By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
LINE, a smartphone messenger app made by NHN Japan, the Tokyo-based subsidiary of the Korean web powerhouse, continues to amaze. The app, which makes it possible for users to call or message each other for free, now boasts a whopping 30 million users – just after hitting 20 million last month...
It’s no secret that Konami is clearly the most successful of all video game makers in the Japanese social gaming market. Their flagship title, Dragon Collection, for example, just hit 6 million users on GREE. And now Konami announced that it now counts a whopping 20 million registered players...
LinkedIn surely faces an uphill battle in Japan, the country with the long list of business social networks that failed, but the company is trying. After rolling out a version with Japanese UI, establishing an office in Tokyo, and launching a special “navigation” service specifically...
KLab has been relatively serious about doing business outside Japan so far: the company owns Manila-based game maker Cyscorpions, established KLab Global in Singapore, and just bought a foreigner-led gaming startup called Pikkle in Tokyo. And now KLab is going to the US: the company announced it...
Tokyo-based (and listed) KLab has announced it acquired Pikkle, a social gaming company established in 2005. Pikkle was led by Englishman David “DC” Collier who joins KLab to accelerate its international business. In 2009, Pikkle raised money from Mixi, CyberAgent, and a few other...
How big is the social gaming industry players like GREE, DeNA with Mobage, or Mixi are operating in? Tokyo-based designer Francesco Romano has used data I put together to create a flashy infographic that tries to answer this question, based on numbers coming from various sources. The infographic...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry