According to the latest breakdown from Sensor Tower, we’ve got the full picture on how Hotta Studio’s supernatural urban open-world RPG, YIHUAN, performed during its very first month on the shelves. The numbers are pretty staggering. If you’re looking at mobile revenue, Japan took the crown, dominating the spot. In fact, it held down the top slot on the Japanese iPad App Store for a solid 20 days running. Players clearly fell in love with it, and our take here at NUPIAO is that its overall international rollout has been nothing short of a smash hit.
So, what’s actually drawing players in? YIHUAN drops you into the fictional sprawl of City of Hyetro, building out this fresh, gritty universe where the supernatural bleeds into everyday life. You step into the shoes of an unlicensed “Anomaly Hunter,” taking over a struggling antique shop called Iboen. From there, you’ll tackle all sorts of street-level mysteries, team up with a wildly diverse cast of companions, and uncover the hidden secrets of the city. It’s less about grinding through generic quests and more about getting swept up in a deeply immersive story that balances genuine heart-pounding action with moments of quiet warmth. That unique angle is exactly why it managed to carve out its own lane in the crowded open-world space.
Let’s talk cold, hard numbers. We tracked everything between April 29 and May 28, 2026—that’s your full launch window. On the download side, the U.S. grabbed the lead with 14%, followed closely by China at 13%, and Japan rounding out the top three with 10%. But here’s the twist: cash flow tells a totally different story. Japan isn’t just participating; it’s the financial heavyweight. Mobile revenue from Japan alone pushed past the 30% mark, sitting nearly 10 percentage points ahead of second-place China. When it comes to serious spending, the Japanese market is undeniably the game’s main cash cow.
And if you think it’s just a mobile juggernaut, you’d be missing half the story. Console performance has been equally buzzing. Checking in with Video Game Insights, the PlayStation version saw its first-month downloads jump to number two across all paid titles, slipping right behind EA SPORTS FC 26. At the same time, it claimed the absolute top spot on the free-to-play charts. Cross-platform hype? Absolutely off the charts.
Looking at the bigger yearly picture (June 2025 to May 2026), YIHUAN’s global download surge landed it at #2 among open-world mobile games, while revenue growth sat comfortably at #3. The weird thing? Every other title in those top spots is built on decades-old, heavily recognized franchises. YIHUAN came out of nowhere as a completely fresh IP. Honestly, cracking those ranks speaks volumes about its core polish and market appeal. Even Sensor Tower gave it a nod, pointing out that pulling off such a strong debut in Japan without any legacy IP baggage is seriously impressive work.
Down in Japan specifically, the app store dominance hasn’t let up. Throughout its opening month, YIHUAN kept itself locked inside the global top 10 across the iPhone, iPad, and Android leaderboards. That 20-day reign at number one on the iPad? Pure dominance. It’s rare to see a single title hold that kind of structural grip on multiple devices simultaneously.
None of this would’ve happened without a killer marketing machine working overtime behind the scenes. Our tracking shows the promotional campaign racked up over 1.5 billion ad impressions in just four weeks, putting the publisher right at the top of the industry leaderboard. A massive chunk of that exposure—over 80%—came straight from YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, proving that short-form video and social discovery are still the absolute best ways to funnel players straight into the game.
You can see that Japanese appetite reflected in the backend traffic stats too. During our reporting period, a full 20% of all visits to Perfect World’s official website originated from Japan. Even more telling? When you break it down by device, PC visitors from Japan accounted for a whopping 80% of the desktop traffic. That’s not just casual browsing; that’s a dedicated player base actively researching and investing in a brand-new urban open-world experience. Clearly, they know quality when they see it.
