Having had considerable success in its domestic market with titles such as Browser Sangokushi (with Marvelous AQL) and Senggoku IXA (Square Enix), it's now expanding internationally, especially in terms of core online strategy and RPGs.
And further to its recent publishing and distribution deals with Sega, Chukong and DeNA, it's raised $3 million to ensure it's well capitalised for the future.
It's also a good opportunity to talk to company CEO Tadashi Shiiba.
Pocket Gamer: Can you give us some background about how Aiming Inc. formed and what sort of games you make?
Tadashi Shiiba: Aiming is a cluster of talented individuals specialising in online game development. It is quite rare in Japan that a company develops online games in-house like us.
We have developed several huge hit PC online titles in Japan that achieved million-dollar sales per month and now, we are developing core online game titles such as strategy games, MMORPGs, action RPGs, etc. on the mobile platform.
You have offices in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. What specialities does each office has?
Formerly Aiming Korea, A-KONG now acts as a publisher and operates Korean versions of our titles. A-KONG also produces potential titles that could work in the Japanese market.
Our Taiwan branch and Philippine subsidiary, on the other hand, do not operate as publishers. The Taiwan branch serves as an in-house graphic studio, and Aiming Global Service in the Philippines mainly serves as our operations HQ in customer and infrastructure support for our English titles.
You recently signed a deal with Chukong to publish games in Korea. How's that going?
The Korean language version of Kingdom Corps, was launched in December 2012 under A-KONG thus our collaboration has only just begun. It will also be publishing two Chukong titles in Korea very soon.
A-KONG will publish third-party games as well as our titles. In relation to that, several titles from China and Japan are currently under negotiation.
You also signed a deal with Sega Networks. What can you tell us about the games from Aiming it will be releasing in the west?
We believe that our core online mobile games definitely fit the characteristics and image of Sega.
However, we regrettably cannot give you any specifics, but our action RPG, sports and simulation titles will be released under the SEGAxAiming brand worldwide.
How well has Kingdom Corps performed in Japan and Korea?
In the Japanese market, there are only a few hit game titles in the core strategy genre. We can say that Kingdom Corps (known as Lord of Knights in Japan and Korea) performs better among them, but we can achieve more with our coming titles.
Aiming's first western release is Kingdom Corps on Mobage
As for the Korean market, at the moment it is difficult for newcomers like us to make a new unknown title successful outside of the Kakao platform. In light of these circumstances, the performance of the Korean version of Lord of Knights has provided adequate results as our first attempt.
Of course, we are optimistic that our titles can gain great popularity among Korean core game users.
How have you changed the game for international markets?
Not many changes have been made. However with Kingdom Corps, we decided to release a later version of the Japanese Lord of Knights, which has been greatly improved since its initial launch.
But since this is our first attempt in the western market, we think we have yet to understand western users' tastes. We are aware that there are a lot of strategy game lovers in this market and hopefully they will enjoy Kingdom Corps.
Of course, we will continue to improve the game based on its performance and feedback.
What do you think are the key differences between Asian and European/US mobile gamers?
Generally, the key differences lie in graphic taste, mobile environment and settings. (e.g. ownership of tablets and dedicated handhelds).
Aiming's latest iOS release in Japan is Lords of War
As for the gamers themselves, some statistics state that in Japan males in their twenties to thirties spend lot of money in games, whereas in China, the big spenders are centered on teenage to twenty-year-old females.
Korea is quite similar to Japan, with its spenders being male-centric from teens to thirty-year-olds.
So there is already is a difference among Asian gamers, before we consider western countries. However, games such as World of Warcraft and League of Legends win global popularity, including in Japan.
We think that the essence of a really good game is something that is universal; which does not fragment players and territories.
Why did you decide to release Kingdom Corps on Mobage in the west?
App rankings show that Mobage has a strong marketing capability and made several Japanese titles hits in the US market.
In addition, it's easier for us to coordinate with DeNA about the performance and problems of Kingdom Corps, both geographically and linguistically. So we took our chances on Mobage this time to aim for the top of the US charts.
What other Aiming Inc. games should we expect in the west?
We hope that western users will also be able to enjoy all our tiles. Among games currently in development, we feel that Project Mirrorz, a hack-and-slash MMORPG, would be something to look out for in the western market.
Early footage of Project Mirrorz
As I mentioned earlier, a really good game can go beyond country and player fragmentation. That's the good thing about games.
Thanks to Tadashi Shiiba for his time.
