“Line Play”, the virtual world NHN Japan released in Japan back in November 2012 and that integrates with chat app LINE on smartphones, is now offering games. The first title is called “Tsuri Tomo”, hit LINE Play on Friday, and is currently available in Japanese only (the LINE-powered virtual world has been made available globally…
I’ll say it again: if there is one mobile game out there right now that people in Japan will remember in 10 years, it’s Puzzle & Dragons. The game, which boasts 13 million registered users in this country (10% of the population), has generated US$113 million in sales in April. Since late last year, maker…
Japan’s top smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons is continuing to make serious money for its maker, Osaka-based GungHo. The company just released its latest financial report, according to which sales hit 12 billion yen in April – this amount currently translates to US$119 million and 1,142.8% more than in April last year. Earlier, in January…
As I have mentioned earlier, Japan is the only country in the world where mobile games are regularly being advertised on television. And this isn’t about cheap night time slots in niche TV programs no one watches: DeNA, GREE, GungHo, and many other developers are paying for spots aired during prime time, on national TV…
DeNA has quietly shut down a total of five games on the Mobage platform in Japan recently, offering players who have purchased (but not yet used) virtual currency for the titles reimbursements. The list news site Social Game Info released today includes a few big titles, especially the first two: Ninja Royal (a social “Ninja…
If there is one mobile game out there now that people in Japan will remember in 10 years, it’s Puzzle & Dragons. Maker GungHo is now worth a staggering US$10 billion, thanks to a single game that sees sales of US$62-86 million (per month) and racked up 12 million users after 14 months by mid-April….
There is no end to the Puzzle & Dragons hype in Japan, it seems. The country’s top smartphone game now has over 12 million users, is generating a staggering US$62-86 million – per month, and has been advertised with a new campaign on national TV since the end of March. Maker GungHo has just announced…
Puzzle/RPG hybrid Puzzle & Dragons and messenger app LINE aren’t the only hypes in Japan’s smartphone world right now. The third big name that must be mentioned in this context is “Nameko Saibai”, a series of super-quirky smartphone games that center on cute mushroom characters (nameko is a special mushroom, while saibai means cultivation). Tokyo-based…