Lineage 2M records the highest revenue among apps on Google Play

NCSOFT’s game “Lineage 2M” was the world’s top performing application on Google Play in terms of sales in the first quarter of 2020, according to App Annie, a global app analysis company.

The revenue growth comes from in-app purchases made by South Korean users as Lineage 2M is currently only available in the country. NCSOFT earned 731.1 billion won in sales in the first quarter, 167.8 billion of which went to Google and Apple for distribution.

“Game for Peace,” which is Tencent’s answer to Battle Ground, and “Animal Crossing” of Nintendo came on top on iOS and Nintendo Switch, respectively.

Lineage 2M recorded the highest revenues in South Korea, followed by Lineage M of NCSOFT and “Rise of Kingdoms” of Lilith Games.

In March when COVID-19 cases started soaring, the weekly mobile game downloads in South Korea increased to 13.4 million, 15 percent up from January when the figure was 11.7 million.

Consumers are exploring new ways to communicate with other people as they spend more time at home, said App Annie. With increasing accessibility to mobile devices, multiplayer games will continue to grow.


yes@donga.com