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As football season nears, GREE improves ‘NFL Shuffle’ — But can it be a hit game?

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Last year Japanese mobile gaming company GREE (TYO:3632) introduces a football battle card game for the North American market called NFL Shuffle. Despite a few bugs in early iterations of the title, I quickly became a fan, and have enjoyed the game ever since. Recently GREE announced an update that brought some interesting new elements into gameplay, leading up to the up the 2013 NFL season. A new “talents” feature has been introduced to certain players/cards, giving them special abilities that can be triggered at certain times in your game. For example, in the picture below you can see a LeSean McCoy card added ability that can be triggered at key moments. While I have enjoyed the game so far, I think that it is sorely missing an element of skill – and perhaps this new variable can fix that. I have yet to pick up a card that has to new feature, but I’ll keep you posted and perhaps follow this up with a video review. For me the early levels in season mode were painfully easy, and then when you reach “captain” level (particularly when you run up against the 49ers) the game becomes painfully difficult – almost…

gree-nfl-shuffle

Last year Japanese mobile gaming company GREE (TYO:3632) introduces a football battle card game for the North American market called NFL Shuffle. Despite a few bugs in early iterations of the title, I quickly became a fan, and have enjoyed the game ever since.

Recently GREE announced an update that brought some interesting new elements into gameplay, leading up to the up the 2013 NFL season. A new “talents” feature has been introduced to certain players/cards, giving them special abilities that can be triggered at certain times in your game.

For example, in the picture below you can see a LeSean McCoy card added ability that can be triggered at key moments.

lesean-mccoy-nfl-shuffle
NFL Shuffle’s new ‘talents’ feature

While I have enjoyed the game so far, I think that it is sorely missing an element of skill – and perhaps this new variable can fix that. I have yet to pick up a card that has to new feature, but I’ll keep you posted and perhaps follow this up with a video review.

For me the early levels in season mode were painfully easy, and then when you reach “captain” level (particularly when you run up against the 49ers) the game becomes painfully difficult – almost impossible, unless you buy premium cards, which may be GREE’s intention. But for users who opt not to pay, it has left the game somewhat crippled, so I hope the new update remedies that [1].

This game is an intriguing port of the Japanese card battle model into a game genre that traditionally sticks to other formats. GREE’s MLB Full Deck is a similar effort for those who prefer baseball. I’m curious to hear from other players of NFL Shuffle to get your impressions of the game so far. Can GREE iterate it into a hit game as the 2013 season progresses? The company is still in search of its first real overseas hit, so we’ll have to wait and see how the year plays out.

Talents feature
talent activated!

  1. I count myself among that category of gamers who don’t want to pay for in-app purchases. Most of my iOS spending ends up (for better or worse) going towards productivity apps and text editors!  ↩

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Gyao and Gree team up to invest in animation content development

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Gyao, a broadband video distribution company and a subsidiary of Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689), and Japanese social gaming giant Gree (TYO:3632) announced today the two companies have agreed to establish a fund to invest in animation content development. The fund will be worth 100 million yen (over $1 million dollars), and the two companies will split the ownership of the joint venture 50/50, and it will tentatively be called ‘Future Content Partners’. Content from the fund’s portfolio companies is expected to be distributed to Yahoo Japan’s premium service subscribers in formats for broadband video streaming, in social gaming, and more. Gyao, Gree, and Yahoo Japan have agreed to set up an information portal in the first half of this year, which focuses on introducing animated content such as games, video titles, and e-comic books. A recent survey says that the Japanese animation business is worth 219.7 billion yen (or approximately $2.3 billion), and revenues have been on the rise for the last three years. When we look at the retail business that springs from the animation industry, such as merchandising character toys, its volume exceeds more than a trillion ($10.6 billion). So it’s definitely a lucrative space. GREE (English / Japanese)

yahoo-gree

Gyao, a broadband video distribution company and a subsidiary of Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689), and Japanese social gaming giant Gree (TYO:3632) announced today the two companies have agreed to establish a fund to invest in animation content development. The fund will be worth 100 million yen (over $1 million dollars), and the two companies will split the ownership of the joint venture 50/50, and it will tentatively be called ‘Future Content Partners’.

Content from the fund’s portfolio companies is expected to be distributed to Yahoo Japan’s premium service subscribers in formats for broadband video streaming, in social gaming, and more. Gyao, Gree, and Yahoo Japan have agreed to set up an information portal in the first half of this year, which focuses on introducing animated content such as games, video titles, and e-comic books.

A recent survey says that the Japanese animation business is worth 219.7 billion yen (or approximately $2.3 billion), and revenues have been on the rise for the last three years. When we look at the retail business that springs from the animation industry, such as merchandising character toys, its volume exceeds more than a trillion ($10.6 billion). So it’s definitely a lucrative space.

GREE (English / Japanese)

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GREE and Yahoo Japan set up joint venture for mobile social game development

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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See our Japanese report on this story Japanese social gaming giant GREE (TYO:3632) and Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) are announcing [1] today that they will establish a joint venture for development of social games for smartphones. The initiative is tentatively called GxYz [2] With 200 million yen (about $2.16 million) in capital dedicated to the venture, this solidifies a partnership that was first announced back in November of 2012. Yahoo Japan is the most popular web portal in Japan, and GREE is looking to tap into that audience, funneling traffic from the smartphone version of the site to social games on GREE. The gaming company also hopes that those users can use Yahoo Wallet to pay for content on GREE. GREE and Yahoo Japan announced back in December that they would be co-sponsoring the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid. For more details, see GREE’s announcement in English and in Japanese.  ↩ We’re really glad that this is tentative.  ↩

yahoo-gree

See our Japanese report on this story

Japanese social gaming giant GREE (TYO:3632) and Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) are announcing [1] today that they will establish a joint venture for development of social games for smartphones. The initiative is tentatively called GxYz [2]

With 200 million yen (about $2.16 million) in capital dedicated to the venture, this solidifies a partnership that was first announced back in November of 2012. Yahoo Japan is the most popular web portal in Japan, and GREE is looking to tap into that audience, funneling traffic from the smartphone version of the site to social games on GREE. The gaming company also hopes that those users can use Yahoo Wallet to pay for content on GREE.

GREE and Yahoo Japan announced back in December that they would be co-sponsoring the Tokyo 2020 Olympic bid.

  1. For more details, see GREE’s announcement in English and in Japanese.  ↩

  2. We’re really glad that this is tentative.  ↩

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With new investment fund, GREE hopes to secure top developers

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Gaming giant GREE (TYO:3632) has just announced a new $10 million fund targeting high quality game developers. As many of you may know, the first recipient of this fund, San Francisco-based MunkyFun, was announced in December. But today GREE is disclosing more details about the size of the fund, as well as their criteria for investment. I spoke with Jim Ying, who is the VP of publishing and partners and GREE International, and he pointed out that even though the company has a high quality internal studio system, they wanted to figure out a way to work with more standout external developers: We’re hopeful that we can hit the next blockbuster, and for our fund, that’s what we’re banking on. We’re not going to be looking at the long tail of developers, but rather the focus is on talent and developers with the potential to make a top 25 game. What’s in store for developers? ¶ With each investment planned to be of $1 million or more, GREE explains that this fund will provide more than just money. In addition the company plans to share access to its teams and tools with frequent calls and on-site visits, most directly with…

gree

Gaming giant GREE (TYO:3632) has just announced a new $10 million fund targeting high quality game developers. As many of you may know, the first recipient of this fund, San Francisco-based MunkyFun, was announced in December. But today GREE is disclosing more details about the size of the fund, as well as their criteria for investment.

I spoke with Jim Ying, who is the VP of publishing and partners and GREE International, and he pointed out that even though the company has a high quality internal studio system, they wanted to figure out a way to work with more standout external developers:

We’re hopeful that we can hit the next blockbuster, and for our fund, that’s what we’re banking on. We’re not going to be looking at the long tail of developers, but rather the focus is on talent and developers with the potential to make a top 25 game.

What’s in store for developers?

With each investment planned to be of $1 million or more, GREE explains that this fund will provide more than just money. In addition the company plans to share access to its teams and tools with frequent calls and on-site visits, most directly with the San Fransisco team initially. There will also be a portion of this fund set aside for marketing as well, which Jim explains could be the biggest impediment for game developers looking for the next big hit in the US market in particular:

In western markets that’s the biggest challenge, I’d say. Developers can build a great game but if they can’t expose it to players eyeballs there’s not going to be the support and the revenue generation that the game deserves.

While GREE relies heavily on expensive advertising methods like television in its home market of Japan, Jim points out that the US and most Western markets have not yet matured to that level. So far most of the advertising in the US is still on a CPI basis, and in terms of marketing dollars for this fund, that’s what the company is referring to.

Eyes South

GREE has already made some inroads in South America with tie-ups with Brazil-based Vostu and Columbia’s Brainz. And this new fund focuses attention towards the region too, considering applicants not just from North America, but from South America. Jim adds, “There’s really a lot of creative talent down there. We want to make sure we capture the really talented developers.”

Moving forward in 2013, GREE is pinning high hopes on developers MunkyFun as well as Vancouver based IUGO. So it will be interesting to watch if they — along with any other partners GREE brings on board — can deliver the hit game that they are hoping for this year. Stay tuned!

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