What are the current key trends in the gaming market in Japan and elsewhere? That’s the question I tried to answer in a presentation I gave a few weeks ago. (Note: no one in the audience belonged to the gaming industry.) The slides cover: Structure Of Japan’s Social Gaming Market Market Size 10 Key...
Puzzle & Dragons: Japan’s Most Popular Platform-Free Social Game Gets A TV Spot [Social Games]
Tokyo-based GungHo, maker of Japan’s most successful platform-free social game Puzzle & Dragons, is ready to invest more in marketing their flagship title. Puzzle & Dragons isn’t using the Mobage or GREE networks but has racked up 1.5 million users so far – in Japan only...
After 97 Days: LINE Birzzle Hits 10 Million Downloads [Social Games]
NHN Japan has announced that LINE Birzzle, the first social game released on the LINE platform, reached 10 million downloads worldwide. Developed by Korea-based Enfeel, the title hit iOS and Android on July 4 this year and managed to rack up 2 million users in 24 hours. LINE Birzzle needed just 97...
dgame: Docomo Confirms Its Social Gaming Platform Is Coming [Social Games]
The Nikkei caused a big splash two weeks ago when the business daily broke the news that Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo (around 60 million subscribers) is planning to enter the social gaming business. The information available back then was relatively thin, but Docomo...
Rage Of Bahamut Hits Mobage China [Social Games]
Tokyo-based Cygames, the maker behind super-successful social card battle game Rage Of Bahamut, just announced that its biggest smash hit is now available on Mobage China. Generally speaking, DeNA is extremely quiet when it comes to the performance of the Mobage brand in China, but it recently came...
Capcom And Gloops Roll Out “Resident Evil: Clan Master” On Mobage [Social Games]
Capcom and Tokyo-based social game maker Gloops (which was recently acquired for US$470 million by Nexon) have released “Resident Evil: Clan Master” on Mobage in Japan today. The title, actually dubbed Biohazard: Clan Master (Biohazard is the Japanese brand name), is available on Mobage...