NCSOFT's Lineage 2M highest grossing app on Google Play Store in Q1
By Kim Han-joo
SEOUL, June 1 (Yonhap) -- Lineage 2M, a mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by South Korean online game maker NCSOFT Corp., was the highest grossing app on the Google Play Store during the first quarter of the year, industry data showed Monday.
The mobile version of the mega-hit game "Lineage 2" was the most popular app in the world on Android platforms during the January-March period, partly on the back of the novel coronavirus pandemic that has confined people to their homes, the data from analytics firm App Annie showed.
"Mobile games served not only as an entertainment tool but as a way of social connection as going outside was largely forbidden globally due to intensive social distancing following the COVID-19 outbreak," the firm said.
The new mobile version of the mega-hit game "Lineage II" landed on Google's Android and Apple's iOS devices last November, becoming the top-grossing game app in just nine hours.
Global mobile game usage shot up 20 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with a year earlier, App Annie said. Global app downloads also rose 15 percent on-year during the cited period.
Separate data from Nielsen showed that the average time spent gaming in the United States, France and the United Kingdom increased 45 percent, 38 percent and 29 percent, respectively, during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Lineage 2M, which integrates NCSOFT's technology and expertise built over the past 20 years, features full 3-D graphics and 4K UHD resolution.
The mobile game is a follow-up to the online MMORPG "Lineage II," which was launched in 2003. Other mobile entries in the series are NCSOFT's Lineage M and Netmarble Corp.'s Lineage 2 Revolution.
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
-
Number of peak concurrent viewers on BTS online event surpasses 2.7 mln: agency
-
BTS' 'Map of the Soul: 7' extends longest streak on Billboard 200 by K-pop group to 60 weeks
-
Vaccine supply glitch threatening to take inoculation scheme off track
-
Hyundai Motor, BTS collaborate for Earth Day campaign
-
(LEAD) SHINee's Taemin to join military next month
-
Number of peak concurrent viewers on BTS online event surpasses 2.7 mln: agency
-
(LEAD) SHINee's Taemin to join military next month
-
Women suffer greater employment shock than men amid pandemic: report
-
Piano is 'first love' of celebrated conductor Chung Myung-whun
-
(URGENT) Biden says he and Japanese leader are committed to facing challenges from China, N. Korea
-
City of Seoul seizes cryptocurrencies from tax delinquents
-
(LEAD) New COVID-19 infections nearing 800, rising untraceable cases portend further spike
-
S. Korea to invest 114 tln won by 2030 to expand railway network
-
U.S. fully ready to deter any aggression from N. Korea: U.S. commander
-
New COVID-19 infections nearing 800, rising untraceable cases portend further spike