One of the biggest third-party social gaming companies in Japan (along Konami, gloops, Klab, etc.) is Tokyo-based gumi. The startup has just posted a pretty unusual and “open” announcement on its website. According to the release, gumi generated a whopping 100 million Yen in virtual...
Event: The CEOs Of Gumi, Geisha Entertainment Talk Japanese Social Games
I attended Startupdating #5 yesterday, an event in Tokyo that connects Japan’s web entrepreneurs with engineers looking for new opportunities. Speakers at the event were Hironao Kunimitsu (CEO of Gumi) and Taisei Tanaka (CEO of Geisha Tokyo Entertainment). Their companies are among the...
Which Major Game Companies In Japan Are Active In Web3 Gaming? Almost All Of Them
While some of the big European and American game companies have expressed skepticism about Web3 gaming, scaled down ambitions or adopted a wait-and-see approach, things are very much different in Japan. (In that context, Japan is actually similar to South Korea (or Asia in general), but I will...
Japan’s Blockchain Gaming Industry: A Primer
Even before establishing my consultancy Kantan Games, I have been active in the Japanese game industry since around 2008 – and a lot has happened since that time. Now, here is what I believe is one of the first comprehensive overviews in English on Japan’s blockchain gaming industry...
The Major Trend In Japan’s Mobile Game Industry Now? Consolidation.
Shortly after DeNA (2432) and GREE (3632) pioneered the concept of mobile gaming as the world knows it today (free-to-play business model, bite-sized content embedded in social networks to increase stickiness, data analysis to improve monetization, etc.) in 2006/2007 on feature phones, a flood of...
Release Calendar For Listed Japanese Mobile Game Companies (As Of May 17)
Here is an updated calendar of major free-to-play native apps that publicly traded Japanese mobile game makers have announced for the coming months. Please note that these titles can be modified, canceled, or released at any given time. The list isn’t necessarily exhaustive, as games can...