Fate / Grand Order blows past 5M downloads and dominates Twitter discussion

Even though it might not seem like it, gamers on Twitter talked about things besides Fortnite.

Aniplex recently announced that the English version of Fate / Grand Order, its mobile game for iOS and Android, has now surpassed 5 million downloads. To celebrate, the publisher is kicking off an event that runs from January 30, 2019 through February 13, featuring a variety of in-game rewards for those players who choose to participate.

"Rewards include daily log-in bonuses, increased success rates for Servant and Craft Essence enhancements, and the return of the acquisition quest of the Royal Brand Mystic Code," notes a press release that for the most part went right over my head because I haven't yet had time to personally devote to the game. "The celebratory campaign also marks the return of the limited time *5 (SSR) Caster-class Servant, Leonardo da Vinci, as character players can enjoy an increased chance to summon the limited-time Servant to their teams."

Apparently, that's rather a big deal. Servant hasn't been available previously except during the first year anniversary event held almost a year ago, in July of 2018. Who knows when she might appear again?

Though I'm not yet as familiar with Fate / Grand Order as some people are, I already knew in general terms that the game enjoys significant popularity around the world. Two short weeks ago, I reported on the Fate / Grand Order USA Tour 2019, which gives fans of the mobile game the opportunity to meet associated talent, buy special merchandise, and in general just have a great time celebrating one of the biggest sensations in mobile gaming.

That tour is happening because the game continues to perform well on the world stage and even out performs some huge properties "traditional" gamers might readily recognize. SensorTower notes that in the mobile sector, Fate / Grand Order ranks third in overall revenue (behind only Honor of Kings and Monster Strike, which unfortunately ceased operations in North America after failing to find a healthy audience in that region). It ranks second in terms of Google Play revenue, and fifth for App Store revenue, which is very impressive indeed and likely has some non-fiction investor swimming through his money bin like Scrooge McDuck.

When it comes to games people are talking about on social media, I was surprised to find that Fate / Grand Order was the "most-tweeted about" game of 2018, ranking ahead of even that seemingly indomitable beast, Fortnite. Even the wildly popular Super Smash Bros. franchise only showed up on that list at number 8 (if you find this stuff as interesting as I do, make sure to check out a detailed blog post on the topic, from Twitter's Rishi Chadha).

From the look of things, Fate / Grand Order can look forward to continued and possibly even increased success in the months ahead. Maybe eventually even people like me will know all about it. Have you downloaded the game to your phone yet? I did some time ago, myself. Maybe these next two weeks would be a good time to get around to actually playing it...

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Staff article by Jason Venter (January 29, 2019) Jason Venter has been playing games for 30 years, since discovering the Apple IIe version of Mario Bros. in his elementary school days. Now he writes about them, here at HonestGamers and also at other sites that agree to pay him for his words.