Serkan Toto is a social and mobile gaming industry consultant based in Japan. He gave a presentation on the gaming industry in Japan and key trends. The presentation covered: [1] The structure of Japan's social gaming market, which is dominated by GREE and DeNA. [2] Projections that Japan's social gaming market will reach $3.9 billion by 2013. [3] Ten key trends in gaming including the rise of smartphone, tablet, and indie gaming as well as cloud gaming and full immersion technologies. [4] Threats and opportunities for GREE and DeNA from regulations, international expansion, and competitive landscape changes.
TrustArc Webinar - Unlock the Power of AI-Driven Data Discovery
Trends In Gaming In Japan And Beyond (Special Focus: Mobage Operator DeNA And GREE)
1. Gaming In Japan And Beyond:
Where Is The Industry Going From Here?
By Serkan Toto, PhD
www.serkantoto.com
Image credit: DeNA
2. About Me
• Social and mobile gaming industry consultant
• Advisor for startups in Japan and the US
• Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com
• Based in Japan since 2004
• Hardcore gamer
• JP game blogger: http://www.serkantoto.com
7. Japan‘s Unique Social Networking
Landscape
• Basic structure: real social graph vs.
virtual social graph
• 3 homegrown social networks with 25-30+
million registered users each:
– Mixi (real/80% mobile social networking)
– GREE (virtual/mobile social gaming)
– Mobage (virtual/mobile social gaming)
8. Fragmented Industry Structure
• 400+ social application providers
• 2 dominant companies double as platform
and game providers:
GREE and DeNA (“Facebook+Zynga in 1“)
• IPOs said to increase going forward
• Rekoo only really successful foreign player
• Zynga Japan is an underdog
10. Key Peculiarity: Gaming Nation Japan
• Taito‘s Space Invaders kicked off the gaming
industry as a whole in 1978
• Nintendo‘s Famicom revitalized industry after
the big crash 1983
• Japan has 10% share ($6.5 billion) in global
video game market
• Games enjoy greater cultural attention in
Japan than elsewhere
• higher payment walls for progressing in social
games are accepted
11. Key Peculiarity: Mobile
• Social games (and the web at large) are
consumed mainly on mobile phones
• virtual item payment via carrier billing as
catalyst
• GREE/Mobage pre-installed on handsets
Image credit: KDDI au
12. Key Peculiarity: Special Genres
• Some social gaming genres are as popular in
Japan as elsewhere, i.e.
– farming
– pet-breeding
– city-building
– restaurant management etc.
• But some are especially popular over here
19. Size Of Japan‘s Social Gaming Market
Projection from Morgan Stanley, January 2012
20. Size Of Japan‘s Social Gaming Market
Projection from Nomura, January 2012
21. Size Of Japan‘s Social Gaming Market
Projection from JP Morgan, June 2011
• 011: US$2.8 billion
2
• 012: US$3.4 billion
2
• 013: US$3.9 billion
2
22. Size Of Japan‘s Social Gaming Market
Projections from other sources, July 2012
• Ministry Of Internal Affairs:
US$3.26 billion (in 2011)
• apan Online Game Association:
J
US$3.6 billion (in 2011)