Dal Yong - Mobile Gaming in Asia

Mobile Communication in Asia: Local Insights, Global Implications

Dal Yong Jin Editor

Mobile Gaming in Asia

Politics, Culture and Emerging Technologies

4^ Springer

Series editor

Sun Sun Lim, Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, Singapore

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13350

Dal Yong Jin Editor

Mobile Gaming in Asia

Politics, Culture and Emerging Technologies 4^ Springer

Editor Dal Yong Jin

School of Communication Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC, Canada

ISSN 2468-2403 ISSN 2468-2411 (electronic)

Mobile Communication in Asia: Local Insights, Global Implications ISBN 978-94-024-0824-9 ISBN 978-94-024-0826-3 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-94-024-0826-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016946347

Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

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Part I Emergence of Asian Mobile Games

1 The Emergence of Asian Mobile Games: Definitions,

Kyong Yoon and Dal Yong Jin

8 Internet Game Addiction in East Asia: Challenges

Part I

Emergence of Asian Mobile Games

Dal Yong Jin

Abstract This chapter maps out the ways in which the specificities of Asian mobile games are giving rise to new cultural economics of video game production and engendering new paradigms of gameplay. It also examines whether these topical developments have considerable social bearing and consequence. Mobile gaming cultures can also be defined based on the sociocultural specificity of Asian smartphone usage, because gaming cultures reflect local cultures; however, mobile game cultures also provide links between transnational communities, because transnational mobile games and capitals are common in the Asian game markets. Therefore, while it is significant to understand what locality means in the context of contemporary notions of Asian community, we need to understand locality in the process of transnational flows. It illuminates some of the complexities inherent in investigating both mobile games and mobile devices as they continue to manifest in Asian countries.

Keywords Mobile games Asia History of mobile games Mobility Transnationalization

Japanese video game maker Nintendo will venture into smartphone games, heeding calls from investors to boost revenue by taking iconic characters like Super Mario to players increasingly shunning its consoles. Nintendo, which already warned its annual operating profit would halve on weak console sales, said in March 2015 it was teaming up with online gaming firm DeNA Co. to develop and operate gaming apps. The two companies also planned to launch later in 2015 an online membership service accessible on mobile devices as well as Nintendos existing Wii U console and the portable 3DS (Nintendo ).

In March 2015, Nintendo, once and still a console superpower, announced its plan to jump into the mobile game sector. During a press conference held in Tokyo, Japan, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told that this will allow us to build a bridge

D.Y. Jin (*)

School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada e-mail:

Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

D.Y. Jin (ed.), Mobile Gaming in Asia, Mobile Communication in Asia: Local Insights, Global Implications, DOI 10.1007/978-94-024-0826-3_1

between smart devices and gaming consoles. It doesnt mean smart devices will eat away at gaming consoles, it will create an entirely new type of demand (Kasai

Japan has never been shy about high-profile mainstream marketing for games; however, this shift is a shock for many, because it implies that traditional console games are now almost entirely eclipsed by those for mobile titles (Fahey ). Furthermore, it is not the only case showing a shifting trend in the digital game industry. Several Korean and Chinese game corporations, previously focused on online gaming, have moved towards mobile games with the rapid growth of smartphones .

The dramatic improvement of smartphones, tablets, and game consoles has fundamentally changed our daily activities, and when it comes to digital games, it has substantially influenced the nature of mobile games. The bite-sized software programs people loaded onto their mobile phones (as a form of feature phones) seemed to be frivolous games until several years ago (MacMillian , 256) point out;

As an interface encompassing various converging platforms and contexts, mobile media devices such as the iPad, iPhone, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Nintendo DS and 3DS, Android phones, and increasing array of tablets are clearly becoming important spaces for gaming and playful social activities more broadly. With the increasing ubiquity of Web-capable smartphones and tablets, app-based ecologies and trends towards gamification that is, the use of games and playful apps to boost consumption of products and servicesmobile games are now an intrinsic part of twenty-first century popular culture.

As mobile games have become one of the most significant game forms in the twenty-first century, many countries around the world, including in North America and Europe, have invested in mobile telecommunications and mobile game industries since the early twenty-first century. However, several Asian countries have become some of the centers for smartphone technologies and culture with their global smartphone manufacturers, such as Samsung and LG in Korea, HTC in

Taiwan, and Huawei and Xiaomi in China. The Asian region has also become the largest mobile game market as many Asians adopt new smartphones and download mobile games onto their smartphones. As Dean Chan (). Asian countries were once lagging behind in the penetration of mobile phones, and therefore, mobile games.

Asia exists as an interesting testbed for the future of mobile gaming because several Asian countries advance several new mobile games, including Raven with Naver and Dragon Blaze (Korea), White Cat Project and Monster Strike (Japan), and Soul Clash (China), based on the rapid growth of their own smartphone devices and applications. The recent emergence of the smartphone industry and mobile gaming in Asia can be attributed to favorable information technology (IT) policies, severe competition among IT corporations, and enthusiastic mobile game users in the region. The role of local smartphone applications, which have provided convenient smartphone platforms for local game users, is also significant. Asians engagement with smartphones and related mobile apps suggests that the smartphone becomes a symbolic and material resource for peoples mobile activities, including game culture.