Naisyoku – Japanese Mobile Social Game Leads You To Be… Menial Labor

Naisyoku (Moonlight Job) is a new social game by Acquire Corp. for DeNA’s mobile social networking service Mobage Town. The Japanese word Naisyoku is not so positive. It literally means “working at home” but the word is often used to refer ultra menial labors done by low-income people who are unable to take regular jobs.… Continue reading Naisyoku – Japanese Mobile Social Game Leads You To Be… Menial Labor

Japan’s Mobile Web Market Now Worth $17 billion. Virtual Items: $500 million.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications published an interesting report [PDF] about the country’s market for mobile content and services this week. According to the ministry, that market grew by 12% to hit 1.52 trillion yen ($17.3 billion) last year, including mobile advertising. The $17.3 billion breaks down into mobile commerce, which was worth… Continue reading Japan’s Mobile Web Market Now Worth $17 billion. Virtual Items: $500 million.

GREE Opens Its Platform, Attracts 30 Game Companies From The Start

Major Japanese mobile gaming social network GREE has taken a significant step yesterday: it’s now possible [PDF] for third parties to release games on the site (the move was announced back in January). Before, GREE offered its almost 20 million users self-developed titles only, meaning the company doubled as a platform and content provider. It… Continue reading GREE Opens Its Platform, Attracts 30 Game Companies From The Start

DeNA Begins Free Games And Community On English iPhone/iPad

DeNA, which runs one of big three Japanese social networking Mobage-Town, today announced and immediately launched MiniNation and its games, their popular social games and its basement community in English on iPhone/iPad for oversea users. The games and MiniNation are only available “outside of Japan”. So it is not for their royal Japanese users but… Continue reading DeNA Begins Free Games And Community On English iPhone/iPad

DeNA Reports USD100M On Quarterly Profit; They To Focus On Social App Business

Last Friday, Tokyo-based mobile game platform developer and game publisher DeNA announced the company’s quarterly consolidated financial result ended March 2010, which shows us good figures like USD200M in the net sales (81% increase compared to that of last year) and almost USD100M in the operating profit (240% increase compared to that of last year).… Continue reading DeNA Reports USD100M On Quarterly Profit; They To Focus On Social App Business

[Breaking] Yahoo! Japan And DeNA To Runs Social Game Site Yahoo! Mobage

The Dominator of Japanese web Yahoo! Japan and DeNA, who runs one of big three Japanese social networking services Mobage Town, just announced to form an united front on PC social gaming. The new service tentatively called “Yahoo! Mobage” will launch late this summer. According to the release, Yahoo! Mobage will have; social game platform… Continue reading [Breaking] Yahoo! Japan And DeNA To Runs Social Game Site Yahoo! Mobage

AppTraq – A New Free Facebook App (And Others) Analytic Service

Tokyo-based UserLocal Inc., which is known by its free and paid tools for website traffic analysis both for PC and mobile access in Japan, launched a new analytic tool for free specialized for social networking application (Facebook and major three Japanese social networking services – Mixi, Gree and Mobage-Town) platforms both in English and Japanese.… Continue reading AppTraq – A New Free Facebook App (And Others) Analytic Service

Japan’s No. 1 Social Network Mixi Now Boasts 20 Million Members

Japan’s No. 1 social network Mixi [JP] just announced [JP] its member base surged past 20 million, meaning the site added 1.4 million users since the end of last year [JP] and 2.6 million registered users since June 2009 (the last time Mixi issued a press release about its member base). By way of comparison:… Continue reading Japan’s No. 1 Social Network Mixi Now Boasts 20 Million Members

GMO Co-Launches New Project To Incubate Social App Providers

GMO Internet, Japan’s leading provider in ISP, web server hosting, domain registration etc., kicked off a new project in order to boost potential developers to create new social apps last weekend. GMO Venture Partners (GMO-VP)[J], a GMO’s arm in their investment and incubation business, set up a project called “Apuri Yarouze!” (Let’s create social apps!)[J]… Continue reading GMO Co-Launches New Project To Incubate Social App Providers

A Japanese TV Network Testing Social Casual Game Network

One of Japan’s major television network Fuji TV announced and called for beta testers for their new online community site “Kimi to Fuji TV” [J] (“Kimi Fuji” in short) on March 15th. “Kimi to” means “with You” in Japanese. At beta, the site offers few social games which themed on their popular TV programs like… Continue reading A Japanese TV Network Testing Social Casual Game Network