As the year-end approaches, game developers are ramping up efforts in both domestic and global markets, and 4399—a well-known Chinese game developer and publisher—is no exception. Beyond accelerating the global launch of its Palworld-inspired SLG title Catch & Build: Land of Pals (analyzed by Diandian Global last week), 4399 has made new moves in the booming micro-horror game segment over the past year.

Earlier, Diandian Global introduced in the article "4399’s New Micro-Horror Game Grosses Nearly 30M RMB in 3 Weeks in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; Horror Mobile Games Expand from ‘Niche’ to ‘Diversified’" that its midnight idle tower defense RPG Hero Ghost Busters: Room Defense (hereafter referred to as Hero Ghost Busters) achieved impressive results in its first three weeks in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Recently, the game officially launched in South Korea—4399’s long-standing key market—and delivered equally outstanding performance.

01 Localization Adjustments + Low User Acquisition: 18.6M RMB Revenue for S. Korean Server in 44 Days

Lower Absolute Value Than Taiwan Server, but Steadier TrendHero Ghost Busters is a reskinned global version of Monster Gold Finger—a hit mini-game in China. The latter gained massive popularity in mid-2025 and still ranks 84th on WeChat’s Top-Grossing Mini-Games Chart.

Launched in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan on November 21, 2025, Hero Ghost Busters peaked at No. 2 on Taiwan’s iOS Free Games Chart and No. 5 on the iOS Top-Grossing Games Chart. Currently, it ranks 43rd on Taiwan’s iOS Top-Grossing Games Chart.

Trend of Hero Ghost Busters: Room Defense in Recent 90 Days

The game’s cumulative revenue in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan is estimated at around 48M RMB, with Taiwan accounting for a high 75.73%. The trend is not ideal: its first-month revenue reached 34M RMB, but dropped 66.2% month-on-month to 11.5M RMB in the second month. However, its daily revenue has stabilized between 200K RMB and 300K RMB in the past month—if this stability is maintained, its long-term performance will be decent.

Total Revenue of Hero Ghost Busters: Room Defense Across All Stores (October 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026)

After launching in Taiwan, the game accelerated its global expansion. It entered the South Korean market on December 19 under the local name 귀판오분전 (Guipan Obbunjeon), ranking No. 2 on South Korea’s iOS Free Games Chart on launch day (topping the chart on Day 13) and peaking at No. 22 on the iOS Top-Grossing Games Chart on Day 3. One and a half months after launch, it still ranks 70th on South Korea’s iOS Free Games Chart and 39th on the iOS Top-Grossing Games Chart.

Changes in iOS Chart Rankings for S. Korean Server Since Launch

Notably, despite being the same game, 4399 made targeted localization adjustments for different markets:

· Art & Storyline: The Taiwan server emphasizes "office workers" and "horror with humor"; the S. Korean server integrates local ghost elements and highlights the contrast between "horror and cuteness".

· Gameplay: The Taiwan server focuses on hero development and team strategy; the S. Korean server prioritizes creative survival-oriented light strategy.

· Marketing: The S. Korean server opened pre-registration over a month in advance, offered generous in-game rewards, and invited model Seo Seong-kyung as its brand ambassador to boost popularity.

There are also obvious differences in user acquisition between the two servers. Both started user acquisition one month before launch and saw a surge on launch day, but the Taiwan server’s scale was significantly larger: it released over 3,000 ad creatives on both iOS and Android in the 30 days before its open beta, while the S. Korean server had 377 creatives on iOS and 972 on Android.

Current results show that low user acquisition costs and differentiated marketing have brought considerable market data to the game:

· Downloads: As of now, the S. Korean server has accumulated 480,000 downloads in 44 days (443,000 in the first month), with Google Play accounting for 60.66%. The decline rate is gradual: the daily download peak was less than 20,000, and current daily downloads are around 4,000.

· Revenue: Total revenue is estimated at 18.6M RMB (Google Play accounts for ~68.13%; first-month revenue is ~13.8M RMB). Although the absolute value is not high, the S. Korean server has a steadier trend than the Taiwan server, with daily revenue fluctuating between 400K RMB and 600K RMB without significant drops.

Download Trend of S. Korean Server Since Launch (December 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026)

Revenue Trend of S. Korean Server Since Launch (December 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026)

In terms of RPD (Revenue Per Download), the S. Korean server reaches approximately 37.4 RMB so far, while the server in China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan performs better at around 76.58 RMB in the same period.

In summary, the Taiwan server of Hero Ghost Busters has a larger short-term user acquisition scale, leading to a strong initial market performance but a significant decline after three weeks. Fortunately, its current monthly revenue has barely stabilized at the 10M RMB level.

The S. Korean server adopts a "long-term and steady" approach in both user acquisition and promotion, avoiding a large-scale burst strategy. Although its revenue does not surge, it maintains a steadier trend than the Taiwan server and is expected to stabilize at the 10M RMB monthly revenue level for a long time.

02 Micro-Horror Becomes One of the Hottest Genres in 2025

Outstanding New Games in Multiplayer PvE, Tower Defense, Merge, Search-Fight-Retreat and Other SubgenresIn multiple articles published over the past year, Diandian Global has repeatedly mentioned that "horror"-themed games emerged as a major trend in 2025, and developers have expanded from the initial more niche "Chinese-style horror" to "micro-horror" (also known as pan-horror). This change helps solve the problem that horror games could only spread effectively in East Asia and Traditional Chinese markets, facilitating global distribution and operation.

Regarding mobile game genres adapted to pan-horror themes, the focus has shifted from previous MMOs and traditional card games to more subgenres. Among them, the most outstanding is Supernatural Task Force—a phenomenal product under Giant Interactive that focuses on "Chinese-style horror + search-fight-retreat survival cooperation".

Launched in mid-to-late January 2025 with almost no pre-launch promotion, the game continued to optimize post-launch. Its revenue began to rise in May, and reached an annual peak of 76.4M RMB in iOS monthly revenue in August, driven by summer traffic. Although there is a gap with Egg Party (which hit an annual monthly revenue peak of 95M RMB in July), it is already close. Currently, its iOS monthly revenue stabilizes above 50M RMB.

App Store Total Revenue Comparison: Supernatural Task Force, Egg Party, Dream Star (January 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026)

Recently, the game first announced Zhao Lusi (a famous Chinese actress) as its brand ambassador on January 9, and then revealed on February 1 that its Daily Active Users (DAU) exceeded 10 million—making Giant Interactive the only A-share listed game company with a product with over 10 million DAU.

With the arrival of the Lunar New Year, the game will face competition from other long-standing popular products, but it will inevitably see a new growth wave driven by the holiday. The success of Supernatural Task Force proves that the inherent tension and excitement of pan-horror themes have natural adaptability to large-DAU genres.

Second, tower defense games have also made many attempts in micro-horror. Examples include the midnight idle tower defense RPG Hero Ghost Busters mentioned in this article, and the new side-scrolling strategy tower defense game Abandoned Land. Launched on WeChat Mini Games in mid-November, Abandoned Land currently ranks in the Top 20 on WeChat’s Top-Grossing Mini-Games Chart. Its app version launched in late November, with first-month iOS revenue reaching 24.2M RMB and minimal change to 25M RMB in the second month.

In the merge subgenre, there is Haunted Merge by Blue Omen Interactive. It first tested user acquisition overseas in July 2025, gradually expanded its scale in November, achieved monthly revenue of over 1M RMB for the first time in December, and saw a significant surge to over 7.2M RMB in January 2026. It is expected to be fully promoted globally this year.

Notably, Witty Escape—the Chinese mini-game version of Haunted Merge—first entered WeChat’s Top-Grossing Mini-Games Chart in early September 2025 and currently ranks 25th, indicating its great potential in the Chinese market.

In addition, the combination of "micro-horror + search-fight-retreat" has recently attracted attention in the mini-game circle, mainly due to the high popularity of Virus Battle Royale—an IAA (In-Advertisement Monetization) product—on Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese counterpart). Set in a world with a virus outbreak, the game allows players to play as survivors who search for supplies in various zombie-infested scenarios to survive. Its core gameplay offers a complete search-fight-retreat experience, with the "fight" segment designed in a roguelike style.

Inspired by this creative framework, Dameng Longtu quickly seized the opportunity and launched Infinite Loop—a new IAP (In-App Purchase) product of the same type. However, its progression system follows the "zombie-like" model (equipment + rune build system). It is reported that Infinite Loop is still in the testing phase and has not been launched on mini-game platforms or the App Store, but its current data performance is promising and worthy of attention.

03 Conclusion

Overall, due to fierce market competition, when a genre begins to rise, major developers can quickly and successfully adapt their mature game frameworks to follow the trend. The rise of micro-horror in various subgenres is strong evidence of this. Among these, mini-game platforms are continuously valued by developers as flexible testing and user acquisition channels.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that besides developers like 4399 that follow the trend with dedicated products, many developers also incorporate micro-horror elements into their user acquisition materials. For example, Blue Planet: The King is Busy uses micro-horror-themed user acquisition materials for its global launch.

DianDian Data (https://app.diandian.com/?utm_lan=en) is a leading global provider of mobile app and gaming market intelligence, covering 276 countries and regions with real-time monitoring across the top 8 app distribution platforms. Leveraging our high-caliber data infrastructure, we deliver comprehensive, reliable decision-support tools to mobile developers, publishers, fintech enterprises, listed companies, and investment institutions—encompassing key metrics such as app downloads, revenue, user behavior, competitor performance, and SDK integration data. We also provide specialized growth services focused on App Store Optimization (ASO) and Apple Search Ads (ASA). Our solutions empower businesses to pinpoint growth opportunities and accelerate performance in the highly competitive global mobile market.