Look, let's be honest about this week's charts, where the Mabinogi brothers experienced wildly different fortunes. The older sibling, Mabinogi, climbed 12 spots to secure 38th place, while the younger sibling, Mabinogi Mobile, slipped down to 45th. Both marched into battle waving external IP collaboration banners, but their timing was entirely different.

Mabinogi kicked off its Atelier of Witch Hat collaboration back on the 15th. The developer is rolling out story quests featuring characters visiting Erin week by week, tempting players with chairs and miniatures capturing the aesthetic of the original work. Having just re-entered the charts at 50th place last week right after launch, the game expanded its upward momentum into week two. It is a solid sign that interest isn't just a flash in the pan, as gamers are actually diving into the events and reaping rewards that keep the praise rolling in.

Meanwhile, Mabinogi Mobile teased a Jujutsu Kaisen collaboration on the 21st, but the actual update hasn't dropped yet, doing nothing to stop its downward slide. The Jujutsu Kaisen IP once commanded massive attention, but interest has cooled off considerably of late, meaning a mere announcement wasn't enough to work miracles. Since the actual update is scheduled for November 5, calling the shots on its ultimate success or failure is premature, yet it is somewhat disappointing that a massive collaboration announcement failed to generate substantial buzz.

Collaborating with famous IPs can certainly act as a hook to draw people in. However, partnering with completely unrelated works can backfire and shatter the immersion of existing players, making it a double-edged sword. In that light, Mabinogi deserves considerable praise for leaning into the shared denominator of magic and fantasy, bringing the two worlds much closer to the players. Mabinogi Mobile is still at the teasing stage, but the ultimate success of its collaboration will depend on how seamlessly familiar characters integrate into the existing world and how much richer the fun becomes, rather than just dragging known faces into the cast.

World of Dokkaebi slid 9 spots this week to land at 23rd. After leaping from 41st to 16th right upon its release on the 8th and climbing further to 14th the following week, the initial launch hype was bound to cool down eventually. On the 21st, the game rolled out its first massive update adding new PvE content like 'Mangwi Bijeong', a 'Nameplate Marketplace', and 1-on-1 friendly matches, alongside new servers such as 'Yuhee' to tighten community communication and cement its position. Given that sales rankings are also holding steady in the upper tiers, the game has clearly entered a stabilization phase where the focus shifts toward retaining a dedicated user base long after the initial buzz fades.

Aion and Lineage, which pushed out major updates on the very same day, received starkly different report cards. Aion climbed 4 spots to 28th, propelled by the introduction of the first playable Drakan race and new servers. Following its rise from 37th to 32nd last week when pre-registrations opened, the game continued to climb post-update, proving that the hype was far from a one-off curiosity. On the flip side, Lineage—with its Classic metrics bundled in—dropped 2 spots to 9th. The ongoing challenge for the team remains how much of the burden felt by existing users can be lifted alongside the supply of fresh content.

Genshin Impact staged a rebound, climbing 6 spots to 35th. The primary catalyst breaking its recent downward slide from 29th to 36th and 41st was the 7.2 version special broadcast held on the 23rd. Titled 'Prelude to the End', the broadcast revealed new Archon quests, regions, and characters, successfully stoking curiosity for the next chapter. We will simply have to wait and see if this rekindled spark of interest can translate into an upward surge once the update actually drops.

Elsewhere in the upper echelons, Sudden Attack rose 2 spots to 6th and Roblox climbed 1 spot to 8th, while MapleStory slipped 1 spot to 7th, shuffling their order. In the mid-tier, StarCraft tumbled 2 spots down to 13th, whereas TalesRunner bounced up 3 spots to 20th. Down at the bottom, Path of Exile managed to carve its name into the rankings at 36th.