"Unconventional characters" and "respect for creative freedom" drive Reverse: 1999’s $100m success

• Reverse: 1999 enters its second year with $100 million gross on mobile and a Warner Bros. Discovery collaboration in progress

Note: Reverse: 1999's development team asked to remain anonymous, as is sometimes requested from some studios in China/Asia.

It’s been just over a year since the global launch of Bluepoch’s debut time travel RPG Reverse: 1999, a gacha game that’s found a comfortable niche with its clear 20th-century identity.

Pulling from real-world events and inspirations around the globe and across that period, this is a title that’s developed its texture and worldbuilding from the US Wall Street crash, the Beatles, Louis Armstrong, the Stasi and more - inspiring a diverse breadth of characters coming together through time.

Those characters, combined with a clearly defined concept, gradually unravelling narrative and RPG gameplay, have all helped Reverse: 1999 make $100 million gross between the App Store and Google Play, according to AppMagic estimates.

With that milestone in mind, and as this time travel title enters its second year, there’s no better time than now to speak with the Reverse: 1999 dev team - including developers, writers, artists, producers and the global marketing team - to discuss design philosophy, the first anniversary, and to get a glimpse of what's in store for the game going forward.

"Bluepoch is a company driven by creativity. If there is a secret behind Reverse: 1999's success, it's probably a respect for creative freedom.

"Creative freedom allows our team to generate fresh, standout ideas that break away from the competition, while our dedication to consistency ensures these ideas permeate every aspect of the game."

Time to design

On mobile, many anime-style gachas have proven incredibly lucrative, making the genre increasingly competitive, with some games leveraging established IPs as a way to sell their characters.

Starting without an established IP - in fact Reverse: 1999’s characters are entirely original - Bluepoch set out from inception to create something "different and exciting, giving our team the freedom to explore their wildest ideas".

Unconventional characters and eclectic arcanists ensued, finding commercial success without the levels of sexualisation often seen in the genre.

Instead, Reverse: 1999’s characters are designed with their artwork, personality, story and incantation cards all of equal importance - an attitude the team deems "vital" to creating complete and developed characters.

These elements must also be "intricately linked" by a "common core concept". Multiple departments within Bluepoch collaborate closely on the character creation process to combine narrative and artistic visions. The end result is a range of unique individuals, from UK rock ‘n’ roll fanatic Regulus to SSR pilot Lilya and even a floating, talking, bowtie-wearing apple named APPLe.

"Our narrative team selects their story characters from many historical and cultural resources to develop a variety of unique concepts. After that, through collaboration with our artistic lead, we create multiple drafts based on these initial conceptions.

"After this, through communication and further collaboration between teams, we are able to refine these designs to be ready for release.

"It's incredibly rewarding to see these unconventional characters resonate with players, and we're thrilled that they've been so well received."

As for the story itself, Reverse: 1999 is part sci-fi, part historical, blending even more real-world history and culture. "What was popular in the old days" forms one of the team’s philosophies when deciding on the direction of the game, whether that’s characters’ clothing or the design of in-game events.

"Part of the philosophy that inspired us to create this world was a desire to look back at the amazing cultures and sub-cultures of the past and give them a fresh and modern look.

"Many of these, from jazz to pirate radio and even retro sci-fi, are still living and breathing cultural phenomena that inspire us and others. We wanted to provide a platform to share these phenomenal and inspiring moments of history with other people."

Into reverse

Looking back on Reverse: 1999’s first year technically means going back to May 31st, 2023, with its release in China. It took five more months for the game to reach global launch on October 26th, finally introducing international players to this combination of strategy RPG and merge-based card game.

The game’s combat is built around acquiring new characters and building teams of four, unlocking different card distributions in battle that can be merged with duplicates for more powerful attacks.

There’s also an idle mode for resource collection, while limited-time events have introduced minigames in other genres like the tile-based The Puppy & The Hippie.

Reverse: 1999’s two versions have remained separate, with China getting content updates first, gaining access some months ahead of the rest of the world. This meant that the version 1.9 update - which included swathes of anniversary content - took place in May 2024 in China and September 2024 overseas.

The update also included an elusive 6-star character into the gacha, Lucy, encouraging players to spend with her ability to boost critical hit rates.

According to AppMagic, Reverse: 1999 was approaching $75 million in gross revenue by its first anniversary in China. By the time of the global anniversary, lifetime revenue was verging on $100 million and has since tipped over the milestone - when combining player spending in domestic and overseas versions.

Anniversary celebrations also had a real-world side to them as Bluepoch partnered with KOI in Singapore to sell exclusive merchandise at two themed stores over the course of a fortnight.

In the US, fans had access to a limited-time exhibition called To the Past Times in Los Angeles, which featured highlights from the first year, art installations, musical performances and interactive displays.

"We look forward to connecting with even more fans in different regions down the line.

"During the anniversary, we saw a tremendous outpouring of support from both new and long-time players, whether through our special live shows or various in-game and offline events."

Collaborations commence

Reverse: 1999 wrapped up its first year on the global stage with a new way to play - a PC release giving fans more control over when and where they engage with the game. Fans can pick up and play on mobile or on PC provided they link their account, which the team hopes provides a "totally flexible gaming experience".

And after going cross-platform at the end of year one, Reverse: 1999 has turned cross-promotional to kickstart year two. The game’s first worldwide collaboration began on November 14th in partnership with mass media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery.

The Reverse: 1999 team believes this partnership a "natural fit", as Discovery’s documentary expertise and focus on global cultures and landscapes meshes well with Reverse: 1999’s "emphasis on historical and cultural depth".

"For this collaboration, we aimed to create a unique set of ‘immersive role-playing characters’ who would reenact historical and cultural moments through a documentary-style presentation.

"Take Tooth Fairy, for example: her design is inspired by Celtic mythology and the folklore of Stonehenge. She performs a ritual dance in a fairy ring at dawn, her fairy companions vanishing as the morning light breaks."

Tooth Fairy’s design demonstrates Reverse: 1999’s deep approach to character creation in full force, in this case taking heavy inspiration from Britain. She has Celtic-inspired hair, a Celtic knotwork necklace, a crown of British fauna like hawthorn, pinecones, cedar and figs, and clothing based on vintage British fashion aesthetics.

"We aimed to reflect a unique interpretation of Tooth Fairy's integration into local traditions."

Getian, another character featured in the Discovery collab, takes inspiration from Egyptian culture and mythology, such as the deity Horus.

"For Getian, we explored aesthetic connections between ancient civilisations. Ultimately, cross-cultural synergy was our priority for this collaboration - the design elements naturally evolved from there."

The team hints that a "second phase" to this collaboration is in the works with more characters and themes to come.

"When planning our projects, we focus on more than just market trends - we focus on expressing our unique vision.

"We're preparing even more exciting content and will keep working hard to deliver the best experience possible."