By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
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...
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...
I have been admiring the work of Hideo Kojima, the designer behind hit video game franchise Metal Gear, for years. And today, during an event in Tokyo to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the action-adventure series, Kojima took the stage with GREE CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka to announce the first social...
GREE is actively exploring new fields of business as of late: just a few days after announcing a new subsidiary for merchandise based on GREE IP, the company today says it’s planning to expand to TV content, too. As you’d might expect, TV in this case means mobile TV, or mobile social...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry