Yahoo Japan (4689), the country’s biggest online company, is entering the smartphone game publishing business.
The news started making the rounds over here after this recruitment page went online, where the company is looking for game producers, designers, planners, and a whole range of other professionals.
Established in 1996, Yahoo Japan currently boasts a market cap of US$22 billion, has close to 5,000 employees and counts 28 million monthly active Yahoo Japan ID holders.
Further details about its new business are scarce at this point, but if a company of this size makes such a move, it means increased competition for all local game companies active in publishing.
This includes subsidiaries from foreign publishers, i.e. the newly established iDreamSky Japan or Yodo1 Japan: news site Social Game Info expects Yahoo Japan to offer first-, second-, and third-party games – including titles made outside of Japan.
Yahoo Japan Has Always Been Active in The Games Business
Games are by no means a new business for Yahoo Japan:
- the company has been operating Yahoo Japan Game for years, a platform on Yahoo Japan proper offering a plethora of browser- and client-based titles
- Yahoo Mobage, Japan’s biggest social game platform for PCs, has been established with Mobage operator DeNA (2432) in 2010 and is still running
- Yahoo also has a long-standing partnership with DeNA that goes beyond the Yahoo-Mobage platform
- the company has a similar arrangement with DeNA competitor GREE (3632)
- with GREE, Yahoo Japan even formed a joint venture called GxYz and started releasing games last year
- Kakaotalk is operating and offering games in Japan after forming a joint venture with Yahoo Japan in 2012
