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  • Japan iPhone AppStore: 10 out of the 25 top grossing apps in Japan are by companies of foreign origin. Can you guess which?

    Japan iPhone AppStore: 10 out of the 25 top grossing apps in Japan are by companies of foreign origin. Can you guess which?

    Japan is No. 1 globally in terms of iOS AppStore + Google Play revenues, bigger and faster growing than USA

    10 out of 25 top grossing apps in Japan are of foreign origin

    Japan game market report (398 pages, pdf-file)

    Japan’s game makers and markets (32nd edition) – disruption by smartphone games

    AppAnnie showed that in terms of combined iOS AppStore + Google Play revenues, Japan is No. 1 globally, spending more than the USA. Therefore Japan is naturally the No. 1 target globally for many mobile game companies, and 10 out of 25 top grossing apps in Japan are of foreign origin!

    Japan’s iconic game companies created many game categories – this tradition carries over to mobile gaming now.

    Building a business in Japan is not trivial

    Many foreign game companies have failed and given up. Foreign game companies that have recently given up in Japan include Zynga and Habbo Hotel. EA has given up twice, and is now undertaking the third entry to Japan. To understand some of the key mistakes foreign companies make in Japan, read our blog about why Vodafone failed in Japan.

    Lets have a look at the list of top grossing games in the Apple iOS AppStore today. Out of the 25 top grossing games in the AppStore, 10 are by foreign originating companies. Can you guess which these are by reading the list below?

    So Japan is certainly not a “closed market”. Actually, it is obvious that Apple does not discriminate in any way against foreign companies in Japan.

    Interestingly, neither Nintendo, nor Rovio’s games, such as Angry Birds appear among the 200 “top grossing games” in Apple’s iOS Japan AppStore.

    Apple iOS AppStore-Japan “Top Grossing” games ranking – 10 out of the 25 top grossing apps in Japan are by companies of foreign origin

    Can you guess which 10 are by companies of foreign origin?

    (read the rankings on July 13, 2014 here)

    February 4, 2014:

    • No. 1 Puzzle & Dragons by GungHo
    • No. 2 Quiz RPG Witch and black cat quiz (by Colopl)
    • No. 3 Dragon Quest Monsters Superlight (by Square Enix)
    • No. 4 Monster strike (by Mixi)
    • No. 5 LINE Pokopang (by Naver Japan)
    • No. 6 Pro yakiyu PRIDE (by Colopl Inc)
    • No. 7 Tsuri Suta (by GREE)
    • No. 8 Sengoku Enbu (by Sumzap Inc)
    • No. 9 Puyo puyo!! Quest (by Sega Corporation)
    • No. 10 Gunzei RPG aoi no sangokushi (by Colopl)
    • No. 11 Bousou retsuden tansha tora (by Donuts Ltd) (a motobicycle race game)
    • No. 12 Dragon league X (by Asobism Co Ltd)
    • No. 13 Clash of Clans (by Supercell)
    • No. 14 Love life! School Idol Festival (by KLab Inc.)
    • No. 15 Candy Crush Saga (by King.com Ltd)
    • No. 16 LINE (by Naver Japan)
    • No. 17 Dragon poker (by Asobism Co Ltd)
    • No. 18 Gundam Area wars (by NamcoBandai Games Inc)
    • No. 19 Brave frontier (by Alim Co Ltd)
    • No. 20 Chain cronicle. Original scenario RPG. Chencro (by SEGA Corporation)
    • No. 21 LINE Play (by Naver Japan)
    • No. 22 LINE Bubble! (by Naver Japan)
    • No. 23 LINE Disney tsumu tsumu (by Naver Japan)
    • No. 24 World soccer collection S (by KONAMI)
    • No. 25 Hay Day (by Supercell)

    Japan game market report

    (398 pages, pdf-file)

    Japan’s game makers and markets (32nd edition) – disruption by smartphone games

    Copyright (c)2014 Eurotechnology Japan KK All Rights Reserved

  • Japan game market disruption: GungHo + DeNA + GREE overtake Japan’s game icons

    Japan game market disruption: GungHo + DeNA + GREE overtake Japan’s game icons

    Japan game market disruption: new smartphone game companies overtake Japan’s game icons like Nintendo in income

    [日本語版はこちらへ]

    Since last financial year (ended March 31, 2013), three newcomers (GungHo, DeNA, and GREE) combined achieved higher operating income and higher net income than all 9 iconic Japanese game companies (Nintendo + SONY-Games + SegaSammy + BandaiNamco + Konami + TakaraTomy + SquareEnix + Capcom + TecmoKoei) combined.

    While the newcomer’s revenues are increasing (except for GREE), the traditional 9 game companies’ revenues peaked in 2008, and have been falling rapidly ever since.

    Clearly Japan’s the 2003-2005 mergers in Japan’s game sector did not make the sector “future proof” – more dramatic changes will be either initiated by the iconic incumbents, or imposed on them from newcomers such as GungHo.

    Note that the position of foreign entrants remain weak in Japan’s game market overall.

    Read more in the article below or in our report on “Japan’s game makers and markets”, and in the following post “Brutal disruption of Japan’s Game Markets”.

    Three new game companies (GungHo, DeNA, GREE) overtake Japan's 9 iconic game companies in operating profits (note that the last data point for 2013 for GungHo is only for the first 6 months, i.e. full year results will show that the "new" game companies are doing even better compared to the "old" game companies than visible in this figure) Source: https://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jgames/
    Three new game companies (GungHo, DeNA, GREE) overtake Japan’s 9 iconic game companies in operating profits (note that the last data point for 2013 for GungHo is only for the first 6 months, i.e. full year results will show that the “new” game companies are doing even better compared to the “old” game companies than visible in this figure) Source: https://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jgames/
    Three newcomers (GungHo, DeNA, GREE) achieve higher net profits than all 9 Japanese game icons combined (note that the last data point for 2013 for GungHo is only for the first 6 months, i.e. full year results will show that the "new" game companies are doing even better compared to the "old" game companies than visible in this figure) source: https://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jgames/
    Three newcomers (GungHo, DeNA, GREE) achieve higher net profits than all 9 Japanese game icons combined (note that the last data point for 2013 for GungHo is only for the first 6 months, i.e. full year results will show that the “new” game companies are doing even better compared to the “old” game companies than visible in this figure) source: https://www.eurotechnology.com/store/jgames/

    Japan game market disruption: online and smartphone came company GungHo with Puzzle and Dragons

    GungHo started as OnSale KK, a joint-venture between SoftBank and the US company OnSale Inc., the purpose of this JV was Japan market entry for this US company, an ecommerce company.
    OnSale KK pivoted from ecommerce to games and started to distribute the Korean game Ragnarok and others, and changed its name to GungHo.
    GungHo’s breakthrough came with “Puzzle and Dragons” – Jan-June 2013 operating profits increased 4050.1% (four thousand fifty percent) compared to the same period one year ago. GungHo is part of the SoftBank group.
    More in our report on “Japan’s game makers and markets”

    Japan game market disruption: GREE

    GREE on the other hand – although a successful new venture in Japan’s game sector – is not doing so well currently: reported revenues and income have both been falling. Essentially, GREE has difficulties to implement the plan to build a global business based on their Japanese methods and business models. The factors are both “hard” and “soft”, i.e. business models, and human factors.
    Details on GREE’s performance, and reasons for GREE’s current issues in our report:

    Japan’s game makers and markets (32nd edition) – disruption by smartphone games

    Copyright 2013 Eurotechnology Japan KK All Rights Reserved