Kyodo reports [J] (11:08) that DeNA, who runs one of Japan’s largest mobile social networking Mobage-Town, is subjected to an on-site investigation by Japan Fair Trade Commission(JFTC).
DeNA was rumored to ask their third-party game application providers not to provide games for Gree.
[Update] Nikkei follows [J] (11:13) with more detail. It says that the investigation is for unfair business practices, on forcing third-parties to make exclusive contract with DeNA.
DeNA and Gree have been in severe competition, on number of users, games ideas/themes/copyrights, hiring, etc.
JFTC approved Yahoo! Japan and Google search alliance last week, which had been objected by some of their competitors.
[Update 13:36] Bloomberg followed (12:43) Nikkei news.
[Update] DeNA COO Isao Moriyasu canceled his session in the afternoon at Infinite Venture Summit, Kyoto, Japan. Half a day later, CEO Tomoko Namba appeared on a session at LeWeb, Paris, France.
See Also:
How DeNA Beats Facebook and Zynga – DeNA’s business model is 30 times more profitable than Facebook
DeNA CEO Namba told her interests in alliance with Facebook or Zynga last month to Bloomberg
