To celebrate its new “Puzzle and Dragons X” video game for kids, GungHo Online Entertainment Inc. will introduce a manga series adaptation and anime TV series ahead of the game’s July 28 release.
With a line of “Puzzle and Dragons X” toys also in the works, the company intends to develop a future customer base by winning the hearts of children in many ways, GungHo announced March 19.
“We’re giving a boost (to the game franchise) through collaborations in many ways,” GungHo President Kazuki Morishita said during an event held to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the release of the original “Puzzle & Dragons.”
Multimedia franchising is the same approach that GungHo used for “Yo-Kai Watch,” which became a huge hit in 2014.
“Puzzle & Dragons X” is video game software for the Nintendo 3DS handheld console, which is popular with children.
Traditionally, the player of the tile matching and monster collecting role-playing video game forms a team of monsters to have them attack enemy monsters. But the latest title is added with a new feature that allows a human character dressed in armor to join the battle.
It also comes with a function that enables the player to work with or play against online peers.
A manga adaptation of “Puzzle & Dragons X” will begin running in April in the monthly Corocoro Comic anthology, which will be followed by an animated TV series premiering July 4. There will also be collectible toys.
GungHo’s decision apparently stems from the struggling performance of the current version of “Puzzle & Dragons,” which accounts for 90 percent of its sales.
The company posted sales of 3.2 billion yen ($28.43 million) for the January-March period of 2012. The figure grew about 15-fold during the January-March period of 2014.
But sales have been on a decreasing trend since then, with the company posting a 30 percent decline of its peak for the October-December period of 2015.
With the game’s app having been downloaded more than 40 million times in Japan by January this year, it is difficult to expect an increase in the number of smartphone users.
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