By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
This isn’t directly related to social games but should be worth mentioning: video game company SEGA has announced the launch of SEGA Networks, a new subsidiary that will develop games specifically for smartphones and tablets. Sega Networks will be headed by SEGA CEO Haruki Satomi who used to...
Mobile group chat / social messenger services are currently hot in Asia. Very hot. Now Japanese company Kayac lets developers integrate these “social communication functions” into their social games with a new SDK. The so-called nakamap SDK can be found here, is free to use (and in...
Tokyo-based social game maker gumi enters the investment business. As The Nikkei just reported, the GREE partner has spun off a separate investment company to scout for interesting targets in Asia (GREE is a stakeholder in gumi). “gumi Ventures” is mainly looking for China- or Singapore...
Last month, it was announced that Tanken Doliland (Driland outside Japan), GREE‘s super-popular social card battle game, is to be turned into a TV anime series. Details were scarce at that point, but now GREE organized a big press event in Tokyo to introduce the show to a broader audience...
CyberAgent finally rolled out its long awaited social gaming network, which is directly positioned against GREE and DeNA‘s Mobage on the Japanese market. The network, which has no distinct brand name, is the biggest competitor GREE and Mobage are seeing since Mixi opened its site to game...
Korean gaming powerhouse Nexon (headquartered and listed in Japan) announced it will acquire Tokyo-based mobile social game maker inBlue. Founded in 2010, the startup currently runs a total of six games on GREE and Mobage (on both feature phones and smartphones). Nexon itself, which already...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry