One of the biggest strategic shifts happening in gaming today is the investment that Japanese mobile social gaming network giants — Gree and DeNA — are making in the U.S. mobile gaming market.
That’s why it’s a big deal that a Japanese-made title, Rage of Bahamut, has risen to the top of the Apple App Store. Japan’s Cygames made the title and DeNA published it on the Mobage social game network, which is in the midst of its debut in the U.S. While mobile games have generated huge revenues in Japan, the test is whether they will get huge audiences in the U.S.
Cygames adapted the popular social card battle game for Mobage. The game is No. 1 on the Apple App Store’s top grossing chart in the U.S. The Android version of the title also hit the top grossing chart on Google Play for more than six weeks in the U.S.
Rage of Bahamut was originally developed as a browser-based title by Cygames and it debuted in Japan on Mobage under the name Shingeki-No-Bahamut. It is a fantasy adventure game where players roam the world, collecting, synthesizing and evolving a variety of unique cards with fantasy artwork.
The title was translated into English and released on the Android market in February via DeNA’s Ngmoco subsidiary. The iOS version of the title was released on May 15 on Mobage. The network is a common community of gamers who play Mobage games. Rage of Bahamut has more than 1 million registered users across both Android and iOS.
“Cygames is delighted to see U.S. Mobage users enjoying Rage of Bahamut,” said Koichi Watanabe, President & CEO of Cygames. “We
will continue to bring the best entertainment experiences that exceed
the expectations of people around the world.”
DeNA was founded in 1999 and it has more than 1,800 employees. DeNA’s Mobage network has 40 million users and DeNA generated $1.8 billion in revenues in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012. More Japan-made titles are coming to the U.S.
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