By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
Dwango apparently thinks that its hit video platform Nico Nico Douga could also make money through social games. Starting today, the site will have a special section called Nico Nico Applications. Users can initially choose between 10 different titles, i.e. one from Bandai, one from Sega-Sammy, and...
Facebook Japan has sure observed this: Japan’s biggest social network Mixi today announced it has removed the “Search Friends Via Email“ function – after one day. The reason: too many users protested against the new feature because of privacy and security reasons. Mixi now says...
Yahoo Japan just announced the opening of the so-called Yahoo Japan Application Platform (YAP). The company is asking third-party developers to provide applications, which could be anything from games to productivity apps. For Yahoo Japan, the app section means a new revenue stream, as the apps can...
DeNA today announced it is partnering up with CyberAgent and venture capital firm Japan Asia Investment (China) to invest $12 million in social gaming companies in China and Japan. Under the deal, DeNA will invest $6 million each in two venture capital funds: one will be run by CyberAgent Ventures...
Good news for Yahoo Japan and Google Japan: The country’s Fair Trade Commission gave the green light to a proposed cooperation between Yahoo Japan and Google, stating that the deal wouldn’t “immediately” violate antitrust rules. In July this year, Yahoo Japan announced it...
Yahoo Mobage, the PC-based social gaming platform Yahoo Japan and DeNA (Mobage) jointly launched, is off to a good start: Nielsen Japan is reporting that in August 2010, before the integration of Yahoo Mobage into Yahoo Games, Yahoo saw 5.3 million UU per month. On September 21, Yahoo Mobage...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry