By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
“Line Play”, the virtual world NHN Japan released in Japan in November and that integrates with chat app LINE, is now available worldwide. Over here, Line Play can be called a competitor to Ameba Pigg, the popular virtual world operated by CyberAgent on PCs and smartphones. NHN Japan...
Puzzle & Dragons, Japan’s top smartphone game with 8 million registered users across iOS and Android, is buzzing again in Japan. And what a buzz it is this time: I think it’s safe to say that the title is “making history” at the moment – on a global level. To...
Big shake-up at Tokyo-based NHN Japan today: the LINE operator and Japanese subsidiary of Korean web powerhouse NHN is splitting up into 2 different companies. The basic idea is to separate the gaming from the web service business. NHN Japan says that going forward its gaming section will operate...
Back in November 2012, mega-popular Korean chat app KakaoTalk opened its gaming platform inside the Japanese version, starting with three Android titles (Anipang, Tap Tap Blitz, and Puzzle Zoo Zoo). Today operator Kakao Japan, which is 50% owned by Yahoo Japan, expanded said platform to iOS and...
NHN Japan is continuing to turn its super-popular messenger app LINE into a platform (or portal) for mobile content of any kind. After games, a set of social networking features, horoscopes, a greeting card app, a drawing app, and a camera app, coupons, an in-app virtual world, and content for...
Chat app LINE, which just crossed the 100 million user mark, continues to impress with amazing numbers for its LINE Game platform. Operator NHN Japan today announced that tile-matching game LINE Pop hit a staggering 20 million downloads on January 16. The title was released worldwide on November 19...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry