By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
In October last year, GREE took the wraps off a high-budget, next-generation social game called Zettai Bouei Leviathan (Total Defense Leviathan). Back then, I mentioned that the graphics were being created by anime studio GONZO and that the title would feature the voices of professional anime voice...
It’s no exaggeration to say that the kompu gacha shock from May this year was the single biggest drawback in the history of the Japanese social gaming industry. There is a new concept to make money in Japanese social games in town, but I think it makes sense to look back at the usage of the...
GREE showcased a total of 34 titles at the Tokyo Game Show today – a pretty solid line-up with the only problem being that 33 of them were either available for a long time already (Doliland, Gang Domination, or Dragon Collection, to name just a few) or unveiled earlier (like Metal Gear Solid...
This is a pretty smart move: GREE announced that they will establish a wholly owned subsidiary that will do nothing but create and sell physical goods based on their social games. Dubbed “GREE Entertainment Products” (tentative), the new company is set to start operations next month. It...
Gacha, the biggest money-making mechanic in Japan’s social gaming industry, is about to get transformed radically. A sub-form of this electronic draw concept, “kompu gacha” (or “complete gacha”), was regulated by the Japanese government a few weeks ago. The kompu gacha...
I summarized my personal prediction on both GREE‘s and DeNA‘s chances of becoming the leading platform providers for mobile social games in the US (and globally) back in March. I was actually pessimistic in September 2011 already. In fact, I was pessimistic since I first started...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry