Japanese developer and publisher Cygames has established two new branches in America and Europe respectively.
The new branches will focus on promoting the studio’s titles outside of their home country of Japan. The developer is responsible for Nintendo’s first mobile IP Dragalia Lost - which closed down late last year - and digital card game, Shadowverse which was launched in June of 2016. Cygames America boasts capital of $700k while Cygames Europe boasts their own of £500k.
The announcement notes that after the launch of Shadowverse, Cygames had originally established a global business development team focusing on the promotion of their titles outside of Japan, specifically in Korea and Taiwan. A tactic that it seems was successful enough to warrant an expansion into North America and Europe.
Cygames note that this is, “In keeping with the company’s vision to be the best in entertainment, Cygames strives to continue providing high-quality content for fans all around the globe.”
Going international
It’s no surprise that Cygames wants to expand their focus abroad. Japan has historically been the home of video gaming in general, but lately has been losing out to countries such as China and India for mobile gaming. The expanding audience in Europe and America eagerly consuming these titles are an untapped opportunity for Japanese studios, hence the decision to start promoting their games more aggressively abroad.
If Japanese studios want to compete for game promotion however, they’ll be entering an already active market where companies like Tencent are investing aggressively. Japan still boasts some of the most famous mainstream studios in the world, such as Nintendo, Namco Bandai or Sony, but these famous brands face much stiffer competition in the global mobile gaming space.
However, branch offices are an important, and significant, step in showing the importance of Europe and America to studios abroad and the spending power players in these markets can deliver. With better promotion it may be that Cygames can lead a way for Japanese mobile gaming to carve out a larger niche.
