Social Gaming Booms As Japanese Women Turn to Dating Sims for Prince Charming

News from Japan! GREE Inc., the biggest Japanese social network you’ve never heard of, is reporting that it’s shares have now doubled in value, thanks in no small part to the growing demographic of female users attracted to the otome genre. And GREE’s not the only one seeing big profits. DeNA Co., a mobile games manufacturer, saw share values increase 23%, while Voltage Inc, who specialize in otome games, saw their share values increase by 21%. In fact, profits have grown so dramatically, analysts speculate that the female orientated games could amount to 20 billion yen ($261 million) over the next 5 years.

So why the dramatic increase in demand? Part of it is attributed to the growing social gaming scene in Japan.  However, Toshihiro Nagahama, an economist for the Daiichi Life Research Institute, contributes the growth to women seeking virtual men with traits they desire in the real world. “Dating games became a blockbuster category among women because characters in those games give them what they want from men in the real world.” It’s interesting to speculate, then, if this is a direct result of Japan’s growing “herbivore men” population, but I digress.

The growing demand for such games is expected to have a strong influence on games targeted and marketed to the female demographic on a global level according to Tomoaki Kawasaki, analyst for Cosmo Securities Co. One can only hope this has a positive influence in our field of entertainment, as the female demographic has long been neglected in western gaming.

The Tokyo Times [Japanese Women Going Gaga Over Video Dating Games]