New Releases Shaking Up the 'Lineage World'... 'Dungeon & Fighter' in Korea, 'Odin' in Taiwan

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The dominance of NCSoft's Lineage in the domestic and international mobile game market is shrinking. In South Korea, it has lost the top spot to Nexon's new release 'Dungeon & Fighter Mobile' (hereafter Dungeon & Fighter Mobile), and in Taiwan, it is being chased by Kakao Games' 'Odin: Valhalla Rising' (hereafter Odin).

According to mobile game ranking analysis site Mobile Index on the 3rd, Dungeon & Fighter Mobile ranked first in both popularity and sales on South Korea's Google Play and Apple App Store.

Dungeon & Fighter Mobile reached number one in Apple App Store sales within five hours of its release at 8 a.m. on the 24th. Thanks to user response including 1.2 million pre-downloads and 1.1 million pre-characters created, the number of users who accessed the game on the day of release was 1 million.

Based on sales, Lineage W and Lineage M were pushed down to second and third place respectively on South Korea's Google Play. This is the first time since the release of Lineage W in November last year that the number one spot on Google Play sales has changed. Since its release, Lineage W has held the number one spot in Google Play sales, dominating the top sales rankings along with Lineage M and Lineage 2M. On the App Store, Lineage M dropped to second place and Lineage W to fifth place.

This time, Dungeon & Fighter Mobile is evaluated to have significantly improved its payment model compared to before by reducing dependence on probability-based items.

In Taiwan, Kakao Games' Odin is competing with Lineage for first place. Odin recorded the number one spot in Apple App Store sales on the day of its official release in the Taiwanese market on the 29th of last month and has maintained the top position since. Based on Google Play sales, it ranks fourth, having started at sixth place right after release and climbed up the rankings.

Lineage is also popular in Taiwan. In Google Play sales rankings, Lineage W and Lineage M hold first and second place respectively. On the App Store, Lineage W remains at fifth place. Although Lineage still leads in sales, Odin's pursuit is fierce. When Odin was released last month, it ranked first in popularity on both major markets, drawing strong local interest.

Meanwhile, Odin participated in the Taipei International Game Show in January, receiving high attention from local gamers, and in February's local closed beta test (CBT), it continued to receive favorable reviews for overall game elements such as graphics, production, story, and combat. The pre-character and server reservation event attracted more participants than expected, leading to an emergency server expansion. It supports cross-play on both mobile and PC.