By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry

Has DeNA Broken The Japanese Antitrust Law?

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Big news from Japan’s mobile social gaming sector today: DeNA is under suspicion of breaking the country’s antitrust law. Authorities raided DeNA’s offices in Tokyo today:

Tokyo-based mobile gaming heavyweight DeNA (current market cap: US$4.5 billion) was investigated by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) over antitrust issues.

The allegation: DeNA, which recently paid US$400 million to acquire American smartphone game maker ngmoco, pressured Japanese mobile game developers to release titles exclusively on Mobage-town (its mobile social gaming community) – and to not provide games on rival GREE‘s mobile platform.

The JFTC’s decision to conduct a spot inspection of DeNA’s headquarters came as not too big of a surprise after TechCrunch Japan first reported about rumors circulating in the country’s social gaming sector in August.

– read the rest in my article on TechCrunch:

Japan’s Social Gaming Giant DeNA Under Suspicion Of Breaking Antitrust Law

About the author

Dr. Serkan Toto

I am the CEO & Founder of Kantan Games Inc., an independent consultancy focused on Japan’s game industry.

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By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry