DeNA, DoCoMo Form Mobile Social Gaming Network Partnership

DeNA, a Tokyo-based mobile social gaming network and developer, has partnered with NTT DoCoMo to make its service available through the Japanese wireless carrier's devices. DoCoMo, which is expected to reach more than 6 million new smartphone users for the current fiscal year (ending March 31, 2012), plans to pre-install a dedicated application for Mobage, DeNA's mobile social gaming network, in select smartphones. The company says DoCoMo customers will be able to access special benefits with the Mobage application, including early access to new content and exclusive privileges for selected content. They can take advantage of direct billing through its sp-mode smartphone service, too. For existing DoCoMo users, the company will directly link to the Mobage platform from its i-mode web portal on feature phones (advanced non-smartphones) and its DoCoMo Market portal on smartphones. DeNA and DoCoMo also intend to promote Mobage internationally, starting in other Asian countries and Europe, by collaborating with mobile operators and game developers and working with their respective subsidiaries and partners in foreign markets. The announcement comes just a few days after rival Japanese mobile social gaming network Gree revealed its own major international move and acquisition of OpenFeint, a North American firm operating a similar service, for $104 million. DeNA's preparations to expand Mobage's audience of 20.5 million registered users to the West include its expensive purchase of San Francisco-based developer and mobile social gaming network operator Ngmoco (Plus+ Network, Rolando) last October.