Japanese Execs Meet Filipino IT Luminaries

Akihabara native Shimoyama-san brought some Broccoli swag for the otaku in the meeting. I can’t remember the last time I saw TCG booster packs passed around a boardroom. Then again, that’s the level of coolness you can expect from the makers of Galaxy Angel.

Believe it or not, Japan’s credit card penetration is relatively low. That’s why WebMoney has dominated the Japanese online metacurrency market for seven years. Now it’s the de facto unified metacurrency for all Japanese online games. Onogi-san gave out samples.

While online metacurrencies predate most online games in Japan, they pretty much came with online games in the Philippines (2003). The idea of a Philippine unified online metacurrency came up (lousy 4% credit card penetration), but don’t expect fiercely competitive Philippine game publishers to hold hands and sing kumbaya anytime soon. While I agree with Level Up’s Jane Walker on the need for a Philippine gaming industry association, it’ll be an uphill climb. Best we can hope for right now is Erick Kalugdan’s upcoming metacurrency conversion system at Load.com.ph.

Nagasawa-san’s got an interesting game going on: Horse Racing Legend, where you raise horses and win in-game money to raise more horses. Leave it to the Japanese to turn a real-world betting sport into chocobo racing. Wonder if any Philippine publisher in the room will pick it up.

Oh, and Laro Corporation came up as a Japanese IT success story in the Philippines. With great meetings like these, I hope to see even more.

Pages | 1 | 2

Like This Post: Share This Post: Tweet This Post Share on Facebook Stumble This Post Post to Reddit