Lineage Franchise Crosses $4 Billion in Gross Revenue on Mobile

MMORPGs Lineage M by NCSoft and Lineage 2: Revolution by Netmarble have surpassed a combined $4 billion in lifetime gross revenue on mobile across the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates.

Lineage M, released on June 21 2017, has been the most successful of the two titles, hitting nearly $2.3 billion from player spending, or 57 percent of the combined total. Lineage 2: Revolution, meanwhile, launched on December 14 2016, has taken $1.7 billion, or 43 percent.

Eighty-five percent of gross revenue for Lineage M came from Android users, who have spent more than $1.9 billion in the game. App Store players, meanwhile, have paid out nearly $344 million, or 15 percent.

South Korea, where the Lineage IP originates from, is where the NCSoft-developed MMORPG has made most of its money, bringing in more than $2 billion to date, or 89.5 percent of revenue. Taiwan ranked second with $203 million, or 8.9 percent, and Hong Kong ranked third with $23 million, or 1 percent.

Lineage 2: Revolution also brought in the majority of its revenue from Android, though the platform split was not as one-sided. It took $1 billion from player spending on Google Play, or 61 percent, with iOS users paying out $678 million, or 39 percent.

Much like Lineage M, users in South Korea spent the most on Lineage 2: Revolution, generating $993 million in revenue, or 57 percent. Japan, however, made a significant contribution as the second highest grossing country, accounting for $410 million of sales, or 23.6 percent, while Taiwan users spent $112 million, or 6.4 percent.

High Average Revenue Per Download

Lineage M has been downloaded almost 8.2 million times to date. Of these, Android represented seven million downloads, or 86 percent of the total, while iOS accounted for nearly 1.2 million unique installs, or 14 percent.

South Korea made up the lion’s share of unique installs, with 6.8 million, or 83 percent of the total number of downloads. Taiwan came in second with one million, or 13 percent of the downloads, and Japan came in third with 245,000 or three percent of the downloads.

Lineage 2: Revolution has been downloaded nearly four times more than Lineage M, picking up 30.5 million unique installs since launch. Android accounts for 22.6 million, or 74.2 percent of the total, while iOS has generated 7.8 million downloads, or 25.7 percent.

South Korea was once again the largest driver of downloads, generating 9.2 million downloads, or 30.4 percent of the total. Indonesia came in second with 3.2 million downloads, or 10.4 percent, and the United States came in third with 2.8 million downloads, or 9.1 percent. Japan ranked sixth in terms of downloads by country, despite representing the second most revenue of any region.

The overall average revenue per download for Lineage M to date currently stands at $279, compared to $57 for Lineage 2: Revolution.

Another Lineage mobile game from NCSoft, Lineage 2 M, is set to launch in Q4 2019.