Rovio Japan established an office in Tokyo, Shibuya

Rovio Japan opened an office in Tokyo, Shibuya. The representative is Antti Sonninen. Address is here.
8F 3-15-4, Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Furthermore, they concluded licensing agreement with Sanrio fareast. They help with development in Japan of overseas characters. Above all, they are one company of the Sanrio group, the giant character business in Japan . This is an important business tie-up.

They do interesting goods sale "Minna no Kuji(みんなのくじ:Lottery for all people)" in all over Japan. This is marketing technique peculiar of Japan. The people pull a lottery at Lawson(convenience store) and the bookstore. One time of lottery is 500yen(about 5.2USD), they do not have a loser. The people can get one of goods of Angry Birds by all means.

This technique resembles Gacha closely. However, a vending machine is necessary for Gacha. However, it is not necessary for "Minna no Kuji" and can offer a large-sized prize. The size of stuffed toy of Bird and Pig are more than 30 centimeters.

Unfortunately, "Minna no Kuji" is hardly performed in Tohoku:( I want to pull a lottery very much. and to do it by all means if I go to Tokyo.

Masterpiece of Manga/Anime "Dragon Ball" becomes the mobile game at last!

Today, Bandai NAMCO games announced that they releases game apps "Dragon Ball Tap Battle" for smartphones in a few days.

Dragon Ball is very popular Manga/Anime, but did not become a social game and the mobile game until now somehow. "Dragon Ball Tap Battle" is 2D action battle game. Players can operate various characters, and battle with other players by Bluetooch communication. Downloading price is 350 yen(About 3.6USD). However, it is unknown whether there is overseas support.

A lot of cute goods! Gungho opens online shop of "Puzzle & Dragons"

"Puzzle & Dragons" of Gungho online entertainment is a smartphone game raising profit most in Japan. However, they are going to get profit from not only the apps but also goods. They opened an online shop "Pazudoraya（パズドラ屋）" last Friday.

They have already sold many cute goods.

iPhone case is 630yen(about 6.6USD).

Stuffed toy for cars is 1,029yen(about 10.7USD).

Mug cup is 1,000yen(about 10.4USD).

Earphone Jack accessories are 5,999yen(about 62.85USD) with 1dozen. Why are they necessary in large quantities? Because we change parts and are put together.

Unfortunately they cope with only shipment in Japan. If they release for overseas users, will these be popular?

Messaging application war in Japan

As LINE becomes popular, Japanese companies releasing messaging application increase. Therefore I made Japanese messaging application list.


Nakamap
Release date: December, 2010
Company: Kayac
You might think unexpectedly, but this was released earlier than LINE. This got not only Japanese users but also overseas users. However, unfortunately it has been overtaken by LINE. Kayac shows SDK of this for other game developers. Developers can add a chat and message function to own game apps by using this.


LINE
Release date: June, 2011
Company: NHN Japan
The explanation will be already unnecessary. This is messaging apps most popular in Japan. It have 120 million users now.


Comm
Release date: October, 2012
Company: DeNA
DeNA was known as an operator of Mobage, but they released this on October 23, 2012. They are going to be opposed to LINE by all stamps(stickers) for free.


ARAPPLI
Release date: October, 2012
Company: Arara
Originally ARAPPLI is AR platform app. However, Arara released ARAPPLI ver.3.0 on October 25, 2012, and added a chat and message function newly.  Users can use character "charm" using the 3DCG animation in a chat and a message. It is just like the stamp(Sticker).


mixi message
Release date: October, 2012
Company: mixi
mixi is main Social Networking Service in Japan. They did UI of the message function like messaging apps for smartphones on October 30, 2012. It is totally like LINE, and has the stamp(sticker) function, too.


Avachar
Release date: December, 2012
Company: Aeria
Avachar is the apps that combined a avatar, chat and message. Users make own avatar and can use it as a stamp(Sticker).


Tellit(iOS/Android)
Release date: December, 2012
Company: GREE
This is not yet official release. However, GREE tests this in Australia, New Zealand and India. Characters of their social game are included in the stamps.


FC2Talk
Release date: January, 2013
Company: FC2
This is messaging apps based on geolocation. Users can communicate with the people whom there is near oneself.


DECOLINK
Release date: February, 2013
Company: CyberAgent
DECOLINK is the messaging apps focused on the teenager girls. The design is KAWAII thoroughly. There are 10,000 kinds stamps(stickers), and all of them are free of charge.


freeml TALK
Release date: March, 2013
Company: GMO Media
freeml TALK is messaging apps based on mailing list service freeml. freeml is well-established service continuing more than ten years, and they have many users. Users can do communicate with members of the mailing list. Of course there is the stamp(sticker) function, too.

However, the apps that has been over exist.

Grenge, joint venture of mixi and cyber agent released "Group Talk" for Android in September, 2011. However, this was not able to get users.


CyberAgent released "cubie talk" for iOS in August, 2012. It was the cute apps that combined avatar and messaging apps. However, it was over on February 26, 2013.

KONAMI's Dating Sim "Love Plus" becomes the social game in GREE

Love Plus series is KONAMI's popular Dating Sim for Nintendo DS. It attracted many Japanese men. Because virtual girlfriends were too attractive, there was the person who married her.



However, this becomes the social game in GREE. This is "Love Plus Collection".

Love Plus Collection is a game to simulate high school life like DS version. Users love a virtual girlfriend in high school life. The change of the season in the game links a real life season in Japan, and time-limited events about various seasons are held. It is most important that virtual girlfriend increased.

The choices of users increased, too. All of their character and data are different. Of course the scenario diverges what kind of action users take. If this is released, Japanese men who are in love with virtual girlfriend will increase than before.

Japanese social game developer Altplus and GREE performed a capital tie-up

Japanese social game developer Altplus and GREE performed a capital and business alliance for mobile contents development and established joint venture "Altdash". They are going to offer the first game in May and release 4 titles including this by the end of the year.

Altplus provides mobile social RPG "Bahamut Brave" in GREE and has more than 1 million users.

This is the popular game that won the grand prix in annual award "GREE Platform Award 2012". They were listed on the Stock Exchange in Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers on March 14.

In addition, they are going to release a mobile social game about popular Manga/Anime "Saint Seiya" in GREE.

They are very busy this year.

Japan overflows with "milestone" news

This week, Japan has a lot of big news of the social game.

Social RPG for smartphones "Puzzle & Dragons" of Gungho online entertainment broke through 10 million downloading at last. Because this made a hit, their stock prices rise. The stock prices of Gungho are more expensive now than GREE and Mobage.

Virtual world "LINE Play" of the japanese popular messaging apps for smartphones LINE broke through 6 million users. They released a global version at the end of last month. Then they got 2 million new users in two weeks.
See Also:
Virtual world of messaging apps LINE "LINE Play" broke through 4M users

And NHN Japan announced that the total downloading number of game apps offering on a game platform of LINE "LINE GAME" exceeded 100 million. It is the 7th month in this month since LINE GAME starts. Game apps of LINE GAME are always located in the high rank of the free game ranking of JP App Store. It is LINE POP to be the most popular.

The tie-up apps of Domino's Pizza Japan and Hatsune Miku makes a hit, and the business is brisk

I wrote about Domino's Pizza Japan tie-up with Hatsune Miku.

See Also:
Domino's Pizza Japan cooperated with Hatsune Miku and released AR apps for iOS

According to ITmedia, it gets big success.

The apps became the reputation, and pizzas sold at their greater-than-expected speed. Therefore the stock of packages of the  Hatsune Miku are short. The packages of the pizza function as AR marker. However, there were a lot of fans who collected them because illustrations were cute. Domino's Pizza Japan increases packages of the pizza at full speed now.

Tie-up special site

Earthquake, radioactivity and Nameko mushroom

Today, March 11 is the day that big earthquake and tsunami attacked Tohoku, Japan. 2 years passed from that. However, unfortunately only some restoration advance. The big reason is radioactive contamination.

I do agriculture with a family now in Akita(There is a part of Tohoku). Last week, I heard an interesting story by a seminar of the farm products processing. After 2011 Aftermath of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the farm products, the fish, meat of Tohoku were not able to sell at all. Of course the reason is radioactivity. Actually, those most were harmless, but  the people were confused and had fear. Therefore, the economy of Tohoku was delayed. However, only the sales of the Nameko mushroom were restored by awful force in a short term.

What happened in Nameko mushroom? Well, Nameko Saibai Kit(Mushroom Garden　a.k.a. Funghi Gardening Kit) was released in June, 2011.

It becomes popular in an instant, and it becomes the most popular mobile game now in Japan. And the people bought the real Nameko mushroom with Nameko goods(The Nameko mushroom is used as an ingredient of the miso soup).

Most of farming families of Tohoku are elderly people, so they do not know a lot about smartphone apps. They wondered it why only the sales of the Nameko mushroom were restored. However, they noticed it because popularity of Nameko spread among Japan and their grandchildren bought Nameko goods.

This is a small event in agriculture of Tohoku, but this has big significance. The game may occasionally save people.

What is the today's gadget of Doraemon? Let's tell it in Facebook!

The new movie of Doraemon "Doraemon; Nobita's Museum of Secret Gadget" is showing now in Japan.



Doraemon is a Japanese SF manga/anime series created by Fujiko. F. Fujio.   Doraemon is the cat like robot which came over from 22nd century in 20~21 century. He is a baby-sitter robot and helps primary schoolchild Nobita with various gadgets. The anime is broadcasted on every Friday, and the movies are shown every year. "Doraemon; Nobita's Museum of Secret Gadget" is 33rd movie.

Apps for promotion of this movie was released late last week in Facebook. This is "Secret Gadget Today!!!".

This is simple diagnosis apps. We access this and can tell Doraemon's secret gadget appropriate for ourself at that time, and share this in Facebook.

We can tell in this 3 times in 1day.

An album can collect the gadgets which appeared.

When we gather all the gadgets, we can apply for the prize of the T-shirts.

Unfortunately this supports only Japanese. However, this is appropriate if you want to share something of cute in Facebook.

Japanese mobile geolocation social game helps local economy

Japanese Mapion did cool announcement this week. They held a event with mall of Sumida-ku and Minato-ku using their mobile geolocation social game "Keitai Kunitori Gassen（ケータイ国盗り合戦）" in January 17 - February 18. And they mobilized 130,000 or more and achieved sales more than 40 million yen(about 420000USD) during the period.

The theme of Keitai Kunitori Gassen is Japanese Warring States Period (Keitai=Mobile, Kunitori=Territory cquisition, Gassen=Battle). Users becomes a warrior and acquires the territory by "check-in" at various places and aims at the Japan control. Furthermore, it has a cute avatar function, town sim function and time-limited events.

This event was held for the purpose of the pulling in customers to the local mall. Users scanned QR cords at 57 spots in the town and join in digital stamp rally(It promotes sightseeing). In addition, when they did shopping more than 500 yen in shops of the town, they were able to get cards called "Kunifuda（くにふだ）". The serial cord which could obtain the virtual item that users could push forward an event in Kunifuda profitably was placed. In other words, users were able to push forward an event profitably so as to get it if they got many Kunifuda.

They anticipated 10,000 event participants at first. However, this was a big misplacement. Participants broke through 100,000 people four weeks after since an event started. And the products of shops of the mall were selling like hot cakes. Furthermore, the unexpected effect appeared, too. Users flocked from the distant place(example; Hokkaido and Osaka) to participate in an event. They took advantage of the rental cycle of the local government to participate in an event efficiently. The shops made products of 500 yen and came to open on a regular holiday voluntarily. As a result, malls regained vigor.

The sales of 40 million yen are the numbers that are wonderful for a local mall. Now, the regional economy in Japan is the worst. Local mom and pop shops are critical condition because of the recession and advance of large stores. However, mobile geolocation social game has power to help them. By the way, different mobile geolocation social game Colopl always performs this measure and have many examples and know-how.

Noboru Yamada, Sumida-ku mall alliance society's chairperson said, "Our conventional event had the demerit that sales were concentrated only in the good place of the convenience to transportation. However, the sales of all areas improved in this event. It is difficult to understand the structure of the mobile game for old people like us. However, we have only to present a card to visitors at every shopping more than 500 yen. It is very simple. So event administration was possible smoothly. The lifestyle of consumers changes with the change of the times, and the size of the market reduces for declining birthrate more. We thought that it was necessary to do a new challenge in response to the change of the times through this event. "

Domino's Pizza Japan cooperated with Hatsune Miku and released AR apps for iOS

Domino's Pizza Japan released pizza order application for iOS "Domino’s App feat. HATSUNE MIKU" which cooperated with Hatsune Miku.

Hatsune Miku is a singing synthesizer application "Vocaloid" which developed by Crypton Future Media. This is personified as a girl, and anyone can use her image. She embodies in User Generated Contents movement. In Japan, many creators composed songs, drew illustrations, made videos and made figures with her.

"Domino's App feat. HATSUNE MIKU" is one of these movements. This is apps to order of pizzas basically. We can see the menu of pizzas, order it and check the delivery situation.

However, this has the function that is more important than them. It is AR function.

When we watch a pizza with a camera of iPhone/iPad, HATSUNE MIKU appears on a pizza and shows a live performance. Surprisingly, most contents used in this apps are made by crew of Domino's Pizza Japan. They have many talented people! :)

Please check these videos.