It's potentially a very smart bet. One of SNK's premier mobile games, the free-to-play Metal Slug Defense, has over 2.6 million downloads. That's a lot of in-app purchases for relatively little work, folks. And while King of Fighters has never really been as big as the likes of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, it has a loyal following that might grow thanks to the added effort. In other words, the Japanese game industry isn't dying just because Konami is backing out. If anything, it's evolving.