The “Werewolf Game” Boom

The mobile app shot the “Werewolf Game” to a worldwide phenomenon.

Game History

It is said that werewolf games originated as a "mafia game," a game in which players search for mafia members who have infiltrated the civilian population.

This simple game with the added role of "fortune teller" was released in 2001 by Loony Labs, an American card maker. The game was released in Japan under the Japanese title "Are You a Werewolf?" and was played by a small group of game enthusiasts in Japan.

In 2011, the release of the smartphone app "Werewolf game: Nightmare in Prison" (10 million downloads total) made it easy for anyone to play the game,which appealed to the entertainment and apparel industries, leading to its adaptation into a TV show, movie, and stage production.

Today, the game has become familiar to every child above elementary school age and, like playing cards, is even sold at 100 yen stores.

Many popular IPs such as "Evangelion," "Attack on Titan " "Detective Conan," "Bokura no Hero Academia," "Osomatsu-san," "DEATH NOTE," and many others have released werewolf game products in collaboration with anime works.

The new era of werewolf game

The boom of The Werewolf Game has created a new wargaming trend penetrating markets such as China, Korea, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the advent of smartphone apps.

In China, a video-chat werewolf application called "Roh Jin Satsu" became popular and was turned into a TV show.

In the U.S., the online game "Among Us" appeared, and the game was played live by popular Youtuber PewDiePie (111 million channel subscribers), leading to a huge hit.

There is no doubt that party games like werewolf game will continue to evolve and gain even more fans.