Dragalia Lost is Nintendo’s new mobile game that launched very recently. It’s an interesting case for Nintendo, since it marks the first time they have put out an absolutely original game for smartphones, instead of adapting one of their existing properties for the format (albeit it was CyGames who mostly worked on the game, with Nintendo providing publishing support).
Now we know how it’s done— according to Sensor Tower, the mobile app analysis firm, the game ended up generating $3 million in revenue over its first five days. How does this compare to other Nintendo launches? Well, Super Mario Run was at $8.3 million (although it launched on iOS first, and didn’t come to Android until much later), while Animal Crossing: New Leaf was at $4.6 million. Meanwhile, Fire Emblem Heroes was at $13 million, so it’s in a whole another league as far as this criteria goes.
That said, the numbers in and of themselves don’t tell the full story— as mentioned, Dragalia Lost is a brand new IP, rather than bringing some of Nintendo’s most beloved franchises over to mobile. Additionally, all the other games listed had worldwide launches, unlike Dragalia Lost, which is not out in Europe and Middle East yet. Finally, Dragalia Lost’s monetization is ripe for long term revenue— unlike, say, Super Mario Run, which was a one and done kind of deal in terms of spending money on it.
So it will be interesting to see how the game does in the long run, that’s for sure.
