First Zynga Japan shuts down 2 social games on Mixi, then Playfish/EA does the same with Restaurant City, and now it’s RockYou Asia‘s turn: American social game makers are having a hard time in Japan (hint: don’t come here if you don’t have anything unique to offer).
And Tokyo-based RockYou Asia, a subsidiary of US-based RockYou, is being especially radical. Gamebiz reports that the following games will not be available on Mixi (PC version) anymore soon:
- Speed Racing (710,000 registered users/to be closed down on September 30)
- Zoo World (140,000/September 30)
- Super Pets (160,000/October 31)
- Crime World (100,000/October 31)
The social games RockYou Asia is distributing on other platforms (Mobage and GREE) are not affected by the decision. The same goes for other Mixi PC social games from the company, i.e. Hero World or Happy Idol.
