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[ggx2ac]

More at the link: http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science...e-platform-promises-freedom-from-Apple-Google

Yahoo Japan rolled out Tuesday a platform for smartphone and other mobile gamers to play on the web rather than in apps, a move seen liberating developers from the constricts of app stores.

Square Enix, Koei Tecmo and others are joining the platform.

Such boldfaced names as Square Enix Holdings President Yosuke Matsuda and producer Kou Shibusawa of Koei Tecmo Games, a group company of Koei Tecmo Holdings, were on hand to cheer the debut of the Game Plus platform.
Square Enix and 51 other companies have already stepped forward to take part.

Japanese Mobile Game developers, you are all free now!

Throwing off the yoke Game Plus is expected to afford greater freedom to developers. Offering mobile games via the big app stores, developers must follow Apple's and Google's ground rules and surrender a 30% cut of revenues. They can make improvements only with permission, with screening taking a week or two. And if they put a button in the app that redirects users to a website selling related goods, for example, they can get in trouble for "bypassing" the app store operator.
"The creativity of games has been restricted," said Kouhei Waki, who oversees new services at Yahoo Japan.

Game Plus uses HTML5.

Technological advances and today's greater bandwidth are leveling the playing field. Game Plus employs the HTML5 standard, suited for displaying videos, and offers a selection of titles. A Yahoo Japan payment service is used to collect in-game fees.

39 games have been initially released.

The platform offered 39 games on the first day, including a new release from Square Enix. They offer a seamless experience and responsiveness comparable to apps.

I have no idea what Bandai Namco is talking about.

"Linking to the real world becomes easier, like buying a figure and playing the character in games," said Koji Tezuka of Bandai Namco Entertainment, a unit of
Bandai Namco Holdings. Not having to download apps could broaden the user base.

Yahoo Japan will look into applying their new platform to non-gaming apps.

Yahoo Japan is looking further ahead toward launching a platform offering a variety of mobile software bypassing the need for apps.

Last quote.

Whether the company can make a crack in the $62 billion app market remains to be seen.

 

[CronoShot]

Why exactly would consumers use this platform instead of the app stores already built into their phones?

 

[Calm Mind]

Possible paradigm shift?

 

[5taquitos]

Yahoo has invented web games!

 

[jooey]

beaten

 

[RSchmitz]

Why exactly would consumers use this platform instead of the app stores already built into their phones?

Prices may be lower if yahoo decides to charge less than 30%.

 

[entremet]

Yahoo Japan is so weird. Only region where they’re relevant no?

 

[squall23]

Time for Winnie the Pooh's Homerun Derby on your phone.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Yahoo has invented web games!

Hey I loved Yahoo Games in the 90s.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

Possible paradigm shift?

that is Runescape mobile

 

[Kysen]

And when a browser update causes "incompatibility" what then? All they are doing is moving the middle man from Google/Apple to Yahoo except the transaction is happening on the formers lawn.

 

[JusDoIt]

Malware City

 

[DR2K]

Why exactly would consumers use this platform instead of the app stores already built into their phones?

The comfort of knowing how much more money you can give to mobile game maker sama?

 

[Takao]

Wasn't this what Gree and Mobage used to do?

 

[chrisPjelly]

I think the last thing the market needs is a platform that is """more free""" than Google Play

 

[Calm Mind]

that is Runescape mobile

That I honestly don't see lasting long.

 

[duckroll]

Isn't this just Mobage again? Who would care?

 

[Velocity:Design:Comfort]

Why exactly would consumers use this platform instead of the app stores already built into their phones?

Their idea is likely based around thinking enough devs don't want the Apple or Google cut and then, that the best games/franchises begin being only "Game Plus" browser games and not apps. Good luck on that one.

 

[spectator]

I love when they poo-poo extremely successful (competitors') business models, but don't describe their own.

"Developers are being restricted!"

Ok, so your platform is free?

 

[Seiryoden]

Consider me triggered. I loathe Yahoo Japan. Loathe them.

 

[ash_ag]

Not really related, but Yahoo! Japan used to run possibly the coolest, most ambiguous, and most poorly documented Pokémon web game/service ever: Pokémon Garden. That was back in 2005/2006, the pre-DP era. It was an information center/portal of sorts with plenty online features and mini-games. What makes it really cool is that its aesthetics were based on Pokémon Gen 3 and it featured a lot of original sprite work and special lore information. It's a real shame that no one seems to have kept video archives of its content, and it's now forever lost.

Yahoo Japan is so weird. Only region where they’re relevant no?

It actually has little to do with Yahoo!, which was recently sold to Verizon. It's called Yahoo! Japan because it was originally founded by Yahoo! and SoftBank, but it's been its own thing for a while.

 

[Shifty]

I won't be surprised if this has some success. Web technology is improving pretty quick, and WebGL is widely supported now. Not to mention the fact that on a technical level, a huge number of mobile games resemble something you'd find running in flash player circa the mid 2000s.

Throwing off the yoke Game Plus is expected to afford greater freedom to developers. Offering mobile games via the big app stores, developers must follow Apple's and Google's ground rules and surrender a 30% cut of revenues. They can make improvements only with permission, with screening taking a week or two. And if they put a button in the app that redirects users to a website selling related goods, for example, they can get in trouble for "bypassing" the app store operator.
"The creativity of games has been restricted," said Kouhei Waki, who oversees new services at Yahoo Japan.

"The cashflow of games has been restricted" is what I'm reading in the preceding paragraph.
I can certainly agree with the complaints about update screening though. Apple's QA is slow as molasses and has a nasty habit of spacing their complaints out across multiple days-long roadblocks.

 

[ggx2ac]

Isn't this just Mobage again? Who would care?

For a moment there I thought Mobage was dead but I checked and it's still alive:

http://sp.mbga.jp

Screenshot from their front page:

Makes sense that Granblue Fantasy would be one of the big games there since it's a browser game.

I don't know what Yahoo Japan is doing differently then that would give it an edge against DeNA let alone Apple or Google.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I love when they poo-poo extremely successful (competitors') business models, but don't describe their own.

"Developers are being restricted!"

Ok, so your platform is free?

Also, app review taking weeks? It can take a day and half for 11 apps to go from waiting for review to pending developer release (just happened to us this week). They are fast!

 

[udivision]

Hey I loved Yahoo Games in the 90s.

Literati was lit.

 

[RM8]

Japanese mobile games are already devoid of gameplay, so it could work, I guess. Unfun Menu RPGs for everyone!

 

[duckroll]

For a moment there I thought Mobage was dead but I checked and it's still alive:

http://sp.mbga.jp

Screenshot from their front page:


Makes sense that Granblue Fantasy would be one of the big games there since it's a browser game.

I don't know what Yahoo Japan is doing differently then that would give it an edge against DeNA let alone Apple or Google.

Actually, I mentioned it because Yahoo Japan -runs- the browser side of Mobage. DeNA is focused on the mobile part of it. What Yahoo Japan seems to be doing here is just taking their experience from browser games under Mobage, and trying to turn it into a brand new platform they own which also runs on phones and tablets. Except... who really wants that?

 

[ggx2ac]

Actually, I mentioned it because Yahoo Japan -runs- the browser side of Mobage. DeNA is focused on the mobile part of it. What Yahoo Japan seems to be doing here is just taking their experience from browser games under Mobage, and trying to turn it into a brand new platform they own which also runs on phones and tablets. Except... who really wants that?

I have no clue.

All I got from the article is that this was something to offer developers that they claim is better than the app stores and that the implementation reminded me of the Cloud streaming services that have failed before like Square Enix's Shinra Technologies.

Unless they are going to make games that would be unable to run on a Smartphone, I don't see why it would be better to use Game Plus over apps downloaded from the App stores.

I'd have thought they'd have some grand vision in mind but since it's just for games at the moment it seems like something you wouldn't really need which proves your point about why would anyone want this service?

 

[Lupin the Third]

Screenshot from their front page:

"My sister, let's do it properly!"

 

[kunonabi]

For a moment there I thought Mobage was dead but I checked and it's still alive:

http://sp.mbga.jp

Screenshot from their front page:


Makes sense that Granblue Fantasy would be one of the big games there since it's a browser game.

I don't know what Yahoo Japan is doing differently then that would give it an edge against DeNA let alone Apple or Google.

That last game certainly knows how to make an impression.

 

[i-Jest]

Apple will not take this lying down if the platform becomes a serious competitor for their App Store in the future. Now we wait and see how the market responds to this development for the next few months.

Yahoo has invented web games!

And FLASH GAMES! And BROWSER GAMES!

 

[Somnid]

Done well this can be highly successful. If you could move gamers to web based games then those developers would not have to pay cuts, and it would be easy to build once for all devices, and they could regulate their own content and update schedule. Realistically the mobile platform is there for credit cards and visibility, it offers virtually nothing that cannot be done on the native web platform. Of course the main issue is that Apple has and will continue to sabotage the web platform by refusing to adopt standards that put web apps at feature parity with app store apps, or very slowly and begrudgingly adopting those standards only when support has solidified to the point they have no other option.

Modern PWAs are indistinguishable from native apps, unless you're on iOS.

 

[i-Jest]

Done well this can be highly successful. If you could move gamers to web based games then those developers would not have to pay cuts, and it would be easy to build once for all devices, and they could regulate their own content and update schedule. Realistically the mobile platform is there for credit cards and visibility, it offers virtually nothing that cannot be done on the native web platform. Of course the main issue is that Apple has and will continue to sabotage the web platform by refusing to adopt standards that put web apps at feature parity with app store apps, or very slowly and begrudgingly adopting those standards only when support has solidified to the point they have no other option.

Modern PWAs are indistinguishable from native apps, unless you're on iOS.

I can see it happen at a slow rate, only because people don't want to trapped in an app store. I wouldn't be surprised if early adopters into the platform turn out to be gamers that want an experience they can't find on Play Store or App Store. Android phones are a common sight these days but I remember a time when the tech savvy, computer enthusiast, and gamers were the only ones that walked around with one. Apply users would only mock or look at you strange for having one. Times change, the market changes, and so do peoples taste in preference.

I for one look forward in seeing where this all goes. More options are always nice.

 

[Qvoth]

guess who's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
https://kids.yahoo.co.jp/games/sports/013.html

 

[massoluk]

For a moment there I thought Mobage was dead but I checked and it's still alive:

http://sp.mbga.jp

Screenshot from their front page:


Makes sense that Granblue Fantasy would be one of the big games there since it's a browser game.

I don't know what Yahoo Japan is doing differently then that would give it an edge against DeNA let alone Apple or Google.

I'm... I am intrigued with My sister, let's do it properly! Pics?

 

[andrerobot]

guess who's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
https://kids.yahoo.co.jp/games/sports/013.html

Oh, fuck no.

 

[Cuningas de Häme]

Why exactly would consumers use this platform instead of the app stores already built into their phones?

Because I don't have to use Google's?

I am all in for limiting Google's access to other people's money.

And they try to limit devs in every way possible, while at the same time store is full of scams and copies and other pretty damn shady stuff.

 

[notaskwid]

I played FFXIII for 5 minutes on it this morning.

 

[Starbuck2907]

Amazon MP3 store ran an HTML5 site for mobile because Apple wouldn't let you buy from the Amazon app or regular web site. Said you can't make the purchase "on this device".

I used to buy from it.

https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-ipod-touch-users-can-now-buy-music-from-amazon/

I think you can make purchases now though...through the regular site. not sure what's going on there. The html5 site seems down so maybe Apple gave up or they worked out a deal?

I think the Japanese games store thingy is trying the equivalent of what Amazon used to do.

 

[notaskwid]

guess who's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
https://kids.yahoo.co.jp/games/sports/013.html

Dunno if it's because I'm mobile, but that game doesn't appear to me.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I thought Yahoo was dead?

 

[notaskwid]

I thought Yahoo was dead?

Not in Japan.

 

[duckroll]

Looks like S-E is the main (only?) supporter of the platform from day 1: https://games.yahoo-net.jp/title

Their new game Antique Carnevale, FFX and FFX-2 HD remasters, FFXIII, FFXIII-2, Lightning Returns, The Last Remnant, I am Setsuna.

And then there are like a dozen or so MSX/MSX2 games running through the Eggy emulator. Lol.

 

[Qvoth]

Dunno if it's because I'm mobile, but that game doesn't appear to me.

i don't actually know if the game is on their new platform or not, but this was quite an infamous game on yahoo japan, so i just posted that in this thread

 

[ggx2ac]

i don't actually know if the game is on their new platform or not, but this was quite an infamous game on yahoo japan, so i just posted that in this thread

No, the service is putting mobile games on the cloud via browser, not the other way around.

And I'm guessing the Square Enix games that were listed just above your post are probably the same games that were on similar cloud services that Square Enix has had.

 

[Freshmaker]

I love when they poo-poo extremely successful (competitors') business models, but don't describe their own.

"Developers are being restricted!"

Ok, so your platform is free?

I think the only way they consider it unrestricted is they aren't stuck within an os.

 

[LQX]

Yahoo being so huge in Japan is like an alternate timeline.