The answer, in short, was don't look at Asia as one monolithic market, but look at it as China, Japan, and Korea - and in the case of Japan and Korea, that means looking at social SMS services.
Speaking on that specifically, Chen noted that "What I see in the top grossing charts in Korea and Japan, the Korean charts are dominated by Kakao and the Japanese charts are dominated by LINE."
Shorter is better
That's because the average gaming sessions are in Japan and Korea are relatively short - 1 to 2 minutes spent on a morning commute - whereas westerners are more inclined to drive and invest in longer play sessions while on breaks.
Yoo picked up on this point, "To break out in the east, you'll want to keep the play sessions short." and also noted that the super-casual markets are trendy, and that the maximum lifespan a game has on these channels is "three months, after that it will disappear from the charts."
Thus, if you want to stay on the charts in Japan and Korea, you'll need to create a new game every three months - and be sure to keep the play sessions short.
One hand mojo
Another final takeaway from the session was espoused by all four panelists - if you want to see your game succeed, it needs to be playable with one hand.
During market research sessions, the panelists noted that western players would grab a smartphones in landscape mode with both hands while eastern gamers are more inclined to grab it in portrait mode and play with one hand.
This means that games should be more simple as a result, and a quick look at the top-grossing games in Korea shows that they're all one-handed games.
Still, a simple games doesn't mean a simple presentation. The four panelists all agreed that Asian players are used to being flooded with information and ads - thanks in part to the frantic ad placement in areas like Tokyos Shibuya ward.
In other words, the UI can be a bit more complex and there can be ads placed with less attention paid to flow or distraction.
Localisation and the scary CPI?
Akagawa remarked that in Japan, local titles still dominate and that there are a lot of card battle games like Rage of Bahamut, and Yoo noted that in Korea, TCGs are "getting really big.
"It's new, but it's growing fast - TCG are some of the best games to put on mobile," said Yoo.
Yet in spite of this, Supercell's Clash of Clans and King's Candy Crush Saga are both seeing good penetration in Japan, in part because there's no need to for a localisation.
This is, perhaps, encouraging news to those looking to keep their costs down when releasing in Asia, but you'll still need a strong warchest if you hope to succeed.
"You have to make an investment - this is not a short-term plan to get into the market," added Chen.
"Get in there, commit, and learn to capture the local flavour, culture, and tastes. You've got to be really selective and understand what the consumer does and what the connectivity and bandwith levels are.
"You need to understand the local market and see who the established players are."
Part of this approach entails not being surprised by the relatively steep cost per install.
In the United States, the CPI is roughly $1.23, but in Japan the figure is closer to $10 - $15.
Lee downplayed the steep cost, noting that these more expensive users are a long-term investment and monetize well, while Chen estimated that their spending value is "five times what a US players LTV is."
