By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
In recent months, Square Enix has seen great success with “Diffusion Million Arthur”, a social card battle game the company launched in April in the Japanese App Store. Fast forward to today, and said title is still sitting firmly in the top 10 of the top grossing iPhone apps in Japan. It was the...
There is already a social gaming platform embedded in Japan’s real-identity social network Mixi (on both the PC and mobile versions), but that’s apparently no reason not to open a second one. Dubbed mixi Park, the new social gaming platform was launched today by Mixi itself and Konami...
Famous IP+card battle game = sure success: that’s what GREE probably thought when the company secured the rights to turn manga mega hit BLEACH into a social game. Announced as BLEACHxGREE back in July, the title just hit GREE on smartphones and feature phones as BLEACH – Soul Masters. I...
It seems like GREE‘s housecleaning wasn’t over: the company is shutting down yet another one of their first-party games, social card battle game Majin Kingdom. In the fantasy title, players enter a “Summons School”, collect God/Devil/Hero cards, team up with other...
It took a long time, but months after DeNA announced it has secured the talent of high-profile game maker Goichi Suda (aka Suda51), the first title is finally out. Available for Mobage on Android and in Japanese only, No More Heroes – World Ranker is marketed as a “social assassin...
If you thought that Japan’s online gaming industry solved the real-money trading (RMT) problem, think again: Japanese business daily The Nikkei yesterday ran a story on the phenomenon, pointing out that players sell off virtual items from hit game Dragon Quest X for real money. Dragon Quest X...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry