After first reaching $4 million in monthly revenue overseas, Duck Survival entered Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, China, and Macao, China under the title Ga Ga Special Ops, completing a reverse-publishing route. 4399's combination of 'ducks + daytime fortification + nighttime mowing' has delivered a strong opening.

Over the past two years, using highly recognizable and inherently contrastive duck characters as the external packaging for a product has become one way for many developers to attract players and broad traffic.

In mid-October 2025, the top-down extraction shooter Escape from Duckov, developed by Team Soda and published by Bilibili, officially launched on PC platforms including Steam and WeGame. Unlike the realistic art style and PvP confrontations common in traditional extraction shooters, it lowers the barrier to entry through rounded duck characters and pure PvE gameplay while retaining core experiences such as searching for supplies, building loadouts, managing a base, and extracting. Less than one month after launch, sales surpassed 3 million copies; by January this year, sales had reached 3.8 million, making it the best-selling Chinese game of 2025. Bilibili later confirmed during an earnings call that console and mobile versions were in development. The game recently also became the first Chinese indie game to be nominated for a gamescom award for Game of the Year.

Another example is Goose Goose Duck, a social-deduction mobile game published in mainland China by Seasun Games. It officially entered open beta on January 7 this year, with first-month iOS revenue of approximately $2.22 million, equivalent to RMB 14.9 million. iOS monthly revenue then grew for three consecutive months, reaching a peak of $4.92 million in April, equivalent to RMB 34.42 million, before gradually declining. It currently generates approximately $1.394 million in monthly iOS revenue, equivalent to RMB 9.76 million.

Now, 4399 has joined the duck army.

On August 28, it launched a new game called Ga Ga Special Ops in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, China, and Macao, China. The title uses a hybrid framework combining a 'duck shell,' Thronefall-style day-and-night fortification, and three-choice roguelite mowing. It ranked among the Top 3 free iOS games in the region for 11 consecutive days after launch, remained in Taiwan, China's iOS game bestseller Top 6 for nearly 10 days, and generated approximately $2.08 million in revenue during its first eight days, equivalent to RMB 14 million.

So what kind of product is this? How has it performed in the market? Beyond Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, China, and Macao, China, has it launched in other regions, and how has it performed there? Diandian Overseas analyzes and breaks down these questions below.

01

Overseas First, Traditional-Chinese Release Next

Ga Ga Special Ops Earns Approximately $2.08 Million in Its First Eight Days

Diandian Data shows that Ga Ga Special Ops first opened iOS pre-registration on July 28, opened Google Play pre-registration on August 22, and officially launched on August 28.

The product had already undergone approximately one month of warm-up promotion and user acquisition before launch. Marketing focused on features such as '888 free draws at the start,' ducks fighting with guns, and screens filled with zombie hordes. This highlighted the benefits while explaining the mowing and base-defense experience as quickly as possible.

This approach quickly translated into solid market performance. On the download side, the title opened pre-downloads one day early and recorded 27,000 downloads that day. Downloads increased to 41,000 on the open-beta launch day and then fluctuated modestly, currently standing at approximately 45,000 per day.

On the revenue side, the title generated only $70,000 on its first day of open beta, equivalent to RMB 470,000, but surged to $254,000 the next day, equivalent to RMB 1.70 million. Revenue then stabilized around $290,000 and reached a period peak of $308,000 on September 2, equivalent to RMB 2.16 million. Current daily revenue is approximately $250,000, equivalent to RMB 1.75 million.

As of September 4, Ga Ga Special Ops had accumulated approximately 378,000 downloads in eight days of open beta, including approximately 333,000 in its first week. Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, China accounted for 87.82% and 11.86%, respectively. Total revenue was approximately $2.08 million, equivalent to RMB 14 million, including approximately $1.825 million in the first week, equivalent to RMB 12.24 million. Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, China accounted for 89.37% and 10.33%, respectively. Revenue per download (RPD) was approximately $5.49, equivalent to RMB 36.86, representing a highly impressive result.

It is worth noting, however, that before entering the Traditional-Chinese market, its international version, Duck Survival, had already undergone a relatively long testing period and completed a major user-acquisition push.

In April 2025, Duck Survival was launched on Google Play in a small number of countries and regions. At the time, it was listed under a developer account named 'Rhinos.' It continued to undergo iterative testing until mid-to-late April this year, when it was officially transferred to the primary account 'Joy Net Games' and launched on the App Store.

During this period, the testing scale remained small. From April 2025 to April this year, cumulative downloads were approximately 400,000 and revenue was approximately $280,000, equivalent to RMB 1.88 million, clearly indicating that the product was still validating its gameplay and monetization.

The real scale-up began at the end of May this year. Supported by the international version's open beta on May 28, monthly downloads rose to 846,000 and revenue reached $332,000, equivalent to RMB 2.32 million. In June, expanded user acquisition triggered a data breakout: monthly downloads reached 5.134 million and monthly revenue surged to $4.007 million, equivalent to RMB 26.97 million.

As new-user additions and acquisition volume declined, the international version's performance began to fall back. Downloads declined to 1.443 million in July, although revenue remained at $3.789 million, equivalent to RMB 26.52 million. Downloads fell further to 823,000 in August, while revenue was $2.501 million, equivalent to RMB 17.51 million.

To date, the international version has accumulated approximately 8.75 million downloads. Russia, the United States, and Brazil ranked among the top three markets by downloads, accounting for 17.87%, 13.41%, and 11.26%, respectively. Total revenue was approximately $11.20 million, equivalent to RMB 75.15 million, with the United States, Germany, and France ranking as the top three contributors at 35.18%, 12.09%, and 10.43%, respectively.

Overall, Duck Survival has completed the transition from small-scale Android testing to scaling in international markets. Ga Ga Special Ops further demonstrates that the product also has strong launch acquisition and payment capabilities when localized for Traditional-Chinese markets. However, the international version has already passed its revenue peak, while the Traditional-Chinese version has so far experienced only the initial open-beta window. Whether the product can maintain its current scale will require a longer observation period.

02

Daytime Fortification + Nighttime Mowing

A Two-Phase Combat Loop Beneath the Duck Exterior

Returning to the game itself, let us examine why Ga Ga Special Ops has been able to gain momentum rapidly across most global markets.

The story packaging is not complicated. An infection crisis has allowed zombies to overrun cities and wilderness areas. Players lead a squad of duck survivors to establish defensive lines in abandoned highways, camps, and infected zones while resisting zombie hordes and mutated bosses. The Traditional-Chinese version further adds localized expressions such as 'the quarantine line has fallen' and 'firepower disinfection.' The story mainly provides reasons for level progression and hero introductions rather than serving as the product's core driver.

The product's distinctiveness comes more from contrast. The characters are rounded, expressive cartoon ducks, but they carry heavy weapons such as machine guns and rocket launchers. The enemies are dense zombie hordes and larger mutated bosses. Chibi characters, bright colors, and post-apocalyptic ruins appear in the same frame, preserving the combat pressure of the zombie theme while avoiding the oppressive atmosphere common in realistic apocalyptic products.

The complete gameplay loop can be broadly summarized as follows: during the day, collect and allocate resources and build and upgrade turrets and defensive lines; at night, control the duck's movement and shooting to resist waves of zombies; during combat, build a skill combination through three-choice selections; after clearing a stage, return to the base to continue developing heroes, equipment, and technology before entering the next map.

A typical stage begins with a construction phase. Players use limited resources to build machine-gun turrets, artillery, defensive walls, and other facilities at fixed nodes, deciding whether to prioritize firepower, control, or defense. Buildings are not decorative elements independent of combat; they directly participate in the subsequent defense against zombie hordes. Walls delay enemies, turrets provide steady damage, and certain facilities deliver area damage or control effects.

Once construction is complete, the stage enters its combat phase. Enemies continuously approach from different directions, while red arrows on screen provide advance warnings of the main attack routes. Players use a virtual joystick to control the duck's movement, add damage around defensive lines, dodge attacks, and handle enemies that temporarily fall outside turret coverage.

As combat progresses, players can choose one of three random abilities to obtain effects such as bullet enhancements, spinning attacks, freezing, electrocution, and summoned units. After repeatedly choosing skills from the same category, those abilities continue to level up, gradually forming an in-stage build focused on damage, control, or summons.

Turrets and the player character are therefore not two separate combat systems. The construction phase determines the basic firepower and defensive structure of a run, while character movement and random skills fill the gaps left by the initial deployment. When large numbers of ordinary zombies, special enemies, and bosses appear simultaneously, players must monitor the areas where the base is under pressure while also controlling character positioning and attack targets.

Compared with a purely Thronefall-style experience, this approach keeps players actively engaged during the defensive phase. Compared with an ordinary mowing game, turrets, defensive lines, and attack directions provide clearer spatial objectives. The two gameplay systems serve different functions: construction creates strategic expectations, mowing delivers immediate feedback, and the zombie hordes connect the two.

Beyond individual stages, the product also establishes a relatively complete meta-progression system. The base contains functional buildings including an engineering department, power station, archive, wasteland logistics center, and survivor camp, which handle resource production, technology upgrades, missions, and character development. Players must also advance through the chapter map, spend action resources to challenge stages, and continue improving combat power through heroes, skills, and equipment.

Different duck heroes specialize in heavy firepower, engineering, defense, ranged attacks, or support. Equipment creates differentiation through quality, level, and attributes. In addition to basic PvE stages, the game includes dungeons, guild bosses, and PvP, allowing combat power developed through solo progression to carry over into other modes.

Monetization consequently extends from individual stages into the meta layer. Energy, heroes, equipment, diamonds, and progression resources together form the main payment space, while store bundles continually shorten development time. This structure can increase monetization depth, but it also means that players must manage multiple progression lines involving heroes, equipment, the base, and buildings in the later game.

Overall, the defining feature of Duck Survival / Ga Ga Special Ops is not simply placing Thronefall-style gameplay and mowing mechanics side by side. It splits 'preparation and fortification' and 'movement and random build construction' into two linked loops. Ducks and zombie hordes lower the barrier to understanding, in-stage gameplay creates the moment-to-moment thrill, and meta systems then support retention and monetization.

03 Summary

The product philosophy of Duck Survival / Ga Ga Special Ops is close to the approach that has emerged in the mini-game market in recent years: attract users with an easily recognizable theme and a core mechanic that can be understood within seconds, then extend the life cycle through more complete progression, event, and social systems.

4399 is no stranger to this model. In recent years, it has launched products in the mini-game market including Adventure of Warrior, Little Hero, Dominate the World, Dawn Returns, and Finger Martial Arts, covering idle, wuxia, MMO, and lightweight SLG directions. Although their themes and core gameplay differ, the overall product philosophy is consistent.

International expansion has always been an important extension of this business model. In general, 4399 first validates a product through domestic mini-game channels before taking content, numerical systems, and operating rhythms that have already proven viable overseas.

Duck Survival took the opposite route. It began testing on Google Play overseas, then expanded acquisition across global markets and added an iOS version. Only after validating the product in Europe, North America, and emerging markets did it enter Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, China, and Macao, China as a standalone Traditional-Chinese package under the title Ga Ga Special Ops. It has not yet officially launched in Japan or South Korea, although the South Korean version has opened for pre-registration, leaving room for further regional expansion in the next phase.

Judging from the results, the route of 'overseas testing first, followed by the Traditional-Chinese market' has worked for now. This means that 4399 is further converting its former capability of 'testing domestically through mini-games and then going overseas' into a model of 'testing and scaling directly overseas, then operating split regional packages.'