By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
Japanese blogger and Google employee Fumi Yamazaki has written a piece on social games in Japan today, and it’s surely worth a read. The most interesting bit of information is the following graphic that highlights the fundamental differences between the business models of Japan’s social...
It took them a bit longer than Konami, but now Namco Bandai also owns the bragging rights of having 10 million registered users on social games on the Japanese market. The company announced it has reached the milestone on January 12. According to Namco Bandai, their three Gundam–based social...
Tokyo-based (and listed) social game maker Index announced that Persona 3 Social, the social version of the classic RPG series, has crossed the 1 million user mark. The players are spread over Persona 3 Social on Mobage (feature phone only), GREE (smartphone and feature phone), and Yahoo Mobage on...
DeNA was able to report a nice win when they got Square Enix to release the first social game version of Final Fantasy on Mobage for feature phones earlier this month. At that point, DeNA said a smartphone version is under development, which usually means it will take weeks or months to come out...
Following a disappointing financial report, Japanese video game maker Cave announced it will focus more on social games going forward. The company has an 18-year old history and is especially famous for its shoot’em ups aimed at a hardcore gamer audience (personally, I am a big fan)...
Tokyo-based Interspace and Takara Tomy Entamedia have announced “Transformers for GREE“, a social game based on the popular movie and toy franchise. Like so many new titles, Transformers for GREE will be a social card game. Players will be able to choose between various robots from the...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry