- AFK Journey has expanded its rollout to Asia and earned $5.1 million in China in five days
- The Chinese market has contributed 7% of lifetime revenue already
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Lilith Games’ AFK Journey expanded its rollout to Asia last week, and China has already grown to become its second-biggest market.
According to AppMagic data, the fantasy RPG has hit unprecedented heights in daily revenue since August 8th as new players in China have spent over $5 million gross in just five days.
In fact, Chinese players have spent a total $5.1 million since AFK Journey’s Asian release, already contributing 7% of its $78.8 million lifetime gross revenue.
Revenue, RPGs and the really big markets
Lilith Games is itself a Chinese games developer, with a strong track record of hit games dating back long before AFK Journey, including its 2018 predecessor AFK Arena – an idle RPG and one-time billion-dollar game.
With their penchant for RPGs, over the years Asian markets such as China, Japan and South Korea have injected great sums of cash into AFK Arena, so the potential for a repeat case in the sequel had long been speculated. Such prospects also served as a glimmer of hope for AFK Journey’s future, making up for its falling revenue in the West since launch this March.
Fast-forward to August and the game’s launch in Asia, and suddenly AFK Journey is thriving more than ever. The game has surpassed all prior peaks to generate $12.6 in the past five days globally – including that $5.1 million from China.
That’s more than quintuple the $2.4 million generated in its first five days in the West and serves as just one more example of that powerful RPG affinity in the East.
Though, with a lead of more than four months, the US does remain AFK Journey’s highest-spending market for now, being a contributor of 53% of its lifetime revenue. That equates to $41.4 million in player spending, demonstrating the prevailing interest of RPGs in the West too, in the right circumstances.
Game design expert Jakub Remiar has also highlighted AFK Journey’s simplified systems, encouragement to theory craft, and improved experience as key advantages of the new title over its predecessor, all of which are working hard to make monetisation integration that much smoother.
