Every 15 years, like clockwork, the Japanese gaming industry is disrupted by a new technology.  The console giants were crippled by the first generation of mobile games published by companies like DeNA and Gree. Now those companies are now losing business to smaller publishers selling through the Apple Store and Google Play.

Rintaro Oyaizu used to run his own game development company and now runs CyberAgent Game Headquarters, which oversees all of CyberAgent gaming subsidiaries, and he explains CyberAgent's game development processes and the criteria they use to decide which games to develop and market.

We also talk about the the shifts going on now,  what lies ahead for both the current giants and new upstarts, and advice for people who want to break into the gaming industry.

It’s an interesting discussion and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Show Notes for Startups

The structure and strategy of CyberAgents gaming companies
Why Japanese game companies fail in the US - and vice-versa
What makes a game successful
CyberAgent's criteria for selecting a game to develop and market
Why having a game portfolio is critical to success
How CyberAgent optimizes its games in real-time
Backend operations as a strategic advantage for mobile games
Why free-to-play games and in-app purchases are the future of gaming
What's in store for Mario
Why console game makers have a hard time in the mobile space
Advice for those who want to break into the gaming industry

Links from the Founder

CyberAgent
Rintaro's Blog
Follow Rintaro @mcrin72
Friend him on Facebook
The SGE Facebook Page

 Leave a comment
Transcript from Japan
Welcome to Disrupting Japan. Straight talk from Japan's most successful Entrepreneurs.

I am Tim Romero and thanks for listening.

[INTRO]

Today we’re gonna talk about gaming or rather, the business of gaming.

Rintaro Oyaizu, once ran his own gaming publisher and now manages all game development for CyberAgent and its subsidiaries. Overseas listeners may not be familiar with CyberAgent, but they are one of the most powerful internet content and venture companies in Japan and they run some of the largest blogging and gaming platforms here.

Now, I’m not really a gamer, but it’s fascinating how in Japan every new generation of technology cuts the legs out from under the market leaders and a new generation of companies muscles into that space and its happening again, right now, as the third generation of Japanese gaming companies are coming into their own.

We talk about CyberAgent's internal processes for deciding which games get made and which get distributed and Rintaro also has some insights about what will become of the recent stock swap between Nintendo, a first generation game company and DeNA, a second generation game company and how they might compete against the new, more flexible third generation companies. Its great stuff and I think you’ll enjoy it. So let’s get right to the interview.

[INTERVIEW]

Tim: Okay, I’m sitting here with Rintaro. Thanks for sitting down with me and thanks for buying me the beer this time.

Rintaro: No problem. Cheers.

Tim: Cheers. Now, Rintaro is the Director of CyberAgent game headquarters and game headquarters overseas all of CyberAgent’s gaming subsidiaries, and there’s a lot of them. Why don’t you tell us, you know briefly, you don’t have to list all the subsidiaries, for the people especially overseas who might not be that familiar with CyberAgent, tell us a bit about the types of games CyberAgent makes.

Rintaro: Okay. Okay. Our company’s a bit unique because we have about ten subsidiaries within the group. The reason why is for example, there is a subsidiary called Greench which used to be a joint venture of Mixi because Mixi Platforms was big and we wanted to have strong connections with the platform. And for, there’s a subsidiary called Gree Forum. Gree Forum is a joint venture of Gree.

Tim: Right. Yes.