Japanese mobile social gaming company DeNA reported that its sales for the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31 were $445 million, up 16 percent from a year ago.
The numbers are pretty big for a mobile game platform, and they show the potential of what could happen as mobile social gaming networks take off in places such as the U.S.
Operating income was $176 million, down 8 percent, and net income was $78 million, down 26 percent from last year. All of the financials were down compared to the second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30.
The company said sales in the core social media segment in Japan were up from 25.5 billion yen to 30.2 billion yen but down from the second quarter of 31 billion yen.
DeNA’s mobile social network Mobage has 35.92 million subscribers, up from 32 million three months ago. Players are using more virtual currency in Japan as third parties are using it in more and more titles.
Isao Moriyasu, president of DeNA, said that the company’s goal remains to execute on its cross-border strategy for spreading Mobage around the world. He said that growth in the quarter was led by third-party games.
Mobage has more than 1,300 social games in Japan alone. In other news, DeNA bought a Japanese pro-baseball team, rebranding the outfit as Yokohama DeNA BayStars. The company reported an $8.5 million cost and $3.9 million security payment.