Partnership sees Japanese Mobile Gaming Firm DeNA Focus on Europe

Japanese mobile gaming company DeNA has set its sights on building its presence in Europe, having agreed a business development partnership with Germany-based mobile services specialist net mobile, a subsidiary of Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo.

The link-up will see DeNA, through its western subsidiary ngmoco, begin work to raise the presence of its gaming network across Europe through partnerships and, interestingly, content acquisition according to a joint announcement made today. The joint partnership will allow DeNA to focus on a range of new countries, with the company picking out Germany, Austria, Switzerland, UK and Australia as key markets.

The company — which saw revenues of $1.3 billion earlier this year according to Venture Beat — has been busy striking deals to extend its reach outside of Japan, with new partnerships announced across Asia — in South Korea, China, Singapore, Vietnam amongst other countries — in addition to South America. It is all part of a plan to build a strong presence worldwide, according to Neil Young, CEO of ngmoco and director of DeNA, who was quoted as saying:

We are squarely focused on bringing the best social mobile games to players worldwide, and our alliance with net mobile is an important step in that direction.

DeNA’s mobile gaming platform, Mobage, has 25 million registered members who enjoy access to its range of free and subscription-based mobile games for Android and iOS devices, although the company is working to support other devices in the future.

The company recently made headlines when it announced a deal to acquire a majority stake in a Japanese professional baseball team, subject to league approval, so the net mobile partnership is a return to building its brand and platform through more orthodox methods.

Mobile gaming is already a massive industry in Japan and, with DeNA and its rival GREE both pushing their reach globally, the industry looks set for increased growth on an international scale.