Frankly, Squad RPG has been in the shitter. 4x has incorporated SquadRPG faster than Squad RPG has incorporated 4x, making it unclear where the genre goes from here. Umamusume: Pretty Derby might hold some answers.
While it’s still a character collector, Pretty Derby hones the process of creating rare and unique characters. The core gameplay isn’t endless auto-complete battles and energy recharges; it’s a series of strategic choices in training one character over ~30min, ultimately determining its final stats. That trained character can also influence its offspring, not dissimilar from actual Horse Breeding. (All of the 2025 Kentucky Derby horses were descendants of Secretariat, a dominant racehorse.)
Dragon Ball Z has been the most surprising one, which is also something we cover in the podcast. But who would have guessed that this has generated the most lifetime revenue in the United States? It aligns with Pretty Derby’s accent, Nikkie, and Honkai: Western audiences will accept Eastern RPGs (Summoner’s War is practically a U.S. at this point!). More than just general appeal, the game deserves further mechanical study, particularly around its endgame (I’m currently playing it!).
The continued dominance of Raid and Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes has somehow gone under-examined, which is something Adam Smart and I take a look at in a forthcoming podcast.
Mystic Mayhem and DC Worlds Collide may look like muted launches or dead on arrival, but I think it’s fair to say publishers are increasingly using slower and slower buildups on a global scale rather than region-locking players behind. Watcher of Realms is a Moonton relaunch, so I don’t expect a ton of growth after the initial wave.
Finally, there’s the curious case of Dark Legion, which appears to be holding on. Next month will be extremely important for it. It represents a new hybrid breed of Squad RPG with stronger, more explicit, and direct 4X elements than we might find in, say, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, which uses 4X elements but not quite as literally.