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Japan’s Gumi forms $30M crypto fund, unveils investments in 5 blockchain startups

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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese gaming company Gumi recently announced on Thursday the establishment of the Gumi Cryptos fund for investment in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology-based services. It was set up as a limited liability company, and as a fund will add the scheme of silent partnership. The fund is worth $30 million US, with Gumi investing through its venture capital subsidiary Gumi Ventures, and about 10 major Japanese financial institutions also participating.  The company names are not disclosed. Miko Matsumura, the founder of Evercoin is appointed as a co-partner of the fund. He has also been managing other funds as a partner. Gumi Cryptos has already invested in US-based crypto bsinesses. Specifically, it has invested in five companies: Basis (cryptocurrency issuer), Robot Cache (decentralizsed game content distribution platform), Origin (sharing economy marketplace), Pryze (blockchain-based sweepstakes platform), and Theta (decentralized video distribution platform). Tokyo-based Unicon, the startup behind the Bitinvestors crypto evaluation and comparison site, is expected to support the fund in terms of managing tokens. Gumi Cryptos uses SAFT scheme to invest Various methods have arisen with regards to investments in unlisted companies, especially in startups, such as classified stocks and convertible notes. The feeling is that…

Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu
Photographed by Takeshi Hirano in May of 2017

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese gaming company Gumi recently announced on Thursday the establishment of the Gumi Cryptos fund for investment in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology-based services. It was set up as a limited liability company, and as a fund will add the scheme of silent partnership.

The fund is worth $30 million US, with Gumi investing through its venture capital subsidiary Gumi Ventures, and about 10 major Japanese financial institutions also participating.  The company names are not disclosed. Miko Matsumura, the founder of Evercoin is appointed as a co-partner of the fund. He has also been managing other funds as a partner.

Gumi Cryptos has already invested in US-based crypto bsinesses. Specifically, it has invested in five companies: Basis (cryptocurrency issuer), Robot Cache (decentralizsed game content distribution platform), Origin (sharing economy marketplace), Pryze (blockchain-based sweepstakes platform), and Theta (decentralized video distribution platform).

Tokyo-based Unicon, the startup behind the Bitinvestors crypto evaluation and comparison site, is expected to support the fund in terms of managing tokens.

Gumi Cryptos uses SAFT scheme to invest

Various methods have arisen with regards to investments in unlisted companies, especially in startups, such as classified stocks and convertible notes. The feeling is that these formats have been maturing in the last ten years even in Japan.

At the same time, investment through cryptocurrency is undergoing something similar. Initial Coin Offering or ICO, which one commonly hears, is actually closer to crowdfunding than investment, and usually does not include the right to control corporations like through stock voting rights. On the other hand, it causes controversy because of dividend scheme like Airdrop and capital gain functions.

Amid such differences, what kind of method do the Gumi cryptos use to invest in and collect gains from unlisted companies? According to Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu, at present it is customary to use the SAFT scheme.

First of all, crypto investments began with crowdsales or ICO. It is possible for anyone to purchase tokens, and as the reader may be aware, the ability to assign development costs with fluctuating prices due to the expected value of projects has spread like wildfire. Exchanges handle “listings”, and it is recent that they began to handle security-like elements. However, with this method, the investor protection method that is used in the regular stock market was not applied at all and a lot of fraud occurred.

Therefore, a new method was adopted which involved shifting to selling only to a few experts, such as qualified investors and affluent people, and as a result a new version of “SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)”,  “SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens)”, was born.

Without going into details, SAFT first provides the initial development costs in order to promote project development. Following this, after the project development has been successfully completed and it is at the stage where ordinary users can buy and sell tokens on exchanges, the fund will have priority in making purchases.

There was also talk that a future scheme may have the initial offering as common stock and preferred stock, after which investors would be able to convert them to tokens. Additionally, the Gumi Cryptos Fund is denominated entirely in dollars, if it is necessary to purchase in cryptocurrency the rate will be determined at the time of investment.

Translated by Amanda Imasaka
Edited by Masaru Ikeda

Japanese gaming company Gumi files for IPO

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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese game developer Gumi’s IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange was approved today. The company will be listed on 9 December. Gumi was launched in June 2007 to provide a feature phone-based social network service under the same name. Subsequently they entered the mobile game development business and introduced notable titles via DeNA, Gree, and other app distribution channels. In July 2013, Gumi co-founded a company called Alim in partnership with Fuji Startup Ventures and B Dash Ventures, where they introduced a global smash-hit gaming title Brave Frontier. The company partnered with Japanese messaging company Line in August. See also: Feeding Asia’s growing games appetite: Gumi Asia CEO on expansion beyond Japan Japanese gaming company Gumi raises $50M, partners with Sega Networks for US market Reps from GREE, DeNA, and Gumi discuss how to win in global gaming

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Gumi co-founder and CEO Hironao Kunimitsu

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese game developer Gumi’s IPO application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange was approved today. The company will be listed on 9 December.

Gumi was launched in June 2007 to provide a feature phone-based social network service under the same name. Subsequently they entered the mobile game development business and introduced notable titles via DeNA, Gree, and other app distribution channels.

In July 2013, Gumi co-founded a company called Alim in partnership with Fuji Startup Ventures and B Dash Ventures, where they introduced a global smash-hit gaming title Brave Frontier. The company partnered with Japanese messaging company Line in August.

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Japan’s LINE teams up with Gumi for game distribution while forming own $100M fund for developers

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Japanese messaging app company Line and gaming company Gumi held a press briefing in Tokyo earlier today, where LINE said it will invest thousands of millions of US dollars in game developer Gumi and take about a 10% stake in the latter company. At this timing, both companies have agreed that they LINE as well is forming jointly a 10 billion yen (about $100 million) fund focused on investing in Japanese game developers. Update: Gumi is not involved in forming this fund. It will be called Line Game Global Gateway and managed by Line and its investment arm Line Ventures. LINE has distributed gaming apps through their user base of over 400 million people worldwide. At the briefing, Jun Masuda, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at LINE, explained that the company plans to target the ‘midcore’ category rather than existing casual game titles since their users’ preference are diversified. In terms of this, he pointed out that Gumi is the best partner for the messaging platform company. LINE recognized that Gumi is an outstanding developer showing good numbers in sustainable but rapid user acquisition in the US, Southeast Asian and Korean markets. Gumi’s CEO Hironao Kunimitsu says that he wants…

line-gumi_logos

Japanese messaging app company Line and gaming company Gumi held a press briefing in Tokyo earlier today, where LINE said it will invest thousands of millions of US dollars in game developer Gumi and take about a 10% stake in the latter company. At this timing, both companies have agreed that they LINE as well is forming jointly a 10 billion yen (about $100 million) fund focused on investing in Japanese game developers.

Update: Gumi is not involved in forming this fund. It will be called Line Game Global Gateway and managed by Line and its investment arm Line Ventures.

LINE has distributed gaming apps through their user base of over 400 million people worldwide. At the briefing, Jun Masuda, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at LINE, explained that the company plans to target the ‘midcore’ category rather than existing casual game titles since their users’ preference are diversified. In terms of this, he pointed out that Gumi is the best partner for the messaging platform company.

LINE recognized that Gumi is an outstanding developer showing good numbers in sustainable but rapid user acquisition in the US, Southeast Asian and Korean markets. Gumi’s CEO Hironao Kunimitsu says that he wants to start distributing gaming apps through the LINE distribution channel as soon as possible.

Japanese gaming company Gumi raises $50M, partners with Sega Networks for US market

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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported earlier today that Tokyo-based gaming coompany Gumi has funrraised 5 billion yen (approximately $49 million) from Silicon Valley-based investment firm WiL (World Innovation Lab) and other investors. The report says the funding will be completed on July 4th, and Sega Networks, which participated in this round, partnered with Gumi to market service the service in the US. In addition, Alim, the Gumi subsidiary co-founded with Gumi Ventures, Fuji Startup Ventures, and B Dash Ventures, surpassed 1 billion yen ($98 million) in sales as of April 2014, which their smash-hit gaming title Brave Frontier has contributed to. Since its launch back in June 2007, Gumi fundraised about 4.6 billion yen ($45 million) in the past rounds. CEO Hironao Kushimitsu unveiled at a recent conference in Singapore that the company has 650 employees and is preparing for an IPO by the end of this year.

hironao-kunimitsu
Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported earlier today that Tokyo-based gaming coompany Gumi has funrraised 5 billion yen (approximately $49 million) from Silicon Valley-based investment firm WiL (World Innovation Lab) and other investors. The report says the funding will be completed on July 4th, and Sega Networks, which participated in this round, partnered with Gumi to market service the service in the US.

In addition, Alim, the Gumi subsidiary co-founded with Gumi Ventures, Fuji Startup Ventures, and B Dash Ventures, surpassed 1 billion yen ($98 million) in sales as of April 2014, which their smash-hit gaming title Brave Frontier has contributed to.

Since its launch back in June 2007, Gumi fundraised about 4.6 billion yen ($45 million) in the past rounds. CEO Hironao Kushimitsu unveiled at a recent conference in Singapore that the company has 650 employees and is preparing for an IPO by the end of this year.

Japan’s Adways invests in Gumi, looks to conquer Asia mobile app market

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See the original story in Japanese. Japanese internet company Adways (TSE:2489) announced yesterday that it has invested in mobile gaming developer Gumi (also from Japan), taking a 1.0% stake. Adways provides a reward-based ad platform for mobile app developers (in Japan and around the world) called AppDriver. Gumi is seeing good results in user acquisition, not only for its own game titles but also with Brave Frontier, a game developed by its subsidiary Alim. It is said that the app has acquired more than 2 million users in Japan as well as a million users from around the rest of the world. Through this investment, Adways expects to create a synergy with Gumi to expand its business in global mobile markets. Adways also recently announced it has partnered with InMovi Japan and five Japanese startups providing crowdsourcing services, helping AppDriver users improve and promote their apps using these services for free or at discounted rates.

gumi-adways_logos

See the original story in Japanese.

Japanese internet company Adways (TSE:2489) announced yesterday that it has invested in mobile gaming developer Gumi (also from Japan), taking a 1.0% stake.

Adways provides a reward-based ad platform for mobile app developers (in Japan and around the world) called AppDriver. Gumi is seeing good results in user acquisition, not only for its own game titles but also with Brave Frontier, a game developed by its subsidiary Alim. It is said that the app has acquired more than 2 million users in Japan as well as a million users from around the rest of the world. Through this investment, Adways expects to create a synergy with Gumi to expand its business in global mobile markets.

Adways also recently announced it has partnered with InMovi Japan and five Japanese startups providing crowdsourcing services, helping AppDriver users improve and promote their apps using these services for free or at discounted rates.

appdriver_banner

Japanese mobile game developer Gumi to partner with Fuji TV

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based gaming company Gumi is expected to announced a comprehensive partnership with Fuji Media Holdings today, the stock holding company the Japanese TV network giant. The company plans to launch a joint venture worth 500 million yen (approximately $4.8 million) with Fuji Startup Ventures, the investment arm of the media conglomerate. CNet Japan reports the new venture will be called Fuji & Gumi Games. In addition, the gaming company will announce significant funding from the media company and B Dash Ventures. We are told by sources we trust that it will be worth tens of millions of dollars. Gumi previously established Alim, a joint venture gaming company with Fuji Startup Ventures and B Dash Ventures back in July. Their first gaming title Brave Frontier has done quite well this year. Fuji TV has been seeking new revenue streams beyond its primary business. And as a result, both companies have agreed to an extensive business partnership at this time. Gumi has already started marketing many of its mobile games globally, including titles produced by their subsidiaries in Singapore and Korea. The funds raised at this time will be use to fuel the company’s global expansion….

gumi_fuji.002

See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-based gaming company Gumi is expected to announced a comprehensive partnership with Fuji Media Holdings today, the stock holding company the Japanese TV network giant. The company plans to launch a joint venture worth 500 million yen (approximately $4.8 million) with Fuji Startup Ventures, the investment arm of the media conglomerate. CNet Japan reports the new venture will be called Fuji & Gumi Games.

In addition, the gaming company will announce significant funding from the media company and B Dash Ventures. We are told by sources we trust that it will be worth tens of millions of dollars.

Gumi previously established Alim, a joint venture gaming company with Fuji Startup Ventures and B Dash Ventures back in July. Their first gaming title Brave Frontier has done quite well this year. Fuji TV has been seeking new revenue streams beyond its primary business. And as a result, both companies have agreed to an extensive business partnership at this time.

Gumi has already started marketing many of its mobile games globally, including titles produced by their subsidiaries in Singapore and Korea. The funds raised at this time will be use to fuel the company’s global expansion. We have reached out to Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu and Fuji Startup Ventures’ manager Yoshiro Taneda for more on this development. So please stay tuned.

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Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu

The problems and opportunities in the Japanese social gaming space [Panel]

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This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Osaka 2013. On day one of B Dash Camp Osaka, we heard from a stacked panel from the world of social gaming, including Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu, inBlue CEO Tomohiro Ootomi, Mobcast director and general manager Takeshi Sato. The moderator was DeNA chief game strategy officer Kenji Kobayashi. Any panel including Gumi’s jovial CEO Kunimitsu-san is naturally going to be an easy-going one. But despite the lighthearted tone, the discussion kept coming back to the many problems that exist for Japanese game developers these days. Kobayashi said that games in the app space are obviously growing at a great pace [1], with titles like Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush, and Clash of Clans doing incredibly well. Even console makers are trying to replicate their success, says Kobayashi. But he also pointed out the many games that go unfound on the app store, and that that the environment can be quite harsh if you don’t have a runaway hit. Kunimitsu compared the gaming sector to a gold rush, and pointed out that if you dig relentlessly for gold, you will probably die. If you want to do well in gaming,…

bdash-camp-osaka-gaming
Takeshi Sato, Mobcast; Tomohiro Ootomi, InBlue; Hironao Kunimitsu, Gumi

This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Osaka 2013.

On day one of B Dash Camp Osaka, we heard from a stacked panel from the world of social gaming, including Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu, inBlue CEO Tomohiro Ootomi, Mobcast director and general manager Takeshi Sato. The moderator was DeNA chief game strategy officer Kenji Kobayashi.

Any panel including Gumi’s jovial CEO Kunimitsu-san is naturally going to be an easy-going one. But despite the lighthearted tone, the discussion kept coming back to the many problems that exist for Japanese game developers these days.

Gumi CEO Kunimitsu
Gumi CEO Kunimitsu

Kobayashi said that games in the app space are obviously growing at a great pace [1], with titles like Puzzle & Dragons, Candy Crush, and Clash of Clans doing incredibly well. Even console makers are trying to replicate their success, says Kobayashi. But he also pointed out the many games that go unfound on the app store, and that that the environment can be quite harsh if you don’t have a runaway hit.

Kunimitsu compared the gaming sector to a gold rush, and pointed out that if you dig relentlessly for gold, you will probably die. If you want to do well in gaming, it’s hard work.

“I wouldn’t recommend it for my kids,” he explained. Globalizing is much more complex, he adds:

I think many developers create and app, put it in English, press ‘launch’ (so to speak) and expect it to do well. But it’s necessary to localize. When the competition was not intense, or the market was not mature, it was not so bad. But now localization/regionization is important.

Kunimitsu-san said that his own company, Gumi, has launched and expanded globally. They struggled initially, but their games in Singapore are doing particularly well right now.

Sato from Mobcast mentioned that the problems facing game creators today can potentially distract them from their goal if they aren’t careful:

For game creators that need to deal with so many issues, I don’t think this is really their main role, or what they should be focusing their efforts on.

Sato also spoke a little about the challenge of finding new game creators:

But it is very hard to motivate creators, but our CEO (Koki Yabu) has a good feel for this. I think we should stick with good creators and encourage (and nurture) them, rather than search out new ones.

InBlue’s Ootomi also agreed that the challenges facing game developers are indeed a problem. But he also pointed out the opportunity that exists for supporting services that solve problems:

I founded the company alone, and we used external services like Github, or some GMO services, or Mixi’s DeployGate (which is very convenient). We think there’s much room for these kind of services to enter.

Kunimitsu ended the panel on a high note, saying the he hopes that if we meet again next year that they can speak on some more positive things. You never know who will have a winning idea, he concluded.

inBlue CEO Tomohiro Ootomi
inBlue CEO Tomohiro Ootomi

  1. In comparison to browser games which are relatively stable in Japan, not growing nearly as much.  ↩

Puzzle Trooper: Making the puzzle/RPG accessible to the West

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Last week game developers Kabam and Gumi launched their Puzzle Trooper game for a number of markets worldwide, on iOS and Android. The game is clearly very much influenced by the wildly successful Puzzle & Dragons, but it takes advantages of one key area where P&D could have done better: localization. For Western users who play Puzzle & Dragons, including myself, it may take a while to grasp many of the game’s core concepts. I think that in the English version of the game, some things (like combo multipliers, orb manipulation, and knowing which elements are most effective against other elements) are not adequately explained to beginners. Check out my video below for a more visual comparison. This is the best game ever from the Southeast Asia region Developed by Gumi’s Singapore team, I think that Puzzle Trooper is very deliberately trying to do what Puzzle & Dragons overlooked in its localization, presenting that proven puzzle-RPG game model to global audiences in a manner which they can understand [1]. There are countless similarities with P&D, but the characters are completely different (and very much not in a Japanese style), presented as army troops that can be collected, enhanced, and evolved….

puzzle-trooper

Last week game developers Kabam and Gumi launched their Puzzle Trooper game for a number of markets worldwide, on iOS and Android. The game is clearly very much influenced by the wildly successful Puzzle & Dragons, but it takes advantages of one key area where P&D could have done better: localization.

For Western users who play Puzzle & Dragons, including myself, it may take a while to grasp many of the game’s core concepts. I think that in the English version of the game, some things (like combo multipliers, orb manipulation, and knowing which elements are most effective against other elements) are not adequately explained to beginners. Check out my video below for a more visual comparison.

This is the best game ever from the Southeast Asia region

Developed by Gumi’s Singapore team, I think that Puzzle Trooper is very deliberately trying to do what Puzzle & Dragons overlooked in its localization, presenting that proven puzzle-RPG game model to global audiences in a manner which they can understand [1].

There are countless similarities with P&D, but the characters are completely different (and very much not in a Japanese style), presented as army troops that can be collected, enhanced, and evolved. I’ve been playing the game for a few days, and so far I really like it a lot. There is an interesting player-vs-player option where you can game with friends over Bluetooth, which looks fun. And the in-game text is pretty humorous, as are the fun character names.

So far the game has been made available to markets outside Japan, and it is currently number one in the role-playing category in Thailand, Malaysia, Spain, Russia, Brunei, and the Dominican Republic. I look forward to seeing how far this game can go now that Kabam is on board with Gumi. The company’s CEO Hironao Kunimitsu is pretty enthusiastic about the title, telling me that his Singapore team did a great job, adding “This is the best game ever from the Southeast Asia region.”

If you’d like to give it a try, you can get it for free over on the App Store.


  1. It should be noted that Puzzle Trooper has not launched in the Japanese market. So if anyone is wondering why GungHo is (apparently) not upset about a game that borrows so heavily from its hit game Puzzle & Dragons, perhaps that’s one of the main reasons. In any case, as much as I like Puzzle & Dragons, I think it’s good that Gumi can build a game like this one.  ↩

Reps from GREE, DeNA, and Gumi discuss how to win in global gaming

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This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit 2013 in Sapporo, Japan. You can read more of our reports from this event here. The late afternoon session of the Infinity Ventures Summit featured a panel on mobile gaming, highlighting the efforts of Japanese game companies to win over the global market. Panelists included GREE International’s SVP Eiji Araki, DeNA’s chief platform strategy officer Junichi Akagawa, and Gumi’s president and CEO Hironao Kunimitsu. The discussion was moderated by Taisei Tanaka, the CEO of Geisha Tokyo Entertainment. Araki-san explained that the US and Japan are very different markets, noting that they have had successes and failures in the US. He cited Modern War, Crime City, and Zombie Jombie as a couple of their success stories. He noted that at GREE International (in San Francisco), they work differently than they do in Japan. In the US, they have a very systemized approach across pre-production, production, beta, and general availability phases. And after every stage, there is a check point to reflect on if the game has potential to be a top 5 title. If they aren’t happy with a progress, they may cancel the game mid-way. DeNA’s Akagawa explained that…

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This is part of our coverage of the Infinity Ventures Summit 2013 in Sapporo, Japan. You can read more of our reports from this event here.


The late afternoon session of the Infinity Ventures Summit featured a panel on mobile gaming, highlighting the efforts of Japanese game companies to win over the global market. Panelists included GREE International’s SVP Eiji Araki, DeNA’s chief platform strategy officer Junichi Akagawa, and Gumi’s president and CEO Hironao Kunimitsu. The discussion was moderated by Taisei Tanaka, the CEO of Geisha Tokyo Entertainment.

GREE SVP Eiji Araki
GREE SVP Eiji Araki

Araki-san explained that the US and Japan are very different markets, noting that they have had successes and failures in the US. He cited Modern War, Crime City, and Zombie Jombie as a couple of their success stories. He noted that at GREE International (in San Francisco), they work differently than they do in Japan. In the US, they have a very systemized approach across pre-production, production, beta, and general availability phases. And after every stage, there is a check point to reflect on if the game has potential to be a top 5 title. If they aren’t happy with a progress, they may cancel the game mid-way.

DeNA’s Akagawa explained that the biggest challenges for his company in expanding abroad is ensuring that there is a consistency of management principles as well as a synchronization of corporate philosophies across regions. Building trust and communication across different cultures is difficult, and without trust you can’t really do anything. If a game doesn’t meet it’s goal, does the fault lie with the US or Japan office? This is when good communication comes into play. He notes with a laugh that ‘nom-unication’ (a Japanese portmanteau to describe communication through drinking parties together) is a word they throw around a lot.

Solving the puzzle

In terms of developing a successful game, Akagawa made the comparison to baseball, noting that if you want a hit you need to swing many times. But interestingly, Japan’s most popular mobile game, GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragon’s is somewhat of an exception to this rule.

Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu
Gumi CEO Hironao Kunimitsu

Kunimitsu questioned whether or not the money GungHo is making with P&D can be sustained. Akagawa expressed confidence that it can continue at least for a while longer. But it was also noted that many investors overseas don’t know about GungHo, and once they learn about them, there might be some investment coming – resulting in another boost for the company.

But to continue the baseball analogy, if you are swinging and not hitting, then you need to adjust your swing. Akagawa noted that in each market, a publisher needs to figure out what is most likely to resonate in that particular area:

If you want to develop globally, in order to have a game in the top ranking, you need to localize to make sure your game is accepted. At the same time some games are not accepted by the mass public, but if you have core users you can still succeed.

But of course, then there are games that are popular the world over like Angry Birds. But Araki noted that trying to develop such a wide-appealing game can be a gamble. GREE uses a lot of data trying to figure out what will work. Gumi’s Kunimitsu-san pointed to another problem, saying that “content is a zero sum game” and even if your game is popular, but another is more popular – then you still lose.

DeNA's Junichi Akagawa
DeNA’s Junichi Akagawa

Akagawa closed out the session by saying that DeNA has a now or never approach, and that they have to move fast. This is a sentiment that we heard before among some of the country’s more successful internet companies (most notably, Line).

It will be interesting to see how quick all three of these gaming companies can move in the near future, in their efforts to win over global gamers.

B Dash Panel: The next stage in social games

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This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2013. On day two of B Dash Camp 2013 in Fukuoka, we had a chance to hear from panel of high profile speakers from the social gaming space. Participating speakers included: Naoki Aoyagi, SVP, global operations, GREE Inc. Kenji Kobayashi, the chief game strategy officer, member of the board, DeNA Co. Ltd. Andrew Sheppard, president, Kabam Game Studios Takeshi Sato, director and general manager, platform business division, Mobcast Hironao Kunimitsu, founder and CEO, Gumi Inc. The following are our preliminary live notes from the session. Much of the talk ended up being surprisinly reflective, but there were some notes where speakers looked ahead to the future. 14:28 – Andrew Sheppard says Kabam has 600 employees, 7 offices, been in business three years. Last year they had the top grossing iOS app, top gorrsing iOS game in 50 countries. They were a top 10 mobile gamng comaoaany, with 11 million users. They have $55M in the bank, so doing well! 14:29 – Andrews says that North Amercian is largely an iOS market, and that Asia and Europe are more and more Android. But what’s exciting is that gaming is…

gaming-panel

This is a part of our coverage of B Dash Camp Fukuoka 2013.

On day two of B Dash Camp 2013 in Fukuoka, we had a chance to hear from panel of high profile speakers from the social gaming space. Participating speakers included:

  • Naoki Aoyagi, SVP, global operations, GREE Inc.
  • Kenji Kobayashi, the chief game strategy officer, member of the board, DeNA Co. Ltd.
  • Andrew Sheppard, president, Kabam Game Studios
  • Takeshi Sato, director and general manager, platform business division, Mobcast
  • Hironao Kunimitsu, founder and CEO, Gumi Inc.

The following are our preliminary live notes from the session. Much of the talk ended up being surprisinly reflective, but there were some notes where speakers looked ahead to the future.

14:28 – Andrew Sheppard says Kabam has 600 employees, 7 offices, been in business three years. Last year they had the top grossing iOS app, top gorrsing iOS game in 50 countries. They were a top 10 mobile gamng comaoaany, with 11 million users. They have $55M in the bank, so doing well!

14:29 – Andrews says that North Amercian is largely an iOS market, and that Asia and Europe are more and more Android. But what’s exciting is that gaming is the rare content on mobile that indexes high in terms of reach, engagement, and monetization.

14:31 – Kabam’s game Kings of Camelot was a top 5 grossing worldwide game in 2012, at number 4.

14:32 – Andrew reminds us of their recent announcement of a $50M fund for developers. Apologizes for the reminder with a smile.

14:33 – Mobcast’s Sato: The focus on sports games, now open to foreign partners. From yesterday they opened their development partner site. They also have ‘Mobcast Girls’ for promotion.

14:35 – Both Aoyagi of GREE and Kobayashi of DeNA say they are doing well, but things could be better. Kobayashi sounds slightly more optimistic in tone than Aoyagi.

14:36 – Aoyagi: In terms of sales growth the US shows the best performance, so I’m based there. But sometimes my boss calls for me to help out on Tokyo projects. […] So yes, I’m back here quite a bit. Some people create rumors that I’m here in Japan, but there are not many doing well here besides Gungho. If you look at the top titles from makers like Supercell, they’re in the US. When you think about revenue and profit, the US is taking off finally. I think in Japan there was a peak of funding about two years ago […] but I think right now its kind of declining or shrinking.

14:37 – Kobayashi: Basically I’m supervising on a global level, especially on smartphones. Before it was about execution, but now its more about which fields you compete it.

14:39 – Now speaking about Puzzle & Dragons: Andrew says he’s played a bit, says it has not succeed in US yet. Is a very smart game. Because of the mechanic its great for Asian markets, almost like calligraphy. But Americans are slow and not very smart, so maybe it’s difficult (jokingly).

14:41 – Sato: They have TV commercials and that adds to their users. They did all the basics well, and that’s why they have a hit.

14:42 – Kobayashi: The quality when they started was so high. When they started the commercials it was around mid October, and after that it was a really significant increase, and word of mouth and influences really helped. I think they had the right timing.

14:46 – Kobayashi on what’s next? In different countries, different things work. So you can really make whatever you want. But quality is very important. And if you just try to emulate Puzzle & Dragon’s then you will fail.

14:49 – Aoyagi says that the tablet market is something huge, and tablet first is a phrase we’re hearing. If you’re targeting hardcore gamers, the tablet is something you need to look at, especially in the US market. Sato, as you might expect, says they think sports have potential, sand notes the world cup might result in popular soccer games next year.

14:54 – Andrew says he joined when Kabam created KoC, he was very impressed by their CEO, who he describes as a young person but an ‘old soul’. Right from the beginning he put much trust in him, and that’s why he enjoys his job.

14:56 – Sato mentions that he had very good chemistry with his president as well.

15:03 – Andrew notes they have opened an office in Korea to being their Asia push, and they are very exciting about this.

15:04 – I want to focus on foreign markets, and when we listed I was wondering about where we should head. We have the world cup next year, and our president wants to have a global approach, and maybe we can have some kind of global competition among users, and I think that will be intriguing.

15:05 – Kobayashi: foreign markets are really growing so we want to follow and exceed the trend.

15:06 – Aoyagi: Jokes that they plan to acquire Gumi in the future. Says they want to hit good results abroad, thinks that in the past it has been one hit that really changes the world, and he thinks in the future it will also be a sort of trigger like this.