By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
It has become very, very silent about comm, the chat app DeNA started rolling out in October last year. According to the last official word from the Mobage operator, a few months ago, the app racked up a total of 5 million users. That number is sure higher now (comm has been advertised on TV in...
Japan’s top messenger app LINE (160 million users worldwide and counting) is taking it very slow with its in-app gaming platform. Even though the first LINE-powered titles were rolled out in summer last year, the total number of such games available is still below 30. LINE Corp. CEO Morikawa...
Tokyo-based MM Research Institute has released a few interesting stats on the Japanese market for tablets I thought are interesting to share (phones aren’t the only mobile devices people over here use to play games, after all). According to the company, total tablet shipments in fiscal 2012...
“Line Play”, the virtual world NHN Japan released in Japan back in November 2012 and that integrates with chat app LINE on smartphones, is now offering games. The first title is called “Tsuri Tomo”, hit LINE Play on Friday, and is currently available in Japanese only (the LINE-powered...
I’ll say it again: if there is one mobile game out there right now that people in Japan will remember in 10 years, it’s Puzzle & Dragons. The game, which boasts 13 million registered users in this country (10% of the population), has generated US$113 million in sales in April. Since...
Japan’s top smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons is continuing to make serious money for its maker, GungHo (3765). The company just released its latest financial report, according to which sales hit 12 billion yen in April – this amount currently translates to US$119 million and 1,142...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry