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Supercell credits two key partners in bringing Clash of Clans to Japanese audiences

SCORE 1,410 Rick Martin Rick Martin
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We previously told you about how Finnish game developer Supercell teamed up with Japanese game developer GungHo Entertainment for cross promotion of their most popular mobile games, Clash of Clans and Puzzle and Dragons. The collaboration has been especially effective for Supercell’s Clash of Clans, as promotion in Japan’s most popular mobile game , Puzzle & Dragons, has helped it reach the top of Japan’s free iOS app rankings [1]. Just this past week it rose to as high as third on the top grossing app charts as well, which is no small feat, especially in a market as lucrative as Japan. A representative at Supercell explained to us that their team is delighted with the results so far, describing the collaboration as a tremendous one so far. “We have the deepest respect for GungHo” he added. Supercell also worked closely with Japanese media site AppBank to promote its game (see video below), describing that partnership as follows: We have been similarly impressed with their success. They have provided an invaluable service to our Japanese players with detailed tutorials and support. They are simply amazing. It is still early and we have a lot to learn, but both GungHo and…

clash-of-clans-puzzle-dragons-2
Clash of Clans characters featured in Puzzle & Dragons

We previously told you about how Finnish game developer Supercell teamed up with Japanese game developer GungHo Entertainment for cross promotion of their most popular mobile games, Clash of Clans and Puzzle and Dragons. The collaboration has been especially effective for Supercell’s Clash of Clans, as promotion in Japan’s most popular mobile game , Puzzle & Dragons, has helped it reach the top of Japan’s free iOS app rankings [1]. Just this past week it rose to as high as third on the top grossing app charts as well, which is no small feat, especially in a market as lucrative as Japan.

A representative at Supercell explained to us that their team is delighted with the results so far, describing the collaboration as a tremendous one so far. “We have the deepest respect for GungHo” he added.

Supercell also worked closely with Japanese media site AppBank to promote its game (see video below), describing that partnership as follows:

We have been similarly impressed with their success. They have provided an invaluable service to our Japanese players with detailed tutorials and support. They are simply amazing. It is still early and we have a lot to learn, but both GungHo and AppBank are helping us to better understand the market in Japan.

Both partnerships are somewhat unconventional for a Western game developer looking to break into the Japanese market. But it will be interesting to see if more companies take a similar approach moving forward. From GungHo’s point of view, the power to promote a Western game inside P&D represents a pretty big bargaining chip as it looks to expand into Western markets itself.

And indeed P&D has benefited from promotion in Supercell’s Clash of Clans and Hey Day too, briefly breaking into the US top 20 apps overall for a few days in June, and peaking at sixth spot on the top grossing charts on July 14th.

  1. It held the top position in Japan from June 24 to June 26th.  ↩

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Japan’s most successful mobile game is picking up steam in the US market

SCORE 1,229 Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Earlier in the week we wrote that the cross-promotional collaboration between Clash of Clans and Puzzle & Dragons had proven fruitful for Finnish developer Supercell, as their CoC game became the top ranked free app in Japan on Monday. Since then the app has remained in the top spot, and it will be interesting to see how long it can stay there. But has the cross-promotion helped Puzzle & Dragons in its effort to win over the US market? P&D also saw a big jump on Monday, and since then it has been hovering in the top 20 overall apps in the US app store. Of course, the more important metric is how it places in the top grossing charts, and that’s gradually on the rise as well (see chart below). Thanks primarily to its huge fan base in its home market in Japan, GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons already has over 15 million downloads under its belt. But its position at or near the top of Japan’s top grossing charts (since February 2012 for iOS, and since October 2012 on Google Play [1]) makes it the most successful mobile game of all time — not just in Japan, but anywhere….

puzzle-dragons-clash-of-clans

Earlier in the week we wrote that the cross-promotional collaboration between Clash of Clans and Puzzle & Dragons had proven fruitful for Finnish developer Supercell, as their CoC game became the top ranked free app in Japan on Monday. Since then the app has remained in the top spot, and it will be interesting to see how long it can stay there.

But has the cross-promotion helped Puzzle & Dragons in its effort to win over the US market? P&D also saw a big jump on Monday, and since then it has been hovering in the top 20 overall apps in the US app store. Of course, the more important metric is how it places in the top grossing charts, and that’s gradually on the rise as well (see chart below).

Thanks primarily to its huge fan base in its home market in Japan, GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons already has over 15 million downloads under its belt. But its position at or near the top of Japan’s top grossing charts (since February 2012 for iOS, and since October 2012 on Google Play [1]) makes it the most successful mobile game of all time — not just in Japan, but anywhere.

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Puzzle & Dragons moving up in top grossing ranks in US (App Annie)

I think that even before the Clash of Clans cross promotion, P&D already had a decent fan base in Japan, as the official Facebook page has more than 32,000 fans. There is also an unofficial Puzzle & Dragons database, an active chat forum, and a useful sub-Reddit.

And as I explained before, I’m still pretty hooked on the game myself. If you haven’t tried Puzzle & Dragons, check out our demo video that shows the basics of gameplay.

  1. The app was released in mid-September 2012 on Google Play, and sharply rose to the top of the grossing rankings by October 10.  ↩

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Clash of Clans is now Japan’s top free app, after Puzzle & Dragons collaboration goes live

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Back on June 7th we wrote that Japan’s smash hit Puzzle & Dragons would be engaging in a collaborative promotion with Supercell’s Clash of Clans. The tie-up, which sees Clash of Clans characters like appear as special enemy monsters and playable cards, began yesterday with the new CoC dungeon going live in the game. It didn’t take long for this partnership to yield fruit, as Clash of Clans became the top free iOS app in the Japan app store at about 7pm last night [1]. Check out the chart above to see it’s recent progress. In the top grossing ranks, CoC is currently ranked 21st overall. I’ve collected a couple of CoC cards already in Puzzle & Dragons, and it’s going to be interesting to see if GungHo conducts similar promotions with Western gaming companies looking to break into the lucrative Japan mobile gaming market. Of course, Puzzle & Dragons has dominated the Japanese market like no other game, recently surpassing 15 million downloads back on June 8th. Update: Serkan Toto has more on this in a great post late last night. Clash of Clans is now also a featured staff pic in the Japanese app store, and that has…

clash-of-clans
Via App Annie: Clash of Clans’ rise in the Japan market over past 24 hours

Back on June 7th we wrote that Japan’s smash hit Puzzle & Dragons would be engaging in a collaborative promotion with Supercell’s Clash of Clans. The tie-up, which sees Clash of Clans characters like appear as special enemy monsters and playable cards, began yesterday with the new CoC dungeon going live in the game.

It didn’t take long for this partnership to yield fruit, as Clash of Clans became the top free iOS app in the Japan app store at about 7pm last night [1]. Check out the chart above to see it’s recent progress. In the top grossing ranks, CoC is currently ranked 21st overall.

I’ve collected a couple of CoC cards already in Puzzle & Dragons, and it’s going to be interesting to see if GungHo conducts similar promotions with Western gaming companies looking to break into the lucrative Japan mobile gaming market.

Of course, Puzzle & Dragons has dominated the Japanese market like no other game, recently surpassing 15 million downloads back on June 8th.

Update: Serkan Toto has more on this in a great post late last night.

clash-of-clans-puzzle-dragons-2 clash-of-clans-puzzle-dragons

  1. Clash of Clans is now also a featured staff pic in the Japanese app store, and that has likely been a huge help for the app too.  ↩

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  3. puzzle-dragons-clash-of-clans Two mobile money makers team up: GungHo and Supercell announce in-game collaboration

Two mobile money makers team up: GungHo and Supercell announce in-game collaboration

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Japanese game publisher GungHo Entertainment and Finish publisher Supercell have just announced a joint collaboration that will result in the mutual sharing of content in each others games. To be clear, these are two giant games teaming up here; two of the biggest money makers in the mobile gaming space, working together to likely make even more money! What this means exactly is that we’ll see some Clash of Clans themed dungeons and monsters showing up in GungHo’s hit game Puzzle and Dragons. And likewise, we will see Clash of Clans and Hay Day display cross promotions for Puzzle and Dragons, in both the iOS and Android versions. Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen commented in the announcement: We are very honored to work with GungHo and learn from the masters of free-to-play gaming. The more time we spend with GungHo, the more we realize how remarkably similar our two companies are. We are deeply committed to helping each other expand into new markets and equally committed to having an incredible amount of fun working together. GungHo has done collaborations like this previously for its Japanese version, but this is the first time (that I’m aware of) that they have made such…

puzzle-dragons-clash-of-clans

Japanese game publisher GungHo Entertainment and Finish publisher Supercell have just announced a joint collaboration that will result in the mutual sharing of content in each others games. To be clear, these are two giant games teaming up here; two of the biggest money makers in the mobile gaming space, working together to likely make even more money!

What this means exactly is that we’ll see some Clash of Clans themed dungeons and monsters showing up in GungHo’s hit game Puzzle and Dragons. And likewise, we will see Clash of Clans and Hay Day display cross promotions for Puzzle and Dragons, in both the iOS and Android versions.

Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen commented in the announcement:

We are very honored to work with GungHo and learn from the masters of free-to-play gaming. The more time we spend with GungHo, the more we realize how remarkably similar our two companies are. We are deeply committed to helping each other expand into new markets and equally committed to having an incredible amount of fun working together.

GungHo has done collaborations like this previously for its Japanese version, but this is the first time (that I’m aware of) that they have made such an effort for the English version of its game.

Serkan Toto has a great overview of how Japanese gaming companies use this collaboration strategy here, if you’d like to learn more.

For anyone who has yet to try out Puzzle and Dragons check out our demo video of basic gameplay strategy here.

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  2. clash-of-clans-puzzle-dragons-2 Supercell credits two key partners in bringing Clash of Clans to Japanese audiences
  3. hay_day_japan After billion dollar deal, Supercell’s Hay Day becomes Japan’s top game

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