Fortress 'Lineage' Toppled by 'Uma Musume'... No.1 on Both Major Markets

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Games' ‘Uma Musume: Pretty Derby’ (hereafter Uma Musume) has taken the number one spot in sales on South Korea's two major app markets. The dominance of NCSoft's ‘Lineage’ series, which had held the top position for the past three years, has been broken.

According to mobile big data analysis platform Mobile Index on the 27th, Uma Musume reached number one in sales on both major app markets on the 26th and has maintained that position as of today. Previously, it had been within the top 10 in sales, but after a new character update on the 25th, it jumped 10 ranks at once. Uma Musume was developed by Japan's Cygames and was released domestically by Kakao Games last month.

With this update, Uma Musume's daily sales reportedly approached 15 billion KRW. The top two daily sales records had both been held by the Lineage series. Lineage W recorded daily sales of 17 billion KRW, ranking first, and Lineage M was second with 13 billion KRW. However, due to Uma Musume's recent success, Lineage M, which held the second place daily sales record, has been pushed down to third.

Games aiming to dethrone the Lineage series' top spot have continuously appeared. Netmarble's ‘The Second Country’ briefly reached number one in app market sales after a successful launch but soon lost the top spot back to Lineage. Nexon's ‘V4’ and ‘The Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon’ also challenged the Lineage series but could not surpass the loyal Lineage fanbase.

However, since last year, the once impregnable Lineage has begun to waver. This started with the release of Kakao Games' ‘Odin: Valhalla Rising.’ Odin, released in June last year, held the number one sales position for 18 consecutive weeks. Although Lineage W reclaimed the top spot after about four months, it was the longest period in three years that the Lineage series had relinquished first place.

The significance of Uma Musume's number one sales position is even greater. All previous games that threatened the Lineage series were in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) genre. However, Uma Musume is a subculture game considered non-mainstream. Unlike the traditionally masculine MMORPGs, Uma Musume is a training simulation game based on cute girl characters, marking a shift in the existing gaming landscape.

Meanwhile, Kakao Games is expected to see a significant year-over-year increase in both sales and operating profit in the second quarter, thanks to the steady performance of Odin. According to securities firms, second-quarter sales are projected to reach 364.3 billion KRW, a 181% increase from the previous year, and operating profit is expected to rise 848% year-over-year to 76.8 billion KRW. In the third quarter, Uma Musume's performance will be fully reflected, and with new releases scheduled sequentially in the third and fourth quarters, Kakao Games is expected to maintain strong results in the second half of the year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.