GameRefinery Market Review: Honkai Star Rail reaches 20M downloads in launch week and breaks record for topping download chart in the most countries

The latest analysis by GameRefinery, A Liftoff Company, of the US, China, and Japan’s key mobile game markets, has just been released. GameRefinery analysts have picked their top updates from April for each country, including new releases, special events, and game updates.

Here’s what they found:

• The creators of Genshin Impact, MiHoYo, launched a new turn-based RPG called Honkai: Star Rail, within just days of launching, the game was downloaded more than 20 million times worldwide and reached the number one spot on the iOS game download chart in more countries than any game that has come before.

• Marvel Strike Force introduced a new premium currency called Ultra Core which functions in a similar way to real-world currency and can be used to purchase all IAP offers. This can be bought directly from the in-game store or Scopely’s external web store at a lower cost, bypassing app store fees in the wake of the Apple v Epic legal battle.

• PvP mahjong game Jantama rocketed to almost the top of the charts in Japan after collaborating with the popular anime IP Code Geass to celebrate its fourth anniversary. The event included a special mahjong mode to play alongside new collaborative story content featuring characters from the show.

• Scopely released a new game based on the internationally-recognized board game Monopoly, entitled Monopoly GO!, which ranked as one of the highest-grossing titles in the US last month. The gameplay loop closely resembles Coin Master, except with a Monopoly board instead of slots.

• Mobile game developers across both casual and mid-core continue to demonstrate hybridization by implementing elements from other genres to help keep their players engaged. Examples include match3 Lily’s Garden introducing home renovation features and battle royale Free Fire adding a pet smash minigame reminiscent of Brawl Stars.