LovePlus Followers Assaulting Cellphone, Gree And Mobage Town

Virtual Dating Game LovePlus on Nintendo DS was a smash hit, let Konami themselves publish a sequel LovePlus+(Love Plus Plus) [J] (feature limited), iPhone version and coming arcade version. Two gigantic social gaming networks, Gree and Mobage Town, who have been adding new games every day, of course ride on this trend. On the same… Continue reading LovePlus Followers Assaulting Cellphone, Gree And Mobage Town

Japanese Social Network Update With Quarterly Reports

The ranking by registered users keeps the same. Or, maybe DeNA is passing Mixi by population as Mixi’s number has October adding included. Gree: 22.46 million (at 2010-09-30, by 1Q report [pdf, J]) Mixi: 21.90 million (at 2010-10-31, mentioned on Socialphone release [J]) DeNA(Mobage Town): 21.67 million (at 2010-09-30, by 2Q report [pdf, J]) See… Continue reading Japanese Social Network Update With Quarterly Reports

How DeNA Beats Facebook and Zynga

Do you think Zynga is the hot player in town? Think again. At yesterday’s DeNA press conference, Founder and CEO Tomoko Nanba gave some great insight behind the seemingly unstoppable success of her company. An incredible ARPU With 20m users in Japan, Mobage Town, the social gaming network could be considered a small player compared… Continue reading How DeNA Beats Facebook and Zynga

Will DeNA Crack The Japanese Code For International Expansion?

DeNA, the company behind one of the big three social networking sites in Japan, Mobage-Town (20m users in Japan), cannot be clearer on its current strategy. It’s called international expansion. Everyone is abuzz of today’s acquisition of Ngmoco, an US iPhone game developer for a staggering USD 400m. The big tide in social gaming is… Continue reading Will DeNA Crack The Japanese Code For International Expansion?

Gree Now Allows iPhone/Softbank Users To Register

Japan’s largest social networking service Gree today announced [J] that their recently released iPhone version now added a “registration” feature today on September 30th. On Gree iPhone version website, which started as Beta in August, now you can become a member of Gree network. Unfortunately, it does not mean that iPhone users in other countries… Continue reading Gree Now Allows iPhone/Softbank Users To Register

Yahoo! Mobage In Abeyance By User Account Trouble

Yahoo! Mobage [J], a pretty huge joint business by two giants, Japan’s largest website Yahoo! Japan and one of Japanese biggest social networking service Mobage Town by DeNA, which had launched on 21st September as a beta, was surceased because there were troubles that some users saw another users’ account when logged in. The Yahoo!… Continue reading Yahoo! Mobage In Abeyance By User Account Trouble

Tokyo’s Social App Provider Pokelabo Fundraises USD12M From DCM And Mobage-Town

On Wednesday, Tokyo-based social app provider Pokelabo[J] announced that they had fundraised USD12M from Silicon Valley-headquartered VC firm DCM and IncubateFund[J], an investment fund by DeNA owning social app and mobile game platform Mobage-Town. Pokelabo was founded three years ago by the company’s CEO and his “Mixi[J]-mates”.  It has developed flash games for feature phones,… Continue reading Tokyo’s Social App Provider Pokelabo Fundraises USD12M From DCM And Mobage-Town

7 Out Of Top 10 Mobile Sites Used For Child Prostitution Ensured By The Self-Regulating Organization EMA

A police leak about child prostitution over non-dating websites includes statistics that implies self-regulation of big mobile web companies are not working as expected, Mainichi reported [J]. In 2009, 1,136 minors under the age 18 were involved by violence of ordinance on juvenile protection, the law banning child prostitution and child pornography. 716 of them,… Continue reading 7 Out Of Top 10 Mobile Sites Used For Child Prostitution Ensured By The Self-Regulating Organization EMA

Gree And DeNA Competition Heats Up: Both Announce Cash Rewards To New Employees

DeNA, who runs Mobage Town, one of Japan’s most successful social networks, sparked a hiring war yesterday to post their new incentive reward [J]. On the announcement, DeNA tells they will pay extra 2 million yen($23,400) besides annual salary to newly hired engineers who directly applied via their website and is approved between August 15th… Continue reading Gree And DeNA Competition Heats Up: Both Announce Cash Rewards To New Employees

DeNA (Mobage-town) Shuts Down Social Game “Bandit Nation” On Facebook

Back in May, Japan’s mobile gaming juggernaut DeNA ($3.8 billion market cap at the Tokyo Stock Exchange) took a serious step to bring Mobage-town (its highly successful mobile game community) global. DeNA formed a separate company for that endeavor (MiniNation KK) and localized a total of four games for Non-Japanese players, which were offered to… Continue reading DeNA (Mobage-town) Shuts Down Social Game “Bandit Nation” On Facebook