Having once surpassed Kweichow Moutai in share price and maintaining long-term high profitability,(gross margin consistently above 80%), along with a high dividend payout ratio(consistently above 50%), Qijoy has long been dubbed the “Moutai of Gaming Stocks” on the A-share market. However, from 2023 to 2024, as its classic evergreen title Westward Journey series entered maturity and new games had yet to take over, the company was caught in a “gap period” between cycles, with both revenue and net profit declining.

However, Qijoy’s recovery was swift. In 2025, the situation changed dramatically. According to financial reports, the company posted revenue of RMB 6.205 billion in 2025, up 67.9% YoY, with net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 1.794 billion, up 89.8% YoY. This momentum continued into Q1 of this year, with revenue of RMB 1.847 billion, up 62.67% YoY, and net profit of RMB 518 million, up 82.68% YoY.

Qijoy’s rapid turnaround was driven primarily by a string of new titles launched in 2025, including Sword & Sage, Sword x Staff, Dig Treasure Friends, and Nine Pastures. The biggest contributor among them is Sword x Staff—a mobile RPG set in a Japanese-style fantasy isekai world with a gameplay framework combining “idle + exploration + progression + social” elements.

Notably, heading into 2026, Sword x Staff continues to demonstrate remarkable “vitality.”

01

International Server Live for 11 Days, Earns $5.2M

Daily Revenue Holds Above $600K for 6 Consecutive Days

On May 19, Sword x Staff—the international version of the hit mobile RPG—officially launched in over 150 countries and regions worldwide.

On launch day, it only charted in the iOS Free Games TOP 50 across 6 regional markets, but by the next day it had climbed into the TOP 50 in 41 markets. The game currently sits at #66 in France, #67 in Canada, and #77 in the US on the iOS Free Games chart, and ranks in the iOS Top Grossing Games TOP 50 across 8 regional markets(Canada #31, US #38, France #43, Germany #50).

Global iOS Free Games chart rankings on Day 2 of launch

Global iOS Top Grossing Games rankings as of June 1

In terms of specific market performance, downloads reached 97,000 on Day 1, rising to 247,000 on Day 2, and maintained around 200,000 for the following four days before gradually declining from Day 7. Current daily downloads stand at approximately 120,000.

Sword x Staff Download Trend Since Official Launch

On the revenue side, Day 1 earnings just hit RMB 150,000($23,000), but revenue quickly ramped up, with current daily earnings exceeding RMB 4.3 million(approximately $650,000).

Sword x Staff Revenue Trend Since Official Launch

As of now, Sword x Staff has been live for 11 days, accumulating approximately 1.971 million downloads(approximately 1.42 million in the first week), with the US, Brazil, and France leading with 29.55%, 9.6%, and 5.31% share respectively. By platform, Google Play accounts for 78.64%, showing a clear advantage;

Total estimated revenue stands at RMB 35 million($5.2M, with first-week estimate at RMB 18M, approximately $2.66M), with the US, Canada, and Germany leading at 72.93%, 5.6%, and 5.01% respectively. By platform contribution, the two platforms are nearly split 50/50.

This revenue figure is broadly comparable to the CN server iOS launch in the same period, which generated approximately RMB 39.4 million($5.81M), but falls short of the Asia-Pacific server’s RMB 62 million($9.13M) during the same launch period—primarily because the Asia-Pacific server covers two Tier-1 markets: Taiwan, China and Japan;

In terms of RPD(revenue per download), it stands at approximately RMB 17.75($2.62), which is quite impressive.

02

CN Server, HK/Macao/Taiwan, China Server, and Japan Server All Showing Strong Performance

With Gameplay Validated, International Server Focuses on Community Building and UA

Based on current data, the game is performing exceptionally well with a consistently positive trend, closely tied to its proven gameplay experience as well as its marketing and user acquisition efforts.

According to public records, the international version of Sword x Staff began building exposure on overseas social platforms as early as October 2025. By the end of that month, the game launched creatives on Android and simultaneously kicked off CBT testing in Europe and North America(this testing phase concluded at the end of December 2025). The game then transitioned into steady community operations until mid-March 2026, when pre-registration opened. iOS creatives launched at the end of the same month, followed by a broader push including livestreams, official content drops, and player co-creation events. The official launch date was announced at the end of April.

Looking back at the optimization and marketing efforts before Sword x Staff’s official launch, since the CN server and Asia-Pacific server had already been live for a long time with solid results, the international server’s pre-launch testing was relatively infrequent and overall marketing activity was restrained. However, community building received considerable attention, with Discord followers recently surpassing 50,000.

On the UA side, spend ramped up in line with the launch timeline. In the past 30 days, the deduplicated creative count reached 6,281 on iOS and 7,713 on Android—a very impressive scale—though it has started to taper off.

Images sourced from Guangdada

Beyond the international server, let’s also look at other regional servers to get a comprehensive picture of Sword x Staff’s current product status.

Sword x Staff first launched in Mainland China in May 2025, with iOS first-month revenue of approximately RMB 87.4 million($12.91M), with current CN server monthly iOS revenue at approximately RMB 23 million($3.35M), and cumulative total revenue reaching RMB 500 million($73.71M);

CN Server Monthly iOS Revenue Trend Since Launch

On July 15 of the same year, the game launched in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, China, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia. At that time, first-month revenue for the HK/Macao/Taiwan, China server and Japan server was RMB 146 million($21.51M) and RMB 48.55 million($7.2M), with current monthly revenue at RMB 23.22 million($3.43M) and RMB 15.6 million($2.3M), with cumulative revenue of RMB 630 million($92.53M) and RMB 272 million($40.14M).

HK/Macao/Taiwan, China Server Monthly iOS Revenue Trend Since Launch

Japan Server Monthly iOS Revenue Trend Since Launch

Across all regional markets, Sword x Staff accumulated approximately RMB 56.14 million in revenue over the past 11 days($8.3M).

03 Summary

Overall, although Sword x Staff’s CN server, HK/Macao/Taiwan China server, and Japan server have entered a stable monetization phase, the numbers remain very strong. In the short term, the international server is also showing the same pattern of initial ramp-up followed by settling into a solid, sustained revenue baseline.

Furthermore, while the game has now launched in the vast majority of international markets, it has yet to enter South Korea—a market with an exceptionally large idle RPG audience. A Q3 South Korea launch is anticipated, which should drive another significant wave of incremental growth. As a result, Sword x Staff will undoubtedly remain Qijoy’s top-tier revenue product in 2026, second only to the Westward Journey series.

Beyond Sword x Staff, Qijoy has several noteworthy product moves lined up for H2 2026—including Sword & Sage launching in Western markets, Nine Pastures potentially coming to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, China, and the action roguelike Lost Castle 2 launching on the CN server. TapTap Global will continue to follow these developments closely.