China's Global Expansion Showcase: Leyou, a Pioneer in the Japanese Market; More Chinese Games Are Testing the Waters

As is well known, the Japanese market’s insular nature makes it extremely difficult for Chinese games to achieve success there. As the saying goes, there is no market in the world that Chinese developers cannot conquer. The Japanese market—once considered a tough nut to crack—is now gradually being penetrated by Chinese games and game companies, with Leyou undoubtedly leading the charge.Games that have performed exceptionally well in the Japanese market this month include *Meruko Story*, *Idol Fantasy Festival*, *Papa Three Kingdoms*, and *Honkai Academy*.

The art in *The Tale of Meruko* pays great attention to detail and follows the style of Japanese anime, with game scenes featuring a layered design. Targeting anime fans, the game combines card-based gameplay with tower defense mechanics, allowing players to enjoy the fun of collecting and strategizing.The story is humorous and heartwarming, and the fresh, cute visuals have won over the hearts of many players. Guild battles and chat rooms also provide players with a great interactive experience. This month, *The Tale of Meruko* continued to maintain its leading position, achieving impressive rankings of 22nd on the Google Play Top Grossing chart and 16th on the App Store Top Grossing chart.

"Idol Fantasy," a male idol-training mobile game developed in-house by Leyou, launched in Japan in late April of this year. It subsequently broke into the top 20 on the Japanese App Store’s Top Grossing chart and received an official recommendation from Google Play.As the third game from Leyou to enter the Top 20 on both the Google Play and iOS Top Grossing charts, it was developed by Leyou’s Kyoto Studio in Japan. The game is primarily targeted at female users and had already garnered significant popularity before the beta test began, with pre-registrations exceeding 150,000.The game utilizes “Live 2D” technology, meaning the character illustrations are 2D images generated from 3D models via “Live 2D,” resulting in more vivid and expressive character animations. Additionally, the game features voice acting by numerous top-tier Japanese voice actors.This month, *Idol Fantasy* continues to rank highly, placing 39th on the GP Top Grossing chart and 20th on the iOS Top Grossing chart. The company’s previous title, *Meruko Story*, achieved a “win-win” outcome in both the Japanese and Mainland Chinese markets following localization.It is reported that *Idol Fantasy* will not only draw on the experience gained from *Meruko’s Tale* but will also gather feedback from Japanese-server players in China to further refine its localization.

"Battleship Empire" ranked 66th on this month’s GP Top Grossing Chart and 76th on the iOS Top Grossing Chart. As a strategy mobile game that once achieved impressive results upon its initial launch in the Japanese market—including an 80% second-day retention rate and a 38.54% payment rate—it previously reached third place on the iOS Top Grossing Chart.In response to the Japanese market’s emphasis on detail, QiKu Studio made relevant adjustments to *Battleship Empire*, such as adding legendary Japanese World War II battleships well-known to Japanese players—including the “Hayate,” “Daifuku,” “Chiyoda,”“Yukikaze,” and “Yamato”—legendary Japanese World War II battleships well-known to Japanese players—to significantly appeal to their inherent desire to collect in-game items;targeted adjustments were made to the game’s battleships, items, and gift pack contents; the in-game ranking system favored by Chinese players was removed, and more events and monetization methods preferred by local players were introduced.For language localization, a native Japanese translation team was brought in to conduct multiple rounds of review and revision. Meticulous craftsmanship meeting meticulous demands—this is likely one of the reasons *Battleship Empire* has succeeded in Japan.

"Papa Three Kingdoms" has performed exceptionally well since its launch in Japan, quickly breaking into the top 30 on the App Store and Google Play best-seller charts and maintaining its position there.The game’s stunning 3D graphics combined with its free-form, strategy-based gameplay have been highly praised by Japanese players. It has been reported that the game’s monthly revenue peaked at 1 million RMB, with estimated monthly revenue expected to exceed 18 million RMB. As the saying goes, “You can skimp on anything but the visuals”—you can’t afford to fall behind right from the start.Before its launch in Japan, *Papa Three Kingdoms* underwent various adjustments—from the game icon design, in-game voice acting, and game systems,promotional artwork, and card art—all tailored to the Japanese market and players. Thirty percent of the game’s art assets were replaced; in fact, many people couldn’t immediately recognize *Papa Three Kingdoms* when seeing the related images, because a game’s visual appeal is crucial during the pre-launch phase.

In recent years, an increasing number of Chinese games have been testing the waters in the Japanese market, such as *Witch War*, *Dream Thief*, *Monster Hunter*, *Dota Legends*, and the *Nuan Nuan* series.At the same time, an increasing number of Chinese companies—much like their approach to entering the South Korean market—are acquiring local Japanese game companies or studios to establish their own subsidiaries in Japan. This gives them a foothold in the Japanese market, allowing them to gradually expand their presence and steadily penetrate and integrate into the Japanese market.