TOKYO : When an ageing racehorse, Makahiki, broke records by winning his first race in five years in Kyoto in early October, Japanese social media was flooded with comments from an unlikely group of racing enthusiasts: gamers.
The results have been unequivocally spectacular: since it was released in February, the game has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for its creator, Cygames, and the developer's parent, online ad agency CyberAgent, making it one of the world's top-grossing mobile games despite its Japan-only release. At times its user base has rivalled megahits such as Tencent's"Honor of Kings".
"Gacha," a common mechanic in Japanese titles in which real-world money is used to win special items and power-up characters, is what has made the game so lucrative.