Japanese mobile social gaming firm DeNA has announced record revenue of $567 million (52.3 billion yen) for its third quarter 2012. The company, which runs the Mobage games network for iOS and Android, saw revenues rise 52 percent year-on-year, while operating profit jumped 54 percent from that of Q3 2011 to hit $216 million (19.9 billion yen).
The company says that it has seen “strong growth” from Mobage, in particular in markets outside of Japan. Two of its games, Rage of Bahamut and Blood Brothers, topped the US Android charts on gross earnings, and others performed well in Apple’s App Store. Indeed, Blood Brothers was an international smash, hitting Google Play’s top grossing spot in 33 countries.
“We’re encouraged by the continuous growth of the Mobage platform, both in Japan and overseas, which has contributed to our record-high revenue,” a statement from Isao Moriyasu, CEO of DeNA, read “DeNA is building strong ecosystems with a balanced portfolio of social games worldwide. Mobage West is now seeing multiple titles ranking high on the top-grossing charts.”
Despite that growth, Japan remains DeNA’s biggest single market and the quarter saw record-high consumption of Moba-coin, the virtual currency that is used to buy virtual items and other goods from within Mobage Japan. The third quarter saw 20 billion yen (approximately $214 million) of transactions, that’s an increase of 3.6 billion yen ($38.5 million) quarter-by-quarter.
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Adoption of the currency is growing across the board in Japan and DeNA says that it saw a growth in transactions from both older games and new ones too.
DeNA did see its operating profit drop 3 percent quarter-by-quarter, but it attributes that largely to its investment in Comm, its mobile messaging app to rival Line, Kakao Talk and others that are embracing mobile gaming, which occupied 1 billion yen (approximately $10.7 million) in marketing spend. Additionally, the off-season period for the Japanese baseball league meant the firm gained no ticket revenue from the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, the team it bought in 2011 for $83 million.
Rival GREE has also moving into messaging with a beta app, which indicates that the industry leaders in Asia acknowledge that chat apps have become a huge area for mobile gaming.
DeNA is bullish about its final quarter of the 2012 financial year, and it anticipates that dividend payments will rise from 36 yen per share at the end of Y2011, to 50 yen per share for Y2012. That’s a 38.9 percent increase.
The three month period saw it ink deals with Yahoo Japan, game developers Gloops and Nexon, while it bought s 20 percent share in partner Cygames. The firm broadened its franchise through a Mobage alliance with Yahoo!Kimo in Taiwan, which launched Mobage China in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
January saw DeNA undergo a corporate rebrand, complete with a new logo and slogan, in a bid to better align its brand and business internationally.
Headline image via DeNA
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