2023 Non-Chinese Gacha Revenue Rankings: FGO Dominates at 4.18B RMB, Uma Musume & Blue Archive Chase — Has the Gacha Bubble Finally Burst?

FGO raked in a staggering 4.18 billion RMB in a single year, still sitting comfortably atop the non-Chinese gacha throne — but the 2023 gacha market was far from a feel-good story for most titles.

In January 2024, an NGA user compiled all 12 months of revenue data from a well-known gacha revenue tracking creator known as "Er Guan" (Second Observatory). Since Er Guan's year-end summary only covers Chinese-made games and never aggregates non-Chinese titles — despite publishing monthly figures — this dedicated fan decided to do the math themselves, producing a complete TOP 21 ranking. The data covers iOS and Android channels only, denominated in RMB, so the rankings are for reference.

The top five were: FGO at 4.18 billion RMB in first place, Uma Musume at 3.52B in second, NIKKE at 2.95B third, Blue Archive at 1.62B fourth, and "Red Braised Heaven" — the community nickname for Heaven Burns Red, a Key-developed title — at 1.08B fifth. Spots 6–10 went to MementoMori (761M), Epic Seven (594M, June–December only), Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel (427M), Duel Links (397M), and Princess Connect (345M).

Ranks 11–21 featured veterans like Bang Dream (272M), Seven Deadly Sins (238M, October–December only), Another Eden (226M), Shadowverse (219M), Guardian Tales (171M), and World Flipper (133M), alongside niche IP adaptations such as Magia Record (73M) and Touhou LostWord (67M). At the bottom, Love Live — which shut down in June 2023 — still pulled in 30.27 million, while Takt op. Symphony managed only 15.65 million in its final three months. The OP also noted that titles like Project Sekai (PJSK) and Puzzle & Dragons weren't tracked by Er Guan and thus excluded.

The post immediately set the comments section on fire. One player marvelled, "FGO is still ridiculous," while being surprised that Bang Dream ranked so high — speculating the MyGO anime revival might have given it a boost. Another commenter delivered the cold verdict that dominated the thread: "Almost every gacha game bled revenue in 2023. Blue Archive was the only one that grew. The gacha bubble has burst."

NIKKE's data accuracy sparked heated debate. Players pointed out the ranking "doesn't include Korean server revenue for NIKKE," though others countered that Korean earnings were likely folded into the global server figures. Someone else noted that "NIKKE only counted iOS and Android — no PC client," and went on to explain why PC revenue is a black box: setting the PC multiplier too high conflicts with Famitsu's reported 60% Japanese revenue share from mobile, while setting it too low ignores NIKKE's PC-exclusive features used by mid-to-high-level players. Another player noted the omission of Jujutsu Kaisen Phantom Parade from the list, estimating it likely earned 200–300 million in its debut month.

FGO's revenue composition also drew scrutiny. One player noted that the tiny blue sliver representing the Chinese server meant "the vast majority of that 4.18 billion came from Japanese whales," with the CN version contributing almost nothing. Uma Musume's runner-up finish surprised many, prompting someone to ask: "Granblue Fantasy isn't even on the list? Did the devs finally run it into the ground?"

When someone claimed "only the Korean duo grew," another corrected them: "NIKKE is being compared across a full year versus just its final two launch months last year — of course the growth looks insane, even though NIKKE's strongest months were actually its launch window." As for "Red Braised Heaven," one curious player was told the proper translation is "Heaven Burns Red" — a yuri-themed game from Key (of Clannad/Angel Beats fame). Love Live still pulling in over 30 million despite its impending shutdown prompted a blunt reaction: "It's about to shut down and people are still whaling? Seriously?"

Overall, while this community-compiled data has limitations — inconsistent methodology, missing titles, no PC revenue for certain games — it paints a grim picture of the 2023 non-Chinese gacha landscape. Outside of Blue Archive and NIKKE bucking the trend, virtually every title saw revenue decline. FGO's 4.18 billion looks impressive on paper, but it's overwhelmingly propped up by Japanese spending with the Chinese server barely registering. Whether the gacha bubble has truly popped remains debatable, but the signals of a harsh winter are impossible to ignore.