Skip to main content

How GungHo could afford to buy Grasshopper thanks to a single mobile game

Killer is Dead
Image used with permission by copyright holder

GungHo Online Entertainment is not a name brand in the Western video game market, even fifteen years after the publisher opened for business. While some of its games have enjoyed a cult following in the US and Europe, particularly GameArts titles like Grandia and Lunar, its profile has always been more prominent in Asia. The Korean-made Ragnarok series of online role-playing games especially has made GungHo the steady business it is today. GungHo is expanding now though, moving into the US with unusual releases and acquiring creative but not particularly marketable studios. Is an aging MMO franchise funding these bold moves? Hardly. The publisher’s impressive wealth comes in part from a surprisingly successful mobile game.

Recommended Videos

Japanese gaming industry analyst Dr. Serkan Toto published a revealing look at GungHo Online’s revenue stream in the mobile market. It turns out that the company is able to fund its more idiosyncratic business decisions thanks to the popularity of the Japanese mobile game Puzzles & Dragons. A puzzle game with role-playing elements not unlike the Nintendo DS cult hit Puzzle Quest, the free-to-play Puzzle & Dragons has an audience of 8 million registered players after being on the market for one year. Not the biggest crowd, but they are spending enough to earn GungHo Online a mint, generating between $54 million and $75 million every month based on multiple estimates. In January alone, GungHo Online’s sales totaled $92 million, a year-on-year growth of more than 1,000 percent, and it’s all thanks to one little game.

While the success of Puzzles & Dragons demonstrates the financial opportunity in making an Android and iOS hit, it also speaks volumes about GungHo’s creative ambitions. It seemed like the company had lost its mind when it announced in October 2012 that it was opening a branch in the US to publish – amongst other things – niche PS Vita titles like Dokuro and Ragnarok Odyssey. It also didn’t seem like a particularly fiscally responsible decision in January when it acquired No More Heroes and Killer is Dead developer Grasshopper Manufacture. The studio has a sterling reputation but its sales have never been stellar. Turns out that GungHo can afford these riskier endeavors thanks to Puzzles & Dragons. Now if it would only fund the development of Grandia 4.

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Marvel Cosmic Invasion has some surprising Marvel vs. Capcom DNA
Storm, Venom, and Nova fight enemies in Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

How do you make a retro beat-em-up feel new? That’s a question that the team at Dotemu has had to ask itself a lot in the past five years. The studio has found tremendous success ushering in a new age of throwback brawlers, from Streets of Rage 4 to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Its efforts are only doubling, as it is currently juggling three 2D projects between multiple development studios. Each one has to find a way to do something a little new in a genre that doesn’t feel like it can flex too much more.

And yet, Marvel Cosmic Invasion still finds a way. At this year’s Summer Game Fest, I tried the latest project from Streets of Rage 4 developer Tribute Games. While it's another classic brawler filled with nostalgic pixel art and a wide roster of superheroes, it infuses that tried and true formula with just enough fighting game DNA to keep it distinct.

Read more
The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor is 55% off, but there’s a catch
Samsung's Odyssey Neo G7 on a desk.

The 43-inch Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor is an excellent display for gamers, but it's not always available with a discount from monitor deals, and it's pretty expensive at its original price of $1,000. However, we've found a way for you to get it with a 55% discount, and that's to take advantage of Samsung's open box pricing so that you'll only have to pay $450. That's a massive $550 in savings, and you don't have to worry about the quality of the gaming monitor -- open box products still look brand new and are tested to be working properly. You need to hurry though, as stocks are limited!

Why you should buy the 43-inch Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 gaming monitor

Read more
What is Wordle and how do you learn to play it?
Woman playing Wordle on her smartphone.

If you've seen those green squares flooding your social media feed or keep hearing your friends and family talk about keeping their Wordle streaks alive, you're probably curious what this game is that has the world hooked. Wordle hit the mainstream in 2022 and has since become part of most people's daily routine. What makes it so addictive is how challenging it can be to solve a puzzle, which makes it important to know the best Wordle starting words or to check out some Wordle answers and hints for any given day's game. Wordle isn't as complicated as Connections, Strands, NYT Crossword, or the Mini Crossword, but it is a little tricky if you've never played it before. I'll go over all the rules and information you need to become a Wordle pro in no time.

What is Wordle?

Read more