By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
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...
Dwango apparently thinks that its hit video platform Nico Nico Douga could also make money through social games. Starting today, the site will have a special section called Nico Nico Applications. Users can initially choose between 10 different titles, i.e. one from Bandai, one from Sega-Sammy, and...
Facebook Japan has sure observed this: Japan’s biggest social network Mixi today announced it has removed the “Search Friends Via Email“ function – after one day. The reason: too many users protested against the new feature because of privacy and security reasons. Mixi now says...
Yahoo Japan just announced the opening of the so-called Yahoo Japan Application Platform (YAP). The company is asking third-party developers to provide applications, which could be anything from games to productivity apps. For Yahoo Japan, the app section means a new revenue stream, as the apps can...
DeNA today announced it is partnering up with CyberAgent and venture capital firm Japan Asia Investment (China) to invest $12 million in social gaming companies in China and Japan. Under the deal, DeNA will invest $6 million each in two venture capital funds: one will be run by CyberAgent Ventures...
Good news for Yahoo Japan and Google Japan: The country’s Fair Trade Commission gave the green light to a proposed cooperation between Yahoo Japan and Google, stating that the deal wouldn’t “immediately” violate antitrust rules. In July this year, Yahoo Japan announced it...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry