Dokkan Battle: How Dragon Ball Became Bandai Namco's Phone Superpower

Every Dragon Ball fan knows the moment: hair turns gold, the ground shakes and a fighter powers up past their limit. In Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, that moment comes with a sound effect: dokkan, Japanese onomatopoeia for a big explosion. The same word now describes one of the most successful anime games ever made for phones.

Developed by Tokyo studio Akatsuki and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, Dokkan Battle launched in Japan on 30 January 2015 and worldwide on 16 July 2015. By August 2021 it had passed 350 million downloads and more than $3 billion in revenue. It turned ten in 2025 and is still one of the cornerstones of Bandai Namco's mobile business.

A very strange game, in a good way

Dokkan Battle mixes genres that should not fit together. Each stage is a board game: you pick one of three random numbers and move across spaces filled with items, traps and fights. Battles are puzzle fights in which you tap groups of coloured orbs to build Ki, the energy that fuels each character's Super Attack. Charge enough and a character enters Dokkan Mode for an even bigger hit.

Teambuilding adds a third layer. Characters have link skills that give bonuses when the right fighters stand next to each other, so placing Goku beside Vegeta or Gohan beside Piccolo matters. The game's huge roster draws on every era of the franchise, from the original Dragon Ball to Super.

The banners that move the fandom

Like most anime games, Dokkan earns its money through gacha. Its biggest banners are called Dokkan Festivals, which bring new headline characters, and during anniversary events some of them can be "awakened" to the rare LR (Legends Rising) rank. These events are highlights of the Dragon Ball fan calendar, and big releases tend to coincide with new films, anime episodes or the game's own anniversaries.

The game's revenue kept rising for years: more than $1 billion by July 2018, $2 billion by November 2019 and $3 billion by August 2021, according to analytics estimates. Downloads followed a similar curve, from 100 million in November 2016 to 300 million by August 2019.

Bandai Namco's mobile formula

Dokkan Battle is part of a pattern. Bandai Namco owns or licenses many of the biggest anime brands in Japan, and on phones it has repeatedly paired them with specialist studios:

• One Piece Treasure Cruise (2014), a rhythm-tapping RPG based on Eiichiro Oda's pirate saga.
• The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage (2015), a rhythm game developed by Cygames, one of Japan's best-loved idol games. Our Cygames profile has more on that studio.
• Dragon Ball Legends (2018), a real-time card-based fighting game that offers a faster alternative to Dokkan.
• Gakuen Idolmaster (2024), a newer idol-training hit made with CyberAgent group studio QualiArts.

The formula is simple to describe and hard to copy: a beloved brand, a game system unique enough to stand apart from rival anime games, and a long-term commitment to updates.

Why it matters

Dokkan Battle shows that the best anime games do not try to recreate the TV show; they find a new way to play with its characters. It also shows why Japanese publishers keep investing in mobile: a single well-run licensed game can earn billions over a decade.

For Western players, Dokkan is a gateway into the wider world of Japanese gacha design, with its anniversaries, banners and community spreadsheets. If that sounds like your kind of hobby, read our pity explainer before your first big Dokkan Festival.