They're some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming. And they've developed some of the country's biggest games. Guys like Keiji Inafune of "Mega Man" fame, Yuji Naka ("Sonic the Hedgehog") and Goichi Suda ("No More Heroes"). But last week in Shibuya, Tokyo, they talked about how they're planning to work on smaller social games — games they hope will go big.
The developers were participating in Mobage's "Super Creators" event. Mobage is a popular social-gaming network with more users than Facebook in Japan. The potential here is tremendous, with social-game maker DeNA predicting that in a few years, social gaming will be a ¥300 billion business.
The rise of social gaming is an offshoot of social-networking sites such as Facebook and mixi. But it comes with the evolution of smartphones. iPhone/iPad and Android apps provide gaming experiences for just a couple of bucks. Some games are even free to play, but offer players the chance to purchase add-ons or new features. Compare this to the four or five thousand yen that Nintendo 3DS games cost, and it's easy to see why social-network gaming is exploding.