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STORE INTELLIGENCE · CRAIG CHAPPLE · FEBRUARY 2020

Lineage 2 M Surpasses $150 Million From Player Spending in Less Than Three Months

Lineage 2 M out grosses Lineage M and Lineage 2: Revolution in months following November launch, Sensor Tower data shows.

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Lineage 2 M from NCSOFT has surpassed $152 million in gross revenue in less than three months following its launch exclusively in South Korea, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates show.

The Lineage franchise is a major blockbuster IP in South Korea, with previous mobile entries Lineage M from NCSOFT and Lineage 2: Revolution from Netmarble generating a combined $4 billion-plus from lifetime user spending as of October 2019.

Following Lineage 2 M’s launch on November 25, it has been the top grossing game in the franchise. While it generated less in November than Lineage M, it still accumulated more from user spending that Lineage 2: Revolution despite being available for less than a week.

The addition of the new MMORPG—plus the substantial spending the other titles continue to drive—has brought franchise revenue on mobile to more than $4.4 billion. It previously crossed the $4 billion mark back in October 2019.

Lineage mobile game franchise revenue November 2019 to January 2020

As with the two mobile franchise entries before it, the majority of lifetime user spending in Lineage 2 M has come from Google Play, which accounted for $128.3 million, or 84 percent of all revenue. App Store users spent $24.5 million, or 16 percent of the total.

In terms of downloads, the MMORPG has accumulated close to 1.6 million downloads to date. Google Play accounted for the lion’s share of unique installs, racking up just under 1.3 million downloads, or 79.6 percent of the total. The App Store, meanwhile, generated close to 323,000 installs, or 20.4 percent of all downloads.

Average revenue per download for Lineage 2 M currently stands at approximately $97.60.

Blockbuster Franchise

The Lineage franchise has once again shown its strength in South Korea with the impressive launch of Lineage 2 M. The title was the second highest grossing game in the country in November, behind Lineage M in the top spot, and has since ranked No.1 in December and January.

There appears to have been some cannibalization of Lineage M revenue, however, with its user spending in decline following the launch of its sequel, which hadn’t occurred previously. However, all Lineage games remain major revenue generators in the market, and will likely continue to be so in 2020.

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Craig Chapple

Written by: Craig Chapple, Mobile Insights Strategist, EMEA

Date: February 2020