By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
First the GREE–DeNA lawsuit, now this: Tokyo-based social game maker Klab has sued competitor Crooz for copyright infringement. Both companies are listed (Klab just went IPO in September). Klab is asking for 55 million yen (US$710,000) in damages. The company claims that Crooz infringed on...
I am currently attending the Infinity Ventures Summit Fall 2011 in Kyoto, a two-day web/mobile/social gaming industry that takes place twice a year. During this invitation-only event (usually, only C-level executives from Japanese and international tech companies get to take part), one panel...
On November 21, GREE announced it filed a lawsuit against its rival DeNA, seeking damages of at least US$13 million. The claim: DeNA is pressuring third-party game developers into offering social games on Mobage only, leaving GREE out (background). DeNA now announced it has received papers from the...
I am giving presentations on Japan’s social gaming industry from time to time, anything from granular analyses of very specific topics to 101-style presentations. A few weeks ago, I prepared some slides on social games in Japan in general to shed light on a industry that’s very hard for...
RockYou Asia won’t be called Rockyou Asia anymore: according to a report on Japanese news site Social Game Info, the US company renamed its Tokyo subsidiary to “Chocobot Games” (or “Choco Bot Games”, there is no English transcript yet). I have no idea why RockYou Asia...
Major Tokyo-based social game provider (and DeNA partner) gloops has announced the establishment of two offices outside Japan. The company is currently operating some very successful mobile social games on Mobage in Japan. gloops International is located in San Francisco, while the Vietnam office...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry