Japan is probably the only country in the world where even TV stations produce social games (more on that at a later time).
But sometimes even this nation’s mighty broadcasters need support, and today GREE announced a pretty interesting deal with Tokyo-based broadcaster Fuji TV.
Under the agreement, the two companies will co-develop various mobile content, exclusively on smartphones and (obviously) based on shows produced by Fuji TV. The potential benefit for GREE is clear: fresh IP in Japan’s increasingly competitive social gaming industry and a new marketing partner.
The first result of the tie-up will be a new social card battle game that will hit GREE this summer: IDOL☆J@M will feature cards of over 100 real-world “idols”, famous singers and stars from various Japanese girl groups (this sounds a lot like AKB48 Stage Fighter or Bandai Namco’s Idolmaster).
GREE and Fuji TV are also thinking about co-organizing real-world events and music concerts: what’s clever here is that these events might be limited to people who are actually playing GREE’s games.
GREE is one of Japan’s top TV advertisers.
This picture shows a few GREE and Fuji TV executives together with some of the singers that will star in IDOL☆J@M:
