The Zhitong Finance App learned that on February 29, Sensor Tower published an article saying, as can be seen from the picture below, “MONOPOLY GO!” The real estate mogul IP used makes Hasbro the number one IP parent company in the world. In second place is South Korean game publisher NCSoft, whose “Paradise” IP is a very successful RPG game series. Nintendo, which has the hit game “Pokemon GO,” also made the list.

With popular Japanese anime IPs such as “One Piece” and “Naruto,” SHUEISHA's parent company, Hitotsubashi Group, ranked third on the list. Unlike other IP parent companies, the group is one of the few companies with multiple popular IPs. Disney also has many successful IPs, and its business also involves multiple types of IP media, but it only ranks fifth in the revenue list of IP parent companies.

Description: A parent company can have different IP operators and IPs. For example, Disney is a parent company, and Lucasfilm, the company's IP operator, is responsible for operating Star Wars IP. The colors in the diagram represent the IP media type, that is, what type the IP originally appeared in. For example, Star Wars is a movie IP, and Monopoly is a board game IP.

3 Asian companies ranked in the top 5 issuer revenue rankings in 2023

In 2021 and 2022, the top and runner-up in IP mobile game revenue were Japan's Bandai Namco and South Korea's ncsoft, which mainly relied on the success of the “Dragon Ball Z” series of games on mobile devices, while the latter was the owner of the popular IP “Paradise”. Scopely, the publisher of games such as “Star Trek: Fleet Command” and “Marvel's Force,” was also on the list, but only ranked 10th.

Entering 2023, “MONOPOLY GO!” With the successful listing, Scopely's ranking soared 9 places to the top of the list. Another outstanding performer was Tencent, which advanced to 2nd place with “League of Legends Mobile Game”. This MOBA mobile game had a mediocre response in the Western market, but it was a huge success in the Chinese market. On the other hand, CyberAgent's popular anime RPG mobile game “Uma Musume Pretty Derby” (Horse Racing Girl) has declined in popularity over the past two years.

IP linkage involves many fields

In addition to IP adapting mobile games, IP linkage is being more widely used in the mobile game field, that is, mobile games increase their download volume, revenue, and participation by cooperating with an IP to host events.

For example, “Roblox” has been actively developing various IP links. Over the past year, IP collaborations include Cirque du Soleil by Cirque du Soleil in Canada, the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle, celebrity Paris Hilton, and the Korean singer group BLACKPINK. Among these events, “Roblox” saw a significant increase in revenue during the period of collaboration with BLACKPINK, reflecting the high level of participation of Korean fans.

However, if Roblox's main purpose in developing these partnerships is not to drive user payments but advertising revenue, then this increase in user spending is an additional benefit. As a result, despite not generating significant revenue growth, these collaborative projects demonstrate the diversity of Roblox as a platform.

Identifying linked IPs will effectively increase game revenue

Of course, a number of IP linkages targeting segmented groups have also emerged in the industry. Take “Goddess of Victory: Nikki” as an example. The link between the game and the PC/console game IP “NieR” won recognition from both fan groups and led to a significant increase in revenue.

Both games are based on a sci-fi anime theme, and both have charming characters. These commonalities make IP linkages more likely to be accepted by fans of both parties, thereby increasing the success rate of the campaign.

In terms of boosting downloads, celebrities and influencers are equally effective

As a group, BLACKPINK's success isn't limited to in-app campaigns; they've also launched their own mobile games and distinguished themselves in the increasingly declining field of celebrity IP mobile gaming. In the US, the most downloaded celebrity IPs include Ellen DeGeneres, who published several mobile party games, and YouTube bloggers aimed at children, such as Ryan's World.

The resurgence of IP gaming over the past year has rewarded some companies that have laid out ahead of time and have accumulated experience. Due to the strengthening of privacy protection measures in the mobile industry, the difficulty of locating and obtaining target users is constantly increasing, and IP has once again become an effective means of attracting users. Moreover, the use of IP is no longer limited to IP-adapted mobile games, but extends to non-IP mobile games. Therefore, we see that in the future of gaming, IP will have more room for development.