In the '90s, Japan all but dominated the video games world between Nintendo, Sony and Sega. But today, the scale isn't exactly tipped in their favor with American companies like Microsoft and Apple in the game. Zynga Japan, however, wants to see its homeland flex its already-large gaming muscle with social games that reach a global audience, according to Famitsu.Zynga Japan head (and former Tecmo Koei president and CEO) Kenji Matsubara gave Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu the whole story on his move to join the social game giant. But perhaps more important than his transition story--and Zynga Japan's current strategy of localizing existing Zynga games for the Japanese audience--are his ambitions for the future of the company's Japanese arm.
"I think it's important that we take the original titles we create and get them out to not just Japan, but the rest of the world," Matsubara told Famitsu. "Getting our stuff out to the world is another one of the reasons I joined Zynga Japan--that hasn't changed, and it's a challenge that we're still tackling here. We want to build experience expanding our operation with Ayakashi Onmyoroku and extend that to releasing games simultaneously in Japan and elsewhere worldwide."
Ayakashi Onmyoroku is the developer's first original game, a social trading card game centered around traditional Japanese spirits currently available on iOS for Japanese players. But Zynga Japan doesn't want to stop there, it seems, so expect more where that new came from. Could this mean that we'll see Montopia in the U.S? One can dream, folks ... one can dream.
[Via The Verge]
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