By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
Big shake-up at Tokyo-based NHN Japan today: the LINE operator and Japanese subsidiary of Korean web powerhouse NHN is splitting up into 2 different companies. The basic idea is to separate the gaming from the web service business. NHN Japan says that going forward its gaming section will operate...
GREE is continuing to step on the gas: after Konami’s Dragon Collection spin-off “Dracolle & Poker”, Bandai Namco’s “One Piece – Adventure Log”, and “AKB0048 Galaxy Cinderella” from the same company, it’s now Capcom’s turn to...
Tokyo-based mobile game provider Colopl has racked up a staggering 20 million registered users across its portfolio. It took the company roughly 16 months to reach this milestone (the first title was released in September 2011): 10 months to get to the first 10 million users, and another 6 months...
GREE released a new first-party game on its iOS platform today, Poker Creature (a title the company should change if they bring this title abroad). From a pure content perspective, one recent trend in Japan’s mobile gaming market is that makers increasingly experiment by mixing different...
Back in November 2012, mega-popular Korean chat app KakaoTalk opened its gaming platform inside the Japanese version, starting with three Android titles (Anipang, Tap Tap Blitz, and Puzzle Zoo Zoo). Today operator Kakao Japan, which is 50% owned by Yahoo Japan, expanded said platform to iOS and...
Just a few weeks after Namco Bandai went public saying they have 30 million, Konami is now boasting a total of 35 million registered users across all of their social games. The company reported 10 million users in September 2011 and 20 million in April 2012. Konami revealed that Dragon Collection...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry