Rumors of Inclusion in Pension Fund Contribute to Growth in GungHo Share Price

Posted 16:56 EST on 06MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » financial reports, gungho online entertainment

In light of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare’s upcoming revisions of its public pension program (which is conducted once every five years), the Government Pension Investment Fund (the largest of its kind in the world) reported yesterday (March 5th) that it was revising its operation policies. Rumors began to circulate that GungHo was included among the companies which were under consideration for inclusion in the mega-fund.

As a result, GungHo’s share price rose for the second day in a row, peaking near 660 yen per share before finishing the day up 2.9 percent at 645 yen.

News sources: Bloomberg Japan, Social Game Info

Million Arthur Tops Puzzle & Dragons (in Korea)

Posted 17:02 EST on 05MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » financial reports, kaku-san-sei million arthur, square enix

As of today, March 5th, Square Enix smartphone title Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur is outpacing the mighty Puzzle & Dragons in sales.

…At least in Korea.

The Korean-language version of Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur sits at 12th place of the iPhone sales rankings, 8 spots ahead of GungHo’s Puzzle & Dragons.

Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur was translated by Korean localization studio Actorz Soft. The natural dialogue and ease of use has likely helped boost the title’s appeal.

News and image source: Social Game Info

GungHo Shares Rise as Puzzle & Dragons is Released in Taiwan and Hong Kong

Posted 17:39 EST on 04MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » financial reports, gungho online entertainment, puzzle & dragons

March 4th: GungHo’s share price rose by 10 yen on news that Puzzle & Dragons was faring well in Hong Kong and Taiwan after its March 3rd release, bringing P&D worldwide downloads to 25 million.

On March 3rd, GungHo released the Japanese-language version of Puzzle & Dragons to the App Store in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Despite the language barrier, P&D quickly leaped to the top of the downloads and sales charts in both regions.

The demand for an Asian release of Puzzle & Dragons is evidenced by the huge number of similar titles released in Asia.

GungHo reports P&D has been downloaded 2 million times in North America and Europe and one million times in South Korea. In Japan, P&D has surpassed 22 million downloads, and remains the undisputed reigning free-to-play app.

News source: Social Game Info [ 1, 2, 3 ]

Sega Sammy Releases Revised FY Forecast

Posted 14:05 EST on 02MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » chain chronicle, financial reports, phantasy star online 2, puyo puyo!! quest, sega sammy holdings

February 28th: Sega Sammy Holdings issued a revised earnings forecast for its fiscal year ending on March 31st, in light of poor performance of its pachinko & slot and arcade divisions.

The revised estimates are revenue of 377 billion yen ($3.77 billion), down 22 percent from the company’s initial estimate of 485 billion yen ($4.85 billion), and operating profit of 37 billion yen ($370 million), down nearly half from the earlier estimate of 73 billion yen ($730 million).

Citing its intent to “maximize units sold”, Sega Sammy announced it had made the strategic decision to hold back the sale of certain models of “pachisuro” (a unique gambling apparatus the name of which is a portmanteau of “pachinko” and “slot”) to the following financial quarter, leading the company to revise its estimate of machines sold to 307 thousand from 478 thousand.

Sega Sammy also blames returns and exchanges of pachisuro devices for carving 3.5 billion yen ($35 million) out of its profit.

With the exception of Pachinko CR Fist of the North Star 5, Sega Sammy’s traditional pachinko machines also sold slowly, causing the company to revise its estimate of units sold to 198 thousand from its previous estimate 324 thousand.

Sega Sammy’s arcade division also suffered from recent movements on the part of arcade operators to reign in investments, so that Sega Sammy now estimates an overall operating loss for the financial year. Sega Sammy’s own arcade centers turned out a mediocre performance, turning profits slightly lower than what the company had anticipated.

On a positive, Sega Sammy’s games and iOS / Android titles performed well. Sega Sammy’s online RPG Phantasy Star Online 2 performed well on PS Vita and PC. On smartphones, Puyo Puyo!! Quest and Chain Chronicle both achieved strong sales. Sega reports sales from its games and iOS / Android titles were largely as predicted.

News source: Social Game Info

Crooz Share Price at Week Low as ACR Drift Posts Unremarkable Sales

Posted 12:57 EST on 02MAR2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » acr drift, crooz, financial reports

Investor excitement over Crooz’s iOS racing title ACR Drift has cooled as the title has failed to post noteworthy sales, bringing the company’s share price back to its value one week prior.

As of today, March 2nd, ACR Drift ranks 196th in sales in the U.S. App Store games category and 210th in Japan.

Image source: Yahoo Finance

Image source: App Annie

Crooz’s share price doubled in the course of just one week on positive buzz for ACR Drift, and reached a head when the title was selected as “best new app” in the App Store in 89 different countries.

However, after reaching a high of 7,000 yen ($70) on February 26th, Crooz’s share price dropped sharply on the 27th as investors became concerned the company’s share price was overvalued.

Image source: Yahoo Finance

Unremarkable sales results for ACR Drift have lent support to this stance, and as of today investors are taking a “wait and see” approach until the title improves its sales through positive word of mouth, or through promotions and additional content from Crooz.

News source: Social Game Info

Mixi Share Price Hits Max Allowable Gain Despite Dilution Concerns

Posted 18:22 EST on 28FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » financial reports, mixi, monster strike

February 28th: Mixi’s share price reached its maximum allowable single-day gain, despite concern on the part of some investors that the company’s issue of stock may dilute share price.

Mixi has made clear it intends on applying all funds raised through sale of additional shares toward promotion and development of its popular iOS / Android app Monster Strike.

To that end, Mixi announced earlier in the day that it would team up with the Tencent, a Chinese online media and services provider, to bring Dragon Strike to Asia. Tencent is well established in Asia, providing communication tools (QQ, WeChat, and SNS QZone) and a popular online games platform (QQ game platform). With this agreement Tencent gains exclusive rights to distribute Dragon Strike in China, Hong Kong, and Macao.

In order to purchase further advertising for the fast-growing title, Mixi also announced that it would be issuing an additional 1.13 million shares, valued at a total of 6.3 billion yen ($63 million). When issued, the new shares will account for 7 percent of total outstanding shares.

Mixi director (and founder) Kenji Kasahara will also put 440K of his own shares for sale, and company president Yusuke Asakura will put up 110K of his shares for additional revenue. By selling these shares, Kasahara’s ownership of the company will drop beneath 50 percent to 49.24 percent, changing his status from controlling shareholder to principal shareholder.

An over-allotment of up to 250K shares is also possible.

The sale price of the new shares will be determined between the 11th and 14th of March.

News source: Social Game Info [ 1, 2, 3 ]

Crooz Share Price Doubles in Seven Days

Posted 19:40 EST on 26FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » acr drift, crooz, financial reports

February 26th: shares in Crooz continued to grow in value, ending the day at 7,000 yen ($70) per share, twice their value just one week ago. The rise in the value of shares in Crooz is attributed to high expectations for the company’s mobile racing title ACR Drift, which was promoted as “best new app” in the App Store in 89 different countries.

With this rise in share price, shares in Crooz have gone from their lowest price since mid-December to approaching a record high, doubling in value in the space of only seven days of trading.

However, indicative of concerns on the part of some investors that Crooz’s shares may be overvalued, the share price fell slightly toward the end of the day’s trading, and as of the morning of the 27th, Crooz’s share price is vacillating between 6,900 and 7,000 yen.

News source: Social Game Info

Lukewarm Market Response to P&D W Reveal

Posted 17:16 EST on 21FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » financial reports, gungho, puzzle & dragons w

On February 20th, GungHo announced details of what it has been calling a “large scale update” to its primary earner, Puzzle & Dragons for smartphones. The updated version will be called Puzzle & Dragons W and will feature a new play mode in which the monster-raising elements have been removed so players can focus on solving puzzles.

However, GungHo’s share price has changed little since the announcements of the 20th, remaining near 630 yen ($6.30).

Image source: Social Game Info

Expectations were high, with many expecting GungHo to announce a follow up to mobile gaming’s first billion dollar earner. Judging from the lukewarm market response, it seems investors were not impressed to learn that Puzzle & Dragons W will be more an upgrade than a proper sequel.

news and image source: Social Game Info

Crooz Shares Soar as ACR Drift Selected “Best New Title” in 89 Countries

Posted 16:55 EST on 21FEB2014 by: indie navi news staff in news » acr drift, crooz, financial reports

February 21st: shares in Crooz met the company’s maximum allowable single-day gain of 700 yen to finish at 5,500 yen ($55.00) apiece. This is a rise of 14.6 percent from the previous day’s final share price.

Throughout the morning of the 21st, Crooz’s share price vacillated on the combination of high expectations of ACR Drift (released February 20th) and concerns that the company’s large-scale procurement of funds would dilute share value.

However, around 13:00 reports began to circulate that ACR Drift had been selected for “best new app” in the App Store of 89 different countries, rocketing Crooz’s share price from just shy of 4,800 yen to its allowed single-day limit of 5,500 yen, in the space of 15 minutes.

Image source: Social Game Info

Titles selected as “best new app” are well-placed on the App Store, so it’s reasonable to expect that the title will receive a large number of downloads over the weekend. In turn this will likely translate into positive word-of-mouth buzz for ACR Drift, which had already been receiving attention for its intuitive controls and slick 3D graphics.

News source: Social Game Info