Making video games for home consoles such as the Wii U, the PS3, and the Xbox 360 can get really expensive really fast. The huge teams and corporate money involved have made the game industry closer to the film business. And while the nature of PC gaming allows bedroom programmers the ability to do what they want, it isn't hugely popular in Japan, unlike in the West.
There is an option for budding game-developers, however — a less expensive one that allows for more freedom and, if they're lucky, more exposure than they could ever imagine. It's an option that more and more Japan-based foreigner game-developers have been taking advantage of: smartphone games.
It wasn't long ago that Japan produced the most advanced mobile phones on Earth. Japanese keitai denwa (as they're called) were at one time packed with features that weren't available anywhere else, such as digital cameras, barcode readers and digital money. What's more, there was a preconception in the West that Japanese mobile phones were simply just better, more advanced, more futuristic.