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Japanese mobile powerhouse DeNA sees Q1 2010 revenue up 175% to $279 million

Promises further mergers and acquisitions

Japanese mobile powerhouse DeNA sees Q1 2010 revenue up 175% to $279 million
DeNA (TYO:2432), the Japanese mobile social gaming company, which is a backer of iPhone developer Aurora Feint, has announced another record set of financial figures for the three months ending June 30.

Q1 FY2010 revenue was $279 million, up 175 percent year-on-year, and 22 percent quarter-on-quarter. This is significantly higher than its prediction of $247 million.

Operating income was $138 million, up 282 percent year-on-year, and 27 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Growth powered by games

The majority of growth came as DeNA opened up its Japanese Moba-ge-Town social mobile platform, which has over 19 million subscribers, to more thirdparty developers.

As of July 27, 154 developers have launched 350 games on Moba-ge-Town, compared to 59 partners and 148 games at the end of its last quarter.

DeNA launched two new titles of its own and stated it had 'tuned up its existing games'.

The company also noted a shift in demographics with the 10-year-and-younger segment down five percent, while the more affluent 30-and-over group grew six percent.

DeNA said its social segment accounted for around 84 percent of total revenue. Avatar-related sales in Moba-ge-town accounted for $29 million of revenue.

The company also runs e-commerce sites including auction, fashion and business-to-business operations.

Future perfect

In addition to its Q1 results, DeNA emphasised its goal to become the number one global social gaming company, saying it would use its income to drive consolidation in the industry with further mergers and acquisitions.

It plans to invest up to $27.5 million in startup companies via its social gaming venture capital fund, Incubate Fund No.1 Limited Partnership.

A joint venture Yahoo! Moba-ge, with Yahoo! Japan, will launch across PC and mobile later in the year, while Moba-ge-town will be extended to smartphones, and the platform rolled out to the US and Europe.

"Becoming the premier social gaming company appears extremely feasible when reviewing our impressive first quarter results. DeNA will expand by utilising its uniqueness as a platform operator and game developer," said Tomoko Namba, DeNA's CEO.

Getting better

DeNA expects continued growth, forecasting $576 million in revenue and $276 million in operating income for the first half of 2010. This would put it on track to hit $1 billion in revenue for FY 2010.

In comparison, it booked revenue of $517 million and operating income of $228 million for its entire FY 2009.

[source: DeNA]
Contributing Editor

A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.