By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
As I expected, DeNA is introducing payment caps for virtual items in social games offered on Mobage for minors. The company is following competitor GREE, which has announced a very similar move last month. The background here is the mounting criticism in Japanese media (not by Japanese consumers...
That was quick: California-based Cie Games has decided to shut down Cie Games Japan, its Tokyo-based subsidiary, after about a year (the office over here was established on April 1, 2011). In fact, Gamebusiness.jp is reporting that the company was silently closed down on March 31. Cie Games Japan...
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...
Puzzle & Dragons, developed by Tokyo-based GungHo, is holding its No. 1 position among the top grossing apps in the Japanese App Store. After a short drop a few days back, the social game is back on the spot it has now been occupying for the last 8 weeks. Puzzle & Dragons is a social game...
Social games in Japan are usually being played on mobile devices, on Mobage, GREE, Mixi, or Hangame. The mobile web has “historically” been larger than the fixed web, which is why PC-based social gaming platforms don’t play a big role over here. Japanese users usually visit Yahoo...
It’s a mini trend: social games on smartphones that are not embedded in Mobage or GREE – but do pretty well anyway. Following Puzzle & Dragons from GungHo, it’s Square Enix newest title that sees success with this strategy. “Diffusion Million Arthur”, a great...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry