Puzzle & Dragons hits a whopping 16 million downloads in North America

• P&D has surpassed 16 million downloads across the US and Canada since its 2012 launch
• Crossover events and mechanics play a huge role
• A limited-time 16 Million Downloads Celebration event is running with bonuses for everyone

Sixteen million downloads is the kind of number most mobile games only ever see on a slide deck. For Puzzle & Dragons, though, it lands more like a checkpoint. GungHo has confirmed the long-running puzzler passed that mark across the US and Canada back in November, which is just more proof that this thing simply refuses to go away.

And honestly, that might be the most impressive part because Puzzle & Dragons has pretty much been doing the same thing since 2012. Match orbs, clear dungeons, collect monsters, and then do it all again tomorrow. There’s never been a big reinvention or dramatic genre pivot. It’s somehow just… still working.

A lot of that staying power comes down to its collaborations. At this point, I’d rather just list out the franchises Puzzle & Dragons hasn’t collaborated with. Anime, games, pop culture oddities, they’ve all been through the dungeon at some point. This is what’s probably kept the newcomers constantly flowing in, while simultaneously giving veterans a reason to dust off their teams and have another go at it.

North America has clearly been happy to play along. After launching in the US back in 2012 and rolling into Canada not long after, the puzzler has grown rather steadily. No viral spikes, no dramatic drop-offs, just a slow accumulation of players over more than a decade, which is rare territory for a mobile puzzler.

To mark the milestone, GungHo is running a 16 Million Downloads Celebration Event from January 21st to February 6th. That means login bonuses, a Super Godfest to burn through your Magic Stones, and selected dungeons running at half stamina.

And if this has put you back in the mood for sliding colourful things around a grid, our list of the top puzzlers on Android has plenty more worth poking at too.