This 15-year-old mobile game is earning $100 million in China. Every month.

If you didn't grow up patronizing Chinese internet cafes at the turn of the millennium, the name "The Legend of Mir" probably doesn't do much for you. It is, however, a potent name in China, where a mobile version of The Legend of Mir 2, a Korean MMORPG released in 2001, is earning between $92 million and $107 million every month on Tencent's mobile platform for co-publisher Shanda Games.

As this Tech In Asia article explains, while the success of The Legend of Mir Mobile is largely attributable to nostalgic pining for the MMO golden years, the game also receives frequent updates to help keep things fresh (and players pumping in cash). Also, Chinese players are also more focused on the size of a game’s player base than its cutting-edge graphics, which is lucky, considering, well ...

We're simultaneously a little sad and incredibly relieved that Western equivalent EverQuest never received a similar mobile treatment: There's no telling how much we'd be willing to pay in mictotransactions for a Testament of Vanear.