By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
Japan’s biggest real-identity social network Mixi and Mobage operator DeNA have announced an e-commerce partnership. The companies are in the process of setting up an online shopping service for Mixi members that’s scheduled to start in late March this year. The idea here is to combine...
Given how big the domestic social gaming market already is and how quickly it is projected to grow, it’s not really a surprise that Japan gets a “Social Game Academy”. Needless to say, it’s the first company (this obviously isn’t an NPO) of its kind anywhere in the...
Tokyo-based market research company looops is running a regular web TV show that focuses on different topics of Japan’s web industry each time. The show yesterday was about “the future of social games” in Japan and elsewhere. During the show, looops employee Kensuke Komura pulled...
Emblem Of The Gods, a social card battle game DeNA launched on Mobage last November, has racked up 500,000 users. DeNA first released the title on Mobage for feature phones before rolling out a smartphone (browser) version in December. Overall, Emblem Of The Gods is doing OK (the game is in the top...
What do you do when you have a mobile social game that’s 1.5 years old, already has 5 million+ registered users on GREE and that may near the end of its life cycle soon? If you are Konami and have a super hit like Dragon Collection in your portfolio, you start promoting the game to acquire...
Square Enix can be satisfied with the performance of Final Fantasy Brigade, the first social game based on the classic RPG series. The title hit 500,000 registered players, 13 days after launch on Mobage on January 7. Square Enix released a prettier smartphone browser version a few days after the...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry