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Check out the sights from LINE’s ‘Hello Friends’ event [Photos]

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending Line Corporation’s ‘Hello Friends in Tokyo’ event, the second such conference for the Japanese mobile powerhouse. If you’d like to replay the event in its entirety, it’s still available over on Ustream. We covered all the highlights here if you’d like a quick rundown. But for those who couldn’t attend the event in person, we thought we’d share some of the sights that weren’t shown on the livestream. If you check out the photos below, you can see some of the fun that took place outside the conference hall, most of which focused around Line’s characters and a merchandise shop. It was somewhat symbolic that Line held this event right next to Tokyo Disneyland, perhaps making a subtle statement about their aspirations for the Line character business, now being rebranding as ‘Line Friends.’ For even more information on the growth Line, check out our interactive Line Timeline, now in both English and Japanese.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of attending Line Corporation’s ‘Hello Friends in Tokyo’ event, the second such conference for the Japanese mobile powerhouse. If you’d like to replay the event in its entirety, it’s still available over on Ustream. We covered all the highlights here if you’d like a quick rundown.

But for those who couldn’t attend the event in person, we thought we’d share some of the sights that weren’t shown on the livestream. If you check out the photos below, you can see some of the fun that took place outside the conference hall, most of which focused around Line’s characters and a merchandise shop.

It was somewhat symbolic that Line held this event right next to Tokyo Disneyland, perhaps making a subtle statement about their aspirations for the Line character business, now being rebranding as ‘Line Friends.’

For even more information on the growth Line, check out our interactive Line Timeline, now in both English and Japanese.

Reception at the event. At this point I'm suspecting there will be lots of green today.
Reception at the event. At this point I’m suspecting there will be lots of green today.
Line's fancy press passes. Very cool.
Line’s fancy press passes. Very cool.
Line characters
Line characters guard the entrance to the auditorium
Line's in-house media crew getting ready
Line’s in-house media crew getting ready
CEO Akira Morikawa on stage
CEO Akira Morikawa on stage. Nice suit.
Line animations play before intermission
Line animations play before intermission
During the 20 minute break, attendees could check out the line store. These three greet you at the entrance.
During the 20 minute break, attendees could check out the line store. These three greet you at the entrance.
Line Pop and Line Pokopang roulette. Win some balloons and other merch.
Line Pop and Line Pokopang roulette. Win some balloons and other merch.
Line character James etched in frosted glass on the store window
Line character James etched in frosted glass on the store window
Line characters were in attendance too, getting pics taken with attendees
Line characters were in attendance too, getting pics taken with attendees
more photo ops
more photo ops
Line character figures near the entrance
Line character figures near the entrance
A souvenir from the show. Line character donut. I bit into his head!
A souvenir from the show. Line character donut. I bit into his head!

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Now with over 5 million downloads, Battle Cats gears up to move merchandise

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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So while I’m on the topic of Japanese tower defense games today (see my post from earlier today on GotchaWarriors), I thought I’d take a moment to update you on Battle Cats, a game that has been a favorite of mine over the past year. Since its initial release back in November, the game has gone on to hit three million downloads on February 25th, and then 4 million on March 26th. And keeping up that million-per-month pace, the game hit 5 million downloads just over a week ago. Now I don’t want to make any radical comparisons here, but that’s not far off the pace of Gungho’s hit game Puzzle & Dragons, which has been picking up a million downloads every three weeks or so. Of course Battle Cats – or Nyanko, as it is called in Japan – doesn’t have non-stop TV ads like P&D, so I think this is a pretty impressive feat. Serkan Toto today pointed out a Battle Cats collaboration with Princess Punt Sweets, and I’m sure efforts like this certainly help out a little. When I interviewed Kyoto-based Ponos last month, the publisher behind the uber-cute game, they confirmed that merchandising was in the…

battle-cats-5-million

So while I’m on the topic of Japanese tower defense games today (see my post from earlier today on GotchaWarriors), I thought I’d take a moment to update you on Battle Cats, a game that has been a favorite of mine over the past year. Since its initial release back in November, the game has gone on to hit three million downloads on February 25th, and then 4 million on March 26th. And keeping up that million-per-month pace, the game hit 5 million downloads just over a week ago.

nyanko
bbxx.jp

Now I don’t want to make any radical comparisons here, but that’s not far off the pace of Gungho’s hit game Puzzle & Dragons, which has been picking up a million downloads every three weeks or so. Of course Battle Cats – or Nyanko, as it is called in Japan – doesn’t have non-stop TV ads like P&D, so I think this is a pretty impressive feat. Serkan Toto today pointed out a Battle Cats collaboration with Princess Punt Sweets, and I’m sure efforts like this certainly help out a little.

When I interviewed Kyoto-based Ponos last month, the publisher behind the uber-cute game, they confirmed that merchandising was in the works for Battle Cats. And now fans of the game can pre-order some gear right now, as branded mugs, tote bags, and phone straps will go on sale this July (h/t Appbank).

But it’s really encouraging to see such strong character branding here in Japan, where game companies can capitalize on an entirely separate revenue stream.

If you have yet to play Battle Cats check out our video primer below.

Related news

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  3. battle-cats-4-million With over 4M downloads, crazy ‘Battle Cats’ game from Japan still has some surprises in store

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