, even in the smallest UI details," says Watanabe. "When you meet those expectations, players reward you with high loyalty and longer playtime, resulting in higher lifetime value."

He speaks from experience, with Merge Mansion and its Nagisa Shibuya campaign in 2023, which helped drive installs by more than 89% and tripled brand search.

Community, consistency and cultural clues

Watanabe argues that language localisation isn’t enough on its own to resonate with players from a different culture. Connecting with them requires digging deep into qualitative insights, finding emotional touchpoints and, particularly in Japan, establishing consistency between marketing messages and in-game experiences.

This can mean listening to and observing international socials daily, researching industry trends or even interviewing players in their native language - something Metacore does with Merge Mansion. From this, the studio pulls "profound insights from candid voices".

"Japanese players can be sceptical of foreign games," Watanabe explains. "But when an overseas title demonstrates an understanding of local seasonal events and behaviours, it helps build trust and relevance. There’s a kind of ‘they get us’ moment, which goes a long way in establishing brand credibility."

But players in Japan have high expectations, he warns, especially around communication and community management. Failure to provide proper in-game and social updates won’t go unnoticed by players, and this "could undermine the entire effort" of even a large campaign.

At the same time, paying attention to Japanese behaviours and holidays can help establish that ‘they get us’ mentality.

Golden Week, for example, is a Japanese holiday from April 29th to May 5th each year containing four public holidays: Showa Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day and Children’s Day.

The time off provides ample opportunity for consumers to engage in mobile games, and many Japanese developers lean into this with special events and celebratory campaigns during the week.

But most overseas developers overlook the holiday, says Watanabe, failing to leverage it as an opportunity to connect with (and earn from) Japanese players. During Golden Week 2025, seven of the 10 top-performing mobile games in Japan were also developed in Japan, while the three exceptions were made in China.

"For a Golden Week campaign in Japan, we drew inspiration from viral posts on Japanese X (formerly Twitter) about ‘classic grandma home experiences’," explains Watanabe. 

"Since Merge Mansion’s core character is a grandma, we reimagined her role in a local context and created a recycling-themed event, tapping into the Japanese cultural value of cherishing and reusing things."

Merge Mansion has found noteworthy success with Japanese gamers. AppMagic estimates suggest that this audience is its second most-lucrative behind the US, contributing higher levels of player spending than the UK and Germany combined.

"I believe it’s definitely worth competing," Watanabe says.

Marketing, celebrities and "hyper-local" campaigns

Over the years, marketers have increasingly upped the ante with bigger names, bigger collabs, and broader ensembles of stars - whether that’s Will Ferrell voicing Mr Monopoly, Shakira taking a break with Royal Kingdom, or Chris Hemsworth and co. cosplaying as Supercell heroes.

Watanabe considers marketing as "often the very first touchpoint mobile games have with their audience".

"What got us to initial success with Merge Mansion so quickly was learning and understanding the importance of having a holistic, comprehensive view on audience, product and marketing, and the dependencies between the three," he says.

Watanabe proceeds to highlight Clash of Clans’ Erling Haaland ad campaign as a standout from the world of celebrity marketing, noting how implementing Haaland in-game demonstrated how serious Supercell was about the ad.

He notes that in the West, ad campaigns often feature one global A-lister, whereas in Japan celebrities frequently work together, like a comedy duo or an idol group.

Watanabe also mentions a specific Japanese ad for Century Games’ Whiteout Survival, landing "a perfect blend" of a female celebrity, a comedian, singing and dancing. Each of these elements has a chance to resonate with Japanese audiences.

"It’s also common in Japan to collaborate with well-known anime IPs, which can deliver the same brand-lift effect as a celebrity, reaching beyond core fans. In Korea, you often see collaborations with trending celebrities that include theme songs and full campaign packages," Watanabe reveals.

"One cultural insight both Japan and Korea share is the concept of ‘oshi-katsu’, the fan-driven support of a favourite celebrity. In these markets, fans don’t just recognise celebrities - they actively support them by downloading the game, playing it and even spending money, purely out of loyalty."

Merge Mansion in Japan

Watanabe uses Merge Mansion as a case study in successful marketing campaigns to specific cultures, particularly Japan.

He notes the homogeneity of the country, where around 98% of the population is ethnically Japanese, and suggests that this contributes to a shared cultural context and strong preference for high-context communication, "where much is implied rather than said".

"We started with community initiatives tailored to Japan, and expanded into app store optimisation improvements, brand campaigns, influencer activations, offline collaborations and even developed in-game offers exclusive to the region," he explains.

"Marketing is ultimately about people, so you always have to ask yourself, ‘Would this copy feel rude to a Japanese user?’ or ‘Would this visual make someone uncomfortable?’ - that mindset helps you avoid costly missteps.

"As an example, we once had a creative idea to give Grandma a tattoo. I immediately flagged it: in Japan, tattoos can still carry certain cultural sensitivities. This is why having trusted local advisors - or even direct connections to users - is so important when planning a campaign."

Reflecting on Merge Mansion’s first "hyper-local" brand campaign in 2023, he recalls that instead of "just" appointing a local celebrity as an ambassador, the team collaborated with actress and influencer Nagisa Shibuya, localising all creative touchpoints from TV commercials to social media to store assets and beyond.

"We even went as far as creating a limited-time in-game offer curated by the celebrity herself," says Watanabe. "The goal was to localise not only the marketing but the entire user journey across the funnel."

This influencer campaign drove a more than 89% increase in installs, a 42% lift in brand consideration and tripled brand search, which Watanabe attributes to "the authentic and subtle visuals in the ads that got the community excited".

Later, in 2024, Merge Mansion launched a UA campaign in Japan called Tokyo Escape, which featured Grandma and Maddie visiting the country’s capital.

Another highlight was Merge Mansion’s fourth anniversary, which Metacore celebrated alongside Japan’s Elderly Day with a Grandma mascot appearing at a real-life Granny Smith Café. Watanabe reveals this got the puzzle game featured in 238 PR publications and drove a 30% increase in daily installs.

Summing up Merge Mansion’s marketing tactics, Watanabe states: "Our approach has been to holistically localise the game and its surrounding experience."

Discover more about the Asia market at the Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai on July 30th. Tickets are available here.