Following the breakout success of Whiteout Survival, which sparked a wave of enthusiasm for the "simulation management + 4X" hybrid model, a number of publishers rushed to get in on the action.Most recently, EWORLD's prison-themed 4X game Lands of Jail has made a strong showing.
According to Sensor Tower data, the game's revenue surged 342% in April alone, surpassing $4 million in combined iOS and Android revenue over the past month. The United States emerged as the top-grossing market, accounting for 33% of total revenue, followed by Germany with 13%.
So, how did Lands of Jail leverage the unusual appeal of a prison setting to stand out? And what else contributed to its breakthrough performance in an increasingly saturated genre?
01. Breaking Through with A Unique Prison Theme
Lands of Jail follows a familiar playbook: pairing a well-tested gameplay framework with a highly distinctive theme. While the prison setting might seem niche or provocative, it turns out to be a surprisingly effective match for sim-management gameplay.
The game's core loop — receiving prisoners, putting them to work to generate income, expanding and upgrading prison facilities, and taking in more prisoners — lays down a straightforward but engaging progression path.
Where the game differentiates itself is through the introduction of a "riot" mechanic. If prison living conditions deteriorate too much or work assignments are too demanding, prisoners’ core stats (hunger, hygiene, health, etc.) fall too low, triggering riots. Players must build and upgrade support facilities to maintain quality of life, and moderate labor assignments to avoid unrest.
This mechanic adds a strategic tradeoff: higher work intensity generates more cash, which is critical for expansion, but also increases the risk of instability. Players must carefully balance growth and control — especially during the critical early-game phase — adding a layer of tactical decision-making to the management gameplay.
As players progress, they unlock card-based combat and large-map 4X features. These later-stage mechanics are wrapped in the game's narrative world but otherwise align closely with standard genre conventions. In practice, the unique setting plays a more prominent role in Lands of Jail's user acquisition strategy than in the gameplay itself.
According to AppGrowing, the game began testing small-scale ad campaigns in late 2023, with full-scale user acquisition kicking off at global launch. Ad volume ramped up rapidly in mid-March, stabilizing at around 5,000 creatives per day for over a month.
In terms of regional targeting, EWorld leaned toward developed Western markets, with Germany, France, and the U.S. topping the ad placement charts.
The game's creatives generally fall into two main categories. The first centers on showcasing sim-management gameplay, stylized through the prison theme. Within this category, there are three distinct approaches:
Macro progression — Ads depict the transformation of a bare-bones facility into a full-scale prison, tapping into the satisfaction of incremental development.
Micro customization — These creatives zoom in on a single inmate converting a grimy, empty cell into a fully furnished personal space, emphasizing creativity and comfort.
Cleaning & transformation — Mirroring the appeal of popular online cleaning videos, these ads show prisoners scrubbing filthy cells until they sparkle, playing into viewer desires for order and catharsis.
The second creative strategy revolves around mini-games that dramatize the prisoner-guard conflict. One ad, for example, features a prisoner escaping while being chased by a guard, with various obstacles and decision points along the way. These videos typically end in failure to trigger the viewer's competitive instinct.
To further boost engagement, many creatives open with attention-grabbing "golden three seconds" — scenes of inmate brawls, attractive female characters in prison uniforms calling for help, or even AI-generated animations of guards being ambushed.
02. A Long-Term Bet on Sim-Management
Lands of Jail didn't succeed overnight. It is the product of years of iteration in the sim-management space. Since the release of Golden Monopoly(金币大富翁) in 2018, EWorld has launched six titles that each surpassed RMB 100 million in monthly revenue.
Li Zhen, Director of Product Onboarding and Strategic Investment at EWorld, has publicly categorized the company's monetization models into three core types. The first includes leaderboard-driven models like Golden Monopoly and Grand Trader(我是大东家); the second includes card-driven monetization used in titles such as 霸道总裁 and Business Leaders(商道高手).
These models laid the groundwork for EWorld's current hybrid formula: “Sim-management + Card + 4X.” The addition of 4X's social gameplay helps address a common problem in sim games — weak long-tail content — and significantly boosts monetization potential.
The first successful implementation of this hybrid model came in Lord of City(这城有良田), a historical sim that took a bold thematic turn. Initially planned as a Three Kingdoms game, the team pivoted to a Sui-to-Song dynasty backdrop to reduce costs and stand out from the competition.
Years of experience culminated in the robust foundation for Lands of Jail. And when it comes to global publishing, EWorld didn't start from scratch. As early as 2020, the company began expanding into Southeast Asia, Japan, and Greater China, seeing notable success in these regional markets.
Localization has always been central to EWorld's overseas strategy. For instance, the Japanese version of Business Leaders(おねがい社長) was deeply localized with new characters, famous local cosplayers, and region-specific landmarks. The company also tapped into Japan's social sentiments, producing ad creatives that resonate with overworked office workers and "rags-to-riches" fantasies.
In Vietnam, Grand Trader was localized as Phú Hộ Công Lược - TTH, complete with familiar characters, real-world locations, and references to Vietnamese history. The marketing team tied promotions to major holidays — for example, the game released celebratory content for the 50th anniversary of Vietnam's liberation on social media.
In the case of Lands of Jail, YHWorld did not regionalize separate versions — likely due to 4X's reliance on large server populations. Still, in addition to paid UA, the company prioritized Western markets in its social media marketing. Shortly after launch, the team capitalized on Easter to roll out themed promotions.
Beyond a bold and provocative theme, and a solid, proven gameplay framework, Lands of Jail owes its success to EWorld's years of expertise in sim-management and its finely tuned global publishing capabilities.
