New competitors for mobagetown boast advanced features

Mobile free games/avatars/SNS smash hit site mobagetown is still going strong: In June 2007 mobagetown had 6.03 million users and generated almost 10.8 billion page impressions a month, contributing the main chunk of parent company DeNA’s USD 47 mln sales this quarter, and helping the company achieve 155% growth in operating profit (year-on-year basis). Those kinds of figures are bound to attract all kinds of competition, of course - new mobile social networking/avatar sites along the lines of mobagetown are popping up left, right and center these days: An article published on Japanese industry news site IT Media [in Japanese] announced the upcoming September 15 beta launch of “Chipuya Town” [site in Japanese] by content provider Media Groove Inc. [site in Japanese]. Chipuya Town is a mobile Flash-based 2D version of real-world Tokyo youth hotspot Shibuya that users will be able to navigate around and interact in with avatars. Coming with standard SNS features like microblogs, communities, friends and chat, Chipuya Town also features a virtual currency/point system similar to MobaGold (the virtual currency the mobagetown system is based on - more on this here), which members will be able to acquire by clicking on mobile ads as well as for recruiting new members. These points can be redeemed for avatar clothing as well as interior goods for avatar rooms, and - according to the press release - for mobile content such as full track music downloads, too. This model is becoming increasingly common, and for want of a better label I’ll start calling it “Point Affiliate System”. Chipuya Town: Room/main menu, item shopping and town views While Chipuya Town doesn’t feature mobile games (as opposed to mobagetown), it does seem to have a more advanced virtual economy, and to be taking a cross-platform approach: In an Second Life-inspired take, users can use a free PC-based Flash application to actually create avatar items such as clothes and avatar home accessories themselves, that they can then use for own their own avatars or sell to others in virtual Shibuya - the mobile version, that is. Decomail (graphic elements for email, highly popular with the teen crowd) can be created on the PC and used on the mobile as well. Media Groove is also planning on selling virtual store branches to real-world companies feeling a need for a presence within Chipuya. Recruiting customers will start tomorrow, August 1. Customers will be given several tools to pitch their goods to the avatar masses, including advertising outside and inside their virtual stores, in-store promotional events and - this sort of boggles my mind - a virtual advertising truck that will drive around and hand out virtual leaflets to avatars. Starting at JPY 1,000,000 per month (ca. USD 8,000), rent is quite steep in absolute terms, but may pay off if Chipuya Town sees growth rates similar to mobagetown. In related news, a few days ago Excite Japan Co. Ltd. [site in Japanese] and Global Networking Solutions Ltd., a subsidiary of Japanese trading house giant Itochu Corporation, announced the launch of free mobile games/SNS/avatar service “Mobikade” (which was launched as “Ekimoba” [site in Japanese] in Japan this spring) in the UK, with plans to expand into other European markets, such as Germany and Italy. While I haven’t been able to check out what the European version looks like, I have to say I was impressed by two features of the Japanese version: the fact that the avatars are in 3D, and the possibility of users trading in points accumulated inside the system (by clicking on ads, purchasing mobile content etc.) for actual cold cash at the bank or the post office. From what I have read about the European version, I like the twist of being able to redeem points for free SMS messages. I personally think it’s great that Excite Japan is pushing into foreign markets - while there is a lot of innovation in mobile in Japan, the list of companies that never look beyond this country’s borders and eschew the risk of taking their business international is endless. With au KDDI’s operator-branded EZ GREE also in the game (I’ll write up some news on that one shortly, too) and Disney’s Wonder Days playing a minor role as well, the space of mobile virtual worlds involving SNS, personalizeable avatars and rooms, some kind of virtual currency system and - in some cases - free games is becoming increasingly crowded in the Japanese market, and the phenomenon is finally spreading beyond this little island. Operators, content providers and marketers everywhere, don’t complain to us if you miss this train, we told you it was coming your way fast!

Posted by:Billich | Entry Date: 2007年7月31日 18:20