Istpika releases “Zakkania – Friend Market” for the GREE Social Game

Istpika Co. Ltd. (HQ: Osaka | CEO: Michinori Fukushima) announces the release of “Zakkania – Friend Market” for the social network service, GREE. Zakkania was released for mobile on the 29th of June 2010.

In “Zakkania – Friend Market” players collect items from all over the world and sell them in stores. As you play your store will evolve with the game – welcome to our global store simulation game!

Jump into Zakkania and making your store is easy! Open your store, join with friends and decorate your stores with some of the funky decorations we’ve prepared. Everything has been produced in rich Flash and so there’s plenty of beautiful action! Zakkania is a social game where you collect items with friends and buy and sell them with each other.

This release sees Istpika on the list of initial release developers* for the GREE Platform and it’s recent opening.

*1 The GREE Platform is a recently opened social application platform that conforms to the OpenSocial standard.

[Title Logo]

[In-game Screenshot]

* App Outline

Site Name:
Zakkania – Friend Market

URL:
http://mpf.gree.jp/28

QR Code:

Fee Structure:
Playing is FREE, items are charged for.

Supported Devices：
* au
WIN Supporting Models
* NTT Docomo
70xi series, 90xi series, STYLE series, PRIME series, SMART series, PRO series (SH)
* SoftBank
Models that support movie mail & are 3G
* X series and the iPhone 3G are not supported.
* Disney mobile
DM001SH, DM002SH

Required:
To play this game, you must register on the GREE Platform.

From April this year some free apps have started to appear in the top 10 on the App Store. Some of them are social battle games played in browsers.
The top positionwas taken by a Free app.

Zynga had Mafia Wars and other apps in the App Store but they didn’t sell. Pincus also bagged the App Store. But recently each of the apps has In-App purchasing being put into them and re-appearing on the App Store.

Vampires, MafiaWars, StreetRacing are being invested into.

iPhone and iPod Touch apps that use In-App purchasing are a rare occurance in Japan. Will people really play them? .. is, I get the feeling, the (fair) question still being asked. But the big players have done them, so they must be big.

But whay have they taken this path? Facebook may have reached it’s limits – that may be the answer. My thoughts are that the purchasing of In-App currency will soon be announced s ok by Apple, and Zynga are preparing. (My source is someone overseas, mum’s the word).

By the way Zynga’s apps use item purchasing (iTunes link),

The Godfather by iMob uses virtual currency that you have to purchase.

iKnights 46 Magic（iTunes）

The Storm 8 app also uses monetization.
Kingdoms Live-34 Legend Points（iTunes）
Pets Live Flicker（iTunes）

The browser games are in the RolePlaying and Strategy categories, others have also been released. In the Japanese app leadeboards, 8 of the top 100 are battle games and 3 are social-type games. A farmville type game is #1.
You could say that recently 10% of downloaded iPhone apps are social games I think the same will happen with Android.
The first wave of social games for iPhone have arrived.

So, should Japanese social app companies just go ahead and make a Galapogos-type social mobile game?

Today, at last – our office interior was finished. Here are a few photos.

Our Tokyo Office moved from Shibuya to Shinjuku. It’s been 2 weeks already!
We’re very close from the station in 3 cho me Shinjuku, really handy.
From the office windows overlook the Ysukuni big gaurd.

The entrance logo.
The Istpika logo stands out on the greyish background.
Turned out well, a simple design that’s cool.

The entrance overview.
The black logo area is accentuated by the white surrounding walls.
In the front is the office floor, towards the back is a connected meeting space for easy entry by clients.

The office. It’s much more spacious than the last one we were in!
We afford dual screens etc for comfortable working spaces.

Each pillar has a white board attached to it for pro active brainstorming.
When we want something new, have a brilliant idea and want to share – we jot it on the whitebaords.
The glass door in the back is our meeting space.

Meeting space. The back leads out to the entrance.
The table seats 6 with aplace to hang coats – plenty of space.
It’s comfortable
A whiteboard covers the full length of the back wall.
And we plan to add one on the side too!
We want whiteboards

The office opposite us is still empty.
We have the ability to grow to 3 times the size we are now at this location.
We are actively hiring, check here for info!

north 5 mins from Umeda. It's the brown bld in front.

Our main dev. studios are Osaka and Tokyo, each focussing on the skillset the staff have acquired. Tokyo: Japanese mobile game dev. Osaka: Global social games, smartphone RnD.
I’m based in Osaka bu travel at least once a week to Tokyo. We plan to relocate the Tokyo office again soon.

エントランスのロゴ。

I have relocated offices many times, more than 10, I hold a certain philosophy about it.
- A stylish office is one that makes people want to visit. It also attracts staff.
Previously Dragon Quest 8 (level 5) CEO stated this.(but not in this link).
- Functional. We reworked many times the layout and network placement.
- A stock room, server room, client meeting room and relaxation area are all required.
- Air conditioning! This time alongside the central system we also added individual air conditioners.
- Meeting space. A private meeting area as well as an open public one. 1 per 20 people I think.

I made a shortlist of 20 or so locations, provided the above draft to the staff in meetings and decided on the final location.

This is what we decided on.

On the day of the move, putting in the network is fun.

Looking in from the entrance. We have keyless fingerprint security by Secom.

Development. The desks are all from Ikea, 5000 yen ea.

The opposite end is empty. We are recruiting^^

Do we have a library, relaxation space or beds?

Meeting space. Just right for a 6 person social app dev team.

Entrance from inside.

Our interior was done by our longtime associates, Vis Co Ltdです。
When we introduced them to other games companies, several have used them for interior design.
This is not a wall decoration, it’s holding up the wall. Stylish hey.
This time we used cloth on the wall surfaces, giving it a real warmth.

Rather than just increase effeciency, we want our team to like their environment – I think this is what counts.
There’s plenty more tod do, but we’ll get those issues sorted ^^;

Istpika’s strategy focusses on the following platforms:


Istpika began with Facebook and iPhone development but Japanese social networks opened up their API’s and we moved into development for those also. But when we consider the social game industry, Japanese and the international arena are both booming. The key to overseas social games will be the use of iPhone, android based social games. For us the time invested and size of our company are a restriction at the moment. Fortunately GMO has partnered with us and we plan to expand quickly.
Recently, we expanded our offices。

GMO has started the “Let’s make apps” fund with 3 billion yen for individuals, companyes and other teams to produce social apps and also assist in providing support for them.
GMO who has monitored and invested in online projest for many years has put their foot forward and offered a huge fund, this is validation of the social app industry. For those companies still wondering whether it’s time to invest, there’s no time to waste.
Istpika aims to asist in any way to increase the quality level of the social app industry.
We’re taking the lead and look forward to working with you in the future.