By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
While GREE appears to have given up on China, DeNA still keeps investing in that market: the Mobage operator just announced a deal with Chinese social networking service Renren. DeNA explains: As a part of the alliance, DeNA China and Renren have opened a dedicated section for Mobage inside the...
Thank god it’s Friday (and the end of the trading week) for Mobage operator DeNA and GREE: both stocks got hammered again at the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, closing a terrible five trading days overall. Investors apparently sold the stocks as a response to margin calls – this is...
It was about time: super-popular action manga Naruto will be turned into a mobile social game, and it’s GREE that has scored the licensing rights.Tentatively named “NARUTO×GREE”, the social card battle RPG will hit GREE for feature phones next month, followed by a smartphone...
As I mentioned previously, the “kompu gacha” (complete gacha) shock isn’t over, even after the Japanese government officially clamped down on the controversial game mechanic. Over the weekend, GREE, DeNA, Mixi, NHN, CyberAgent, and Dwango (the same companies that formed a...
Japan already has a solid number of social game developers that are listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and now CNET Japan is reporting that there will be another one coming soon. According to the report, Tokyo-based mobcast will go IPO at the Mothers market (“Market of the High-Growth and...
As I have been saying repeatedly, the “kompu gacha” shock in Japan’s social gaming industry is far from over, at least as far as the aftershocks are concerned. A new report suggests that the main players in the sector are continuing to work on ways to prevent the government from...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry