On June 12, 2026, Pop Mart International Group Limited's (ASX: PMRTY) sole self-developed mobile game, 'Dream Home', announced its impending shutdown. Citing "operational planning adjustments," the game will officially terminate service on August 12, 2026. As of June 12, all platform top-up and new user registration functions have been disabled, with download portals to follow. As compensation, the company will issue coupons for its blind box mini-program and open access to all limited-edition character and furniture gacha pools for players to collect.
This marks a significant setback in the multi-year, cross-industry gaming venture for this trendy toy giant, which boasts a market capitalization exceeding HK$200 billion.
A "B-Grade Product" After Seven Years of Development
The development cycle for 'Dream Home' was far longer than anticipated. Early testing began as far back as 2018 with a 2D version, though the core gameplay framework was already established. The game received its publication license in 2019, underwent iOS testing in 2023, and finally launched publicly on June 27, 2024. From initial exposure to official release, the entire project spanned seven years.
Positioned as a casual social mobile game blending simulation management with party gameplay, it featured Pop Mart's highly popular IP characters like MOLLY, DIMOO, SKULLPANDA, and LABUBU. Players entered a dream world to rebuild an aerial home called "Cloud Whale Island" alongside these characters. Stylistically, many players drew comparisons to Nintendo's 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons'.
Upon launch, 'Dream Home' briefly topped the iOS free charts and entered the top 50 on the revenue charts. However, this momentum was short-lived. The game fell out of the top 200 on the iOS revenue charts within a month and disappeared from the charts entirely after December 2024. Throughout 2025, the game remained largely overlooked.
Two Years of Losses Totaling 1.2 Billion Yuan
Financial data reveals the true cost of this cross-industry endeavor. According to Pop Mart's 2025 annual report, Beijing Paqu Interactive Technology Co., Ltd., the subsidiary responsible for developing and operating 'Dream Home', reported revenue of 21.5 million yuan in 2024 with a net loss of 47.7 million yuan. In 2025, revenue plummeted to 2.7 million yuan, and the net loss widened to 70.5 million yuan. The cumulative loss over two years approached 120 million yuan.
By the end of 2025, Paqu Interactive's total assets stood at a mere 36.6 million yuan, while total liabilities ballooned to 156 million yuan, resulting in negative equity of -119 million yuan, indicating insolvency.
Founded in 2016, Paqu Interactive initially operated the trendy toy community platform "Paqu App." After that app ceased operations in 2022, 'Dream Home' became its core business project, meaning most of the subsidiary's recent losses are directly attributable to the game.
Reasons Behind the Failure of a Game Backed by Strong IP
Despite leveraging China's most powerful trendy toy IP portfolio and millions of loyal fans, the failure of 'Dream Home' highlights several typical pitfalls of cross-industry game development, rather than a lack of IP strength.
First, there was a disconnect between product positioning and design. The game chose a simulation-management and party-gameplay model, which typically aligns with a high-DAU, low-ARPU casual social strategy aimed at strengthening fan community bonds. However, 'Dream Home's' actual design mimicked the gacha monetization models and high customer spending logic of hardcore mobile RPGs. This inconsistency led casual players to find the game too grindy and expensive, while core gamers found its content lacking depth.
Second, the development team suffered from a severe lack of experience. Developer Paqu Interactive was a company that transitioned from a toy community platform, with no prior experience in game development or operation. The seven-year development cycle itself reflects the team's inexperience and efficiency issues. Player feedback consistently cited problems like excessive grinding, low drop rates, poor playability,粗糙 graphics, and inadequate performance optimization.
Third, market competition was exceptionally fierce. Pop Mart's management admitted during the 2025 shareholders' meeting that the team initially considered 'Dream Home' an "80-point product," but the market is filled with "100-point, 120-point" products, and users naturally gravitate towards better experiences. Since the 2020 success of 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons', giants like Tencent, NetEase, and X.D. Network have entered the simulation management genre, making it extremely difficult for new entrants to break through. Pop Mart CEO Wang Ning recently stated in an interview that the company's film and game ventures have not been successful, noting, "Both are highly competitive industries. As a newcomer, Pop Mart had to pay its dues."
371 Billion in Revenue Versus 1.2 Billion in Losses: A Minor Setback
Despite the gaming division's failure, Pop Mart's overall performance in 2025 remained robust. The annual report shows full-year revenue reached 37.12 billion yuan, a 184.7% year-on-year increase. Adjusted net profit was 13.084 billion yuan, surging 284.5%, with the net profit margin hitting a record high of 35.1%. The THE MONSTERS IP, which includes LABUBU, alone contributed 14.1 billion yuan in revenue, a 365% increase.
The 120 million yuan gaming loss is indeed a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly 37.1 billion yuan in total revenue and over 13 billion yuan in net profit. However, the significance of this failure lies not in the financial figures themselves, but in the deeper lesson it imparts: possessing strong IP does not guarantee success in the gaming industry.
Pop Mart's IP power is a dominant force in the trendy toy sector—blind boxes, figurines, and plush toys are fundamentally design-driven and brand-driven. However, gaming is a highly mature content industry that competes on R&D capability, operational systems, content iteration speed, and long-term service quality. IP can reduce user acquisition costs but cannot substitute for the intrinsic quality of the product.
The Path Forward After Paying the Price
Regarding whether to continue or temporarily abandon the gaming business, CEO Wang Ning suggested in the interview that games and films are like an "air force" with broader reach, expressing hope for Pop Mart to develop capabilities across "land, sea, and air." However, current practical moves indicate the company has begun scaling back its gaming investments, with related teams undergoing optimization and adjustments.
Meanwhile, Pop Mart's cross-industry IP expansion continues. Since 2025, the company has launched the standalone jewelry brand POPOP, the dessert brand POP BAKERY, ventured into IP-based small appliances, and expanded into diverse scenarios like jewelry, baking, and home goods. It is also collaborating with Sony Pictures on a live-action animated film for LABUBU. Unlike the gaming venture, these expansions rely more on IP licensing and brand extension rather than in-house development of entirely new product categories from scratch.
The shutdown of 'Dream Home' represents a classic trial-and-error case for Pop Mart's expansion from trendy toys into the content industry. The 120 million yuan "tuition fee" may offer a more compelling lesson than any strategic report: IP is a valuable asset, but it is not a master key. When a company decides to cross from one mature industry into another, success ultimately hinges on respecting the fundamental logic of the new field, not on overconfidence in existing advantages.
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