Flamebait Game, the Swedish-based studio being Passepartout 2, have announced that their title has gained 100k downloads in China alone - an impressive figure - especially given the title is pay-to-play.

According to Flamebait Games’ LinkedIn post announcing the milestone, “It took four years to get the Chinese ISBN licence, but we launched the Chinese mobile version in April this year and have already reached 100K downloads this month. It is really impressive that pay-to-play mobile games are now selling in China!”

While the success in relative comparison to the rest of mobile gaming, where millions of downloads and millions in revenue is common, it’s worth noting the unique success of Passepartout 2. Given that the title is not F2P, but a premium-priced title. As noted in the LinkedIn post as well, the title also struggled to receive a licence due to the then-ongoing licensing freeze in China.

What Passepartout 2 demonstrates is perhaps a litmus test that demonstrates an indie, premium-priced mobile game can find modest success in one of the biggest markets in the world. At a time when worries abound in the gaming industry this presents an interesting, noteworthy development.

Is premium the way to go?

But while this does present an exception, it may also prove the rule. Passepartout 2 stands out because of the nature of its pricing model, however 100k downloads is still a modest number. But, it defies the odds regardless and means that the game presents a possible avenue for other titles of its kind to be successful.

So are premium-priced mobile titles likely to take the Chinese market by storm? Probably not anytime soon, but it seems that, despite common wisdom to the contrary they’re hardly in danger of dying out. And if Flamebait Games do indeed have a Passepartout 3 in the works, and release it in China 3, we may see whether or not this success can be repeated.