DeNA

Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce website

DeNA Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社ディー・エヌ・エー, Hepburn: Kabushikigaisha Dī-Enu-Ē, pronounced "DNA") is a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commerce websites headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It owns the Mobage platform,^[3] which is one of the most popular cell phone platforms in Japan. It also operates many other services, including a popular e-commerce website DeNA Shopping (formerly: Bidders).

History

• 1999
  • March: DeNA, Limited founded in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
  • August: Relocates to Shibuya Ward, Tokyo and incorporates to become DeNA Co.
  • November: Launches the online auction service Bidders.
• 2001
  • February: Launches recycle and reuse information site Oikura.
• 2004
  • March: Partners with Index Corporation to launch a mobile auction site Mobaoku.
• 2005
  • February: Lists on the Mothers section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
• 2006
  • February: Establishes a subsidiary Mobakore, launches the mobile gaming site Mobage Town (now Mobage) and mobile shopping site AU Shopping Mall.
  • May: Establishes a subsidiary, Paygent Co.
  • July: Acquires Airlink Co. and Takimoto Co.
• 2007
  • February: Transfers to the First Section of the TSE.
• 2008
  • February: Relocates to Yoyogi in Shibuya Ward of Tokyo.
  • April: Establishes Niigata Customer Support Center in Bandai, Niigata Prefecture.
• 2009
  • October: Oikura transferred to Proto Corporation in an asset purchase.
• 2010
  • June: E★Everystar, novel and comic posting community, launched in partnership with NTT DoCoMo.
  • September: Shutters Mobage Town for PC, begins serving PC Mobage users with beta version of Yahoo! Mobage on Yahoo! JAPAN.
  • October: Officially launches Yahoo! Mobage.
  • October: Acquires U.S. game developer ngmoco.
• 2011
  • March: Consolidates Mobage Town and Plus+ (ngmoco's social gaming network) into a single global brand, Mobage.^[4]
  • June: Japan Fair Trade Commission issues a cease-and-desist order against DeNA, finding that it violated article 19 the anti-monopoly act by pressuring or forcing game developers to release titles only for the Mobage platform.
  • June: Founder and CEO Tomoko Namba stepped down to focus on her husband's recovery from an illness. Namba remained on the board as a director, with COO Isao Moriyasu being appointed President and CEO as well as general manager of social media, and the former CFO Makoto Haruta becoming the Director and Chairman.^[5]
  • October: Reaches agreement with TBS Holdings to purchase the professional baseball team Yokohama BayStars.^[6]
  • November: Formally announced intent to acquire a 66.92% stake in Yokohama BayStars Baseball Club, Inc., which operates Yokohama BayStars professional baseball team in Japan's Central League, for 6.5 billion Japanese yen^[7] from Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, INC. and BS-TBS, INC.^[8]
  • November: Following the June 2011 cease-and-desist order, GREE and KDDI file suit against DeNA, claiming 1.5 billion yen in damages.
  • December: 11 of the 12 professional baseball club owners approve DeNA's acquisition of the Yokohama BayStars, with Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles dissenting. Yokohama DeNA BayStars comes into existence the following day, after transfer of club shares from Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings.
• 2012
  • February 19: Developed JSX as a research project. The main developers are Kazuho Oku and Goro Fuji (a.k.a. gfx).^[9]
  • March: Announced a partnership with Disney to develop and promote mobile social games, including the tower defense mobile game Star Wars: Galactic Defense, released many months after Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the Star Wars intellectual property in October 2012.
  • June: DeNA subsidy DeNA-China announced partnership with Chinese social network Renren to bring mobile games to Renren users using DeNA's Mobage social gaming platform.^[10]
  • October 23: Released VoIP and messaging service Comm.
  • November 7: DeNA and Cygames announce that they have entered a capital and business alliance, whereby DeNA would acquire a total of 500 shares or 20.03% of the company for 7.4 billion yen from Cygames majority owner CyberAgent and the Cygames board of directors. This was a follow-up to a strategic alliance formed in the February of this year between the two companies.^[11]
• 2013
  • January 10: Announced social music service, "Groovy", along with a music partnership with SonyMusic, Universal Music Group, and several others.
  • January 10: New logo revealed as well as the consolidation of the names of various services, including renaming Bidders as DeNA Shopping and Skygate as DeNA Travel.
  • January 10: Introduced the new slogan, "Delight and Impact the World".
  • November 25: Launch of Showroom app and browser, a Japanese live streaming service used primarily for Japanese idols and voice actors. It also has been integrated into the audition process for idol groups such as 22/7, Nogizaka46, and Keyakizaka46.
  • December 4: Launch of the Manga Box app.
• 2015
  • January 20: Took ownership of MyAnimeList.^[12]
  • March 17: A business alliance with Nintendo is formed.^[13]
• 2016
  • October: DeNA shuts down its U.S. subsidiary DeNA Global, Inc. due to the Western market share not meeting expectations, and shift focus towards its partnership with Nintendo. Japanese HQ DeNA Co., Ltd. will still oversee prior product releases in the Western market however.^[14]
• 2019
  • January: MEDIA DO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. obtains all equity interests of MyAnimeList, LLC (head office: State of California, U.S., hereinafter "MAL") from DeNA Corp. (head office: State of California, U.S., hereinafter "DeNA"). MAL runs "MyAnimeList", one of the world's largest anime and manga database communities, and MEDIA DO HOLDINGS has signed an equity interest transfer agreement with DeNA through one of its subsidiaries, Media Do International, Inc. (head office: State of California, U.S.).^[15]
• 2022
  • November: Nintendo and DeNA to establish a joint venture called Nintendo Systems, with Nintendo owning 80% of the shares and DeNA owning 20% of the shares. The company will be a Nintendo subsidiary and will focus on the research and development of Nintendo accounts, strengthening the business both companies have been working together since 2015.^[16]

Subsidiaries

Sports

• Yokohama DeNA BayStars (2012 –) - Baseball team that competed in Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball
• Kawasaki Brave Thunders (2018 –) - Basketball team that competed in Division 1 (B1) of B.League
• SC Sagamihara (2008 – )- Association Football team that competed in J3 League, a 3rd Division of Japanese Professional Football League

Entertainments

• SHOWROOM – a live streaming service used primarily for Japanese idols and voice actors.

Mobile games and products

2006–2011

• Mobage – Mobile games platform
• Kaitō Royale

2012

• Blood Brothers
• Rage of Bahamut
• Marvel: War of Heroes
• HellFire: The Summoning
• Defender of Texel

2013

• Boney The Runner
• Transformers: Legends
• The Powerful: NYC
• NFL: Matchups
• G.I. Joe Battleground
• Monster Match
• Blood Battalion
• The Drowning
• Princess Slash And Dash
• Lawless
• The Gate (with Spicy Horse)
• Battle Quest: Rise of Heroes
• Final Fantasy Record Keeper

2014

• Engines of War
• Isolani
• Godus
• Super Battle Tactics
• Star Wars: Galactic Defense
• Cheese Guardians
• Hell Marys
• Cupcake Carnival
• Qube Kingdom
• Pirate Bash
• The Collectables (with Crytek)
• Shadow Wars
• Money Run
• Totem Warriors
• Transformers: Age Of Extinction

2015

• One Piece Setting Sail!^[17]
• Blood Brothers 2
• Crash UFO
• Transformers: Battle Tactics
• Military Masters
• Rob and Roll
• Marvel Mighty Heroes
• Legend Borne
• Go Go Ghost
• HellFire: The Summoning

2016

• Miitomo (Service infrastructure, My Nintendo integration, and development cooperation with Nintendo EPD)
• Super Mario Run (Service infrastructure, My Nintendo integration and development cooperation with Nintendo EPD)

2017

• Fire Emblem Heroes (Service infrastructure, My Nintendo integration, and development cooperation with Intelligent Systems)
• Uta Macross Sma-Pho De-Culture
• Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (Service infrastructure, My Nintendo integration, and development cooperation with Nintendo EPD and NDcube)
• Megido 72
• PROGRAMMING ZEMI

2018

• Arena of Valor (Service infrastructure, publishing cooperation with Tencent Games and TiMi Studios)
• SLAM DUNK from TV Animation

2019

• Pokémon Masters (Development cooperation with The Pokémon Company)
• Mario Kart Tour (Service infrastructure, My Nintendo integration, and development cooperation with Nintendo EPD)
• Attack on Titan: TACTICS
• Duel Masters PLAY'S

2021

• Argonavis from BanG Dream! AAside
• Touhou Danmaku Kagura
• Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai: A Hero's Bonds

References

1. "DeNA Reports Highest Quarterly Sales to Date at $529 Million and Annual Sales Topping $1.82 Billion". May 9, 2012. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2012.
2. "Nintendo and DeNA to establish joint venture company". 8 November 2022. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
3. "Kick9 • View forum - NBA ALL NET". Archived from the original on 2016-08-18. Retrieved 2016-08-06.
4. モバゲータウンが「Mobage」に　サービス名・ロゴ一新して世界展開加速 Archived 2014-12-06 at the Wayback Machine（ITmedia News, 2011February14日）
5. "代表取締役及びその他の人事異動に関するお知らせ: DeNA 株式会社ディー・エヌ・エー". dena.jp. Archived from the original on 2012-04-28. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
6. "DeNAが横浜球団買収へ TBSと大筋で合意". 共同通信. 2011-10-19. Archived from the original on 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
7. "報道資料『東証への情報開示のお知らせ』" (PDF). TBSホールディングス 総務局広報部. 2011-11-04. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
8. "プロ野球への参入について". 株式会社ディ・エヌ・エー. 2011-11-04. Archived from the original on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
9. "Frequently Asked Questions - JSX". jsx.github.io. Archived from the original on 2020-10-25. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
10. "DeNA and Renren Form Alliance to Bring Mobage to Smartphone Users in China". 株式会社ディ・エヌ・エー. 2012-06-05. Archived from the original on 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
11. "DeNA to Form Capital and Business Alliance with Rage of Bahamut Developer Cygames". 2012-09-07. Archived from the original on 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
12. "DeNA Confirms MyAnimeList Buyout – News – Anime News Network". Animenewsnetwork.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
13. Byford, Sam (March 17, 2015). "Nintendo is making smartphone games with Japanese mobile giant DeNA". The Verge. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 2015-03-17.
14. Grubb, Jeff (October 18, 2016). "DeNA shutters U.S. offices as the early leader in mobile gaming retreats to Japan". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2016.
15. "Acquisition Announcement of MyAnimeList by US Subsidiary" (PDF) (Press release). Media Do Holdings Co., Ltd. January 15, 2019. Retrieved 2019-03-25.^{[permanent dead link]}
16. "Nintendo and DeNA to establish joint venture company". 8 November 2022. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
17. "《航海王启航》2.0官网 官方正版授权ONE PIECE手游". op.mobage.cn. Archived from the original on 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2019-09-26.

External links

• Official website