A Congruence of Factors for Monetizing Online Games in Japan

There have been a lot of Japanese games which have made heads spin across the world. These are usually the result of a game concept extended to the technology at  hand. These were the handheld game-and-watch games of the early 1980s, and early wristwatches with built-in games. Although handheld consoles have taken these games into the 21st century with great graphics, the real and unseen revolution was the incorporation of collaborative games. One of the most successful handheld game with its own ecosystem was Pokemon. At its core, this is a single-player game card for kids. However, one innovation included in Pokemon was the ability to share or transfer ownership of pokemon creatures. Extending this ability to internet games has been a real money maker. Monetizing with in-game commodities has been a big moneymaker for a lot of online games. A lot of MMORPG games and browser-based social games make money off of in-game transactions. As it turns out, online game monetization is done better by Japanese firms as compared to American companies. There are a lot of reasons why monetization works better in Japan. The country, itself, is the third biggest economy in the world. Even with an economic slowdown during the 1990s, and the effects of the global financial crisis, they have not experienced any shrinking in their economy. During the same period during the rise of the internet, social networks and online markets, Japanese online spending has also been better compared to most of the world. Even with a high cost of living, the Japanese still have a big percentage of their earnings in disposable income. This translates to the Japanese having the second highest online spending per capita in the world. Related to the individual wealth and spending habits is the ease with which the Japanese can spend on online games. Japan has a higher than 99% 3G telephony coverage, and almost everyone has access to mobile games. Handsets (both smartphones and feature phones) have apps pre-installed allowing for mobile payment. Most feature phones have built-in apps for paying train and bus tickets. These bills are not paid separately but instead are part of the month's billing statement. On top of the carrier billing, there other payment modes which have been in use in Japan even before 3G, including credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, e-wallets (also called e-money) and Paypal. Merging the ease of payment with an enthusiastic gaming nation, is a formula for easy migration to monetized gaming. Japan is a gaming nation, as can be seen on television game shows of every kind. Mobile apps just made it easier for them to play games on their phones. Among the most popular games are social card games, as discussed above, these are like Pokemon and with tie-ups to anime and manga, these are self-promoting. Up to 70% of the most popular games are social card games. Japan has always had a big share of the worldwide video game market and they currently command a 10% share. Although it is very rare that social card games export well. The increasing popularity of social card games and the ease with which these can be distributed via mobile phones, has resulted in the shift of market strategy among major video game makers. These companies have also introduced their own social card game apps. With their marketing savvy, and tie-ups with mobile app channels, there is practically a stream of social card game apps being introduced to the Japanese market. Understandably, there is still the challenge of entering the Japanese gaming market. It requires some level of knowledge and expertise in the industry in order to successfully execute this venture. Japan-based firms such as GMO Cloud understands the need for this kind of service and has since started to offer localization and marketing services that aid the entry of these foreign companies. With tie-ups on intellectual property holdings for titles and with established distribution channels, mobile games are not going to dry up soon. The Japanese willingness to pay for their games and for level ups, monetizing on in-game services and acquisitions will continue to be a big source of income for game developers, and mobile channels.

Be Part of Our Cloud Conversation

Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.   About the Guest Author: Rodolfo Lentejas, Jr. is a fulltime freelance writer based in Toronto. He is the founder of the PostSckrippt, a growing online writing business dedicated to producing top quality, original and fresh content. To know more about him, please visit www.postsckrippt.ca. Like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.