5/15/12

Mobile gaming in Japan: Gacha? Gotcha! | The Economist

Log in

Register

Subscribe

Digital & mobile

Events

Topics A-Z

Newsletters

Jobs

Monday May 14th 2012

Search Multimedia
Print R e prints & pe rm issions

World politics

Business & finance

Economics

Science & technology

C ulture

Blogs

Debate

The World in 2012

Print edition

Mobile gaming in Japan

C om m e nt (2) E-m ail

Gacha? Gotcha!
Bureaucrats clamp down on a tech billionaire
May 12th 2012 | TOKYO | from the print edition Like 10

Adve rtise m e nt

NOT again. Just when another tousle-haired Japanese entrepreneur hoped it was safe to make a billion or two, along come the forces of law and order threatening to throw the rule book at him: in this case, the Act Against Unjustified Premiums and Misleading Representations. That, at least, is how some people viewed news this week that the Consumer Affairs Agency was investigating a feature, popular on Japans ubiquitous mobile-phone games, called a complete gacha, in which players collect sets of randomly generated tokens to swap for in-game rewards. Such games have made fortunes for several internet start-ups. Agency officials, however, have expressed worries that complete gacha may be a form of gambling (it sometimes involves real money), which can cause children and adults to splurge beyond their means. They questioned its legality. The retribution was swift. In three days the value of GREE, whose 35-year-old owner, Yoshikazu Tanaka, has been called the youngest self-made billionaire after Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, plunged by a third. DeNA, another social-games site, lost 22%. To Yoshito Hori, a venture capitalist and former GREE backer, the news recalled a pattern of crackdowns on alleged abuses by start-ups in recent years that have discouraged the Japanese from setting up new businesses. He urged the government to seek a harmonious solution that protected both consumers and entrepreneurs: Killing GREE or DeNA is like killing Sony or Matsushita (Panasonic) when they were coming up after the war, he said. On May 9th GREE and DeNA gave ground. GREE said it would stop the release of all new complete gacha games and phase out existing ones. DeNA said it would also stop the practice. Mr Hori said he expected they might be prepared to pay back anyone who had overspent. It was not clear, though, whether the authorities would let the matter rest there. In this section
Zuckerbergs rocket, ready for lift-off Gacha? Gotcha! Marketplace of ideas The path of least resistance Chains of gold Riding the gilded tiger Resourceful and energetic Unstretched limos Pretty profitable parrots
R e prints

Most commented

Most recommended

Related topics
Japan

1. Gay marriage: North Carolina begs the question too 2. The euro crisis: Europes Achilles heel 3. Obama endorses: Good for Obama, bad for gay marriage 4. Suppressing dissent: The emperor does know 5. Gay marriage: Punctuated equilibrium 6. Should gay marriage be legal in America? 7. Obama on gay marriage: The arc of the universe and its politics 8. The tea party: Another moderate shown the door 9. Israeli politics: Can Binyamin Netanyahu do a somersault?

from the print edition | Business

R e com m e nd

Like

10
Subm it to re ddit

Share

View all comments (2)

Add your comment

Related items TOPIC: Japan Tepcos nationalisation: State power

10. Austerity and the euro crisis: Add Hollandaise sauce

O ve r the past five days

www.economist.com/node/21554533

1/2

5/15/12
Politics this week

Mobile gaming in Japan: Gacha? Gotcha! | The Economist

Adve rtise m e nt

Japans trading houses: Resourceful and energetic

Want more? Subscribe to The Economist and get the week's most relevant news and analysis.

Latest blog posts

- All tim e s are GMT

Cartoon politics: Julia's world

From Democracy in A merica - 26 m ins ago

Recommended economics writing: Link exchange

From Free exchange - 53 m ins ago

A controversial new film: It's kicking off

From Eastern approaches - 3 hours 13 m ins ago

Money talks: May 14th 2012: A drop in the ocean?

From Schumpeter - May 14th, 16:14

The American Airlines bankruptcy: Considering its options

From Gulliver - May 14th, 15:08

Monetary policy: Tightening (try overshooting for once, cont.)

From Free exchange - May 14th, 15:08

Busiest airline routes: Top flights

From Gulliver - May 14th, 14:53

More from our blogs

Products & events

Get e-mail newsletters Subscribe to The Economist's free e-mail newsletters and alerts. Follow The Economist on Twitter Subscribe to The Economist's latest article postings on Twitter Follow The Economist on Facebook See a selection of The Economist's articles, events, topical videos and debates on Facebook.

Classified ads

About The Econom ist

Me dia dire ctory

Adve rtising info

Staff book s

C are e r opportunitie s Le gal disclaim e r

Subscribe Acce ssibility

C ontact us Privacy policy

Site inde x Te rm s of use

[+] Site Fe e dback He lp

C opyright The Econom ist Ne wspape r Lim ite d 2012. All rights re se rve d.

www.economist.com/node/21554533

2/2