Japanese social mobile platforms GREE and DeNA are among the most profitable large games companies in the world.
During the first three months of 2012, GREE posted around $560 million in sales and DeNA around $530 million.
Respective operating profit margins were 29 percent and 44 percent, plus GREE has $625 million in cash and DeNA $720 million.
Bump in the road
Things aren't so rosy when it comes to their recent performance on the Japanese stock exchange, however.
GREE (TYO:3632) is down 15 percent, while DeNA (TYO:2432) is down 30 percent over the past 12 months.
One reason is that over the past two weeks, the companies (and others) have come under pressure from Japanese regulators over their virtual goods activity, in terms of selling to minors, and the peculiar Japanese pseudo-gambling process of 'complete gacha'.
Stop, start
To be fair to the companies, both issues are now fully resolved with the imposing fixed limits on IAP for those under 18, and the entire industry stopping 'complete gacha' activity. It's since been banned by the Japanese Consumer Agency.
Yet, combined with other macro economic concerns, neither companies' stock price has recovered.
DeNA's share price had been under pressure for six months, but prior to the current setbacks GREE's shares had been up around 35 percent compared to 12 months ago.
It's certainly a warning to enthusiastic investors currently piling into Facebook's IPO, in terms of the impact of government scrutiny and the downsides of being a company that's always in the public eye.
News
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.
Related Articles
Top Stories
News
May 4th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E10 - Brawl Stars smashes 2023 revenue, Square Enix’s extraordinary losses, and Haaland signs for Clash of Clans
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
News
May 3rd, 2024
Week in Views - Apple back themselves bigstyle, Clash bags Haaland and dreams come true at King
News
May 3rd, 2024
Mobile Movers: All the latest appointments and job moves from around the industry
Events
LA Games Conference 2024 | North America | May 6th |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Develop: Brighton 2024 | Europe | Jul 9th |