News

GREE to set up new San Francisco office as social mobile giant goes on US talent hunt

Best place to find new stars

GREE to set up new San Francisco office as social mobile giant goes on US talent hunt
The suggestion social rival DeNA is suffering – ngmoco reporting laying off staff in a bid to stay profitable – will undoubtedly please those at GREE, especially as the firm unveils plans to cement its presence in the US.

This spring will see GREE open up a new office in San Francisco, with the company claiming its new home in China Basin will enable the company to "significantly expand" its game development team.

American dream

"We know San Francisco is the best place for us to find the significant industry talent we are searching for, to help us bring a top notch social gaming experience to all of our players," said Naoki Aoyagi, CEO of GREE International.

"We are thrilled to create this unique and comfortable space to illustrate our commitment to both San Francisco, an international hub of this industry, and our employee. GREE is committed to building the leading global mobile social games ecosystem and reaching our goal of having one billion users."

The new studio will be run by senior VP of social games Eiji Araki, who – building on his six years of experience with GREE in Japan – plans to marry GREE's free-to-play prowess with San Francisco-based talent.

GREE previously shared offices in the Bay area with its US acquisition OpenFeint. 

San Francisco smiles

GREE has also previously revealed it expects to hire as many as 100 employees in the US over the course of 2012, and plans to launch several new games in 2012 – the first two due in March.

"Our team is hard at work to deliver best-in-class content," said Araki.

"Our aim is to constantly change the face of mobile social gaming and we know, without a doubt, that San Francisco is the city to find the top talent to build unique games from the ground up for the western market."

Third party will also have a role to play for GREE moving forward, however, with relationships with both developers and publishers key to the growth of the firm's soon to be rebranded GREE platform, which builds on OpenFeint's existing set up.

GREE's new social platform is due to launch in Q2 2012.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.