DeNA Global and ngmoco LLC have been dissolved as DeNA pulls back from developing games in the West.
As spotted by games industry analyst Serkan Toto, a filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange reveals the company’s titles developed for Western markets had not met expectations.
As a result, DeNA will close its San Francisco offices and will now change its strategy from having internal studios to collaborations with external partners.
The move is expected to cost the business around $29 million. DeNA’s operations in Japan and China are unaffected by the decision.
Eastern refocus
DeNA had already announced in August that it would be focusing its attention on making games for Japan and growing its business in China. It posted a small revenue increase for the first financial quarter ending June 2016.
Despite its plans to focus on Japan and China, DeNA is still working with Nintendo on a number of mobile games based on Nintendo IP to be released globally.
The two companies released Miitomo earlier this year, but their second game, Super Mario Run, is expected to be released in December 2016. App Store pre-registrations for the game have already surpassed 20 million.
It’s unclear how DeNA’s decision to close its US subsidiary may affect the partnership with Nintendo.
PocketGamer.biz has previously reported on the difficulties faced by companies looking to expand East or West in our article: What happens when global expansion goes bad: A cautionary tale from Japan.