Big booty Korean game Nikke is a consistent money-maker in Japan, butt is that the only reason?

Goddess of Victory: Nikke, a post-apocalyptic 3rd person shooter RPG made by South Korean developer Shift Up, has been enjoying a high level of popularity in Japan, surpassing even Honkai: Star Rail in revenue growth. As a cover-based shooter, Nikke gives players plenty of time to admire their characters’ assets. But is the game’s popularity purely down to the titular curvaceous Nikkes?

Goddess of Victory Nikke bishoujo — Nikkes are special female soldiers manufactured to battle the mechanical Raptures who have taken over the Earth.

A recent report revealed that Japan, the USA and South Korea make up around 90% of the game’s global market. Japan alone, however, makes up a whopping 60% of the market share. The results also revealed a fact that particularly surprised commenters: approx. 40% of players in South Korea are women.

Goddess of Victory Nikke’s revenue share in each market — Pie chart showing Nikke’s revenue share in each market between November 2022 and November 2023. Key- Japan: green, USA: blue, South Korea: pink, Taiwan: purple, Hong Kong: orange, and Other Markets: gray. (Source: Sensor Tower)

One commenter, musing on why a game that seems heavily targeted towards straight men would appeal to assumedly straight women, mentioned that the game also includes attractive male characters like Johan and Andersen. However, it could be argued that the engrossing story and strategic aspects of the gameplay can appeal to players regardless of gender or sexual attraction. Gameplay strategy involves aspects such as deciding which of your obtained Nikkes to keep on your team based on their weapon types and how they synergize with each other.

Despite being available since November 2022, Nikke continues to maintain a high number of monthly active users in Japan, the USA and South Korea. However, Japan is still the lead market with an active player base 1.6 times higher than that in the US.

Goddess of Victory: Nikke Monthly Active Users graph — Graph showing monthly active users of Goddess of Victory: Nikke between November 2022 and November 2023. Key- Japan: green, USA: blue, South Korea: pink. (Source: Sensor Tower)

Upon its release, Nikke was widely praised for its engaging and thrilling story with dialogue and animated cutscenes between stages that help to develop the plot. To explain the high percentage of users who continued playing the game, commenters theorized that some players “came for the butts but stayed for the story.”

Overall, it seems that it is not only Goddess of Victory: Nikke’s character designs, but also its story and strategic gameplay that have kept players coming back for more.

Goddess of Victory: Nikke is available on Android, iOS and PC.

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