In recent years, production budgets for mobile games in Japan have significantly increased, according to a study by the Japan Online Game Association (JOGA). In 2024, the average cost of creating such a title in the country reached 492 million yen ($3.3 million).
Pokémon Sleep
For comparison, ten years earlier, the figures were much lower. In 2014, the development of mobile games cost Japanese studios an average of 104.7 million yen ($707,000), which was 4.7 times cheaper.
The cost of advertising games has increased slightly less, rising exactly four times over the same period. As a result, JOGA reports that in 2024, the average annual marketing budget for mobile games in Japan amounted to 1.35 billion yen ($9.16 million).
No specific examples are provided in JOGA's study.