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‘Squid Game’ and ‘Naruto’ Lift Sea’s Shooting Game Up US Charts
Boys watch professional players play Free Fire in Rio de Janeiro.
Photographer: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty ImagesUS gamers are spending more on Sea Ltd.’s Free Fire than Call of Duty Mobile, with anime and Netflix tie-ins helping the title surge in sales this year and rank as the highest-earning smartphone shooting game.
Free Fire jumped seven spots to sixth place in mobile game sales in July, helping push overall US mobile spending up 7%, according to market tracker Circana. Sea’s collaboration with Japanese anime Naruto Shippuden is credited with helping drive user attention to a game that was first released in late 2017. Anime interest in the US remains at an all-time high, with a large fan base for the Naruto series telling a ninja coming-of-age tale.