Some insights Into market growth

Games represented nearly 80% of total worldwide consumer spend for combined iOS App Store and Google Play in 2017, while accounting for roughly 35% of total worldwide downloads.

Rapid growth in a few key markets, most notably China, Japan and South Korea, helped fuel mobile gaming’s ascent in 2017. Although all regions experienced growth, over 60% of mobile game spending in 2017 occurred in Asia-Pacific, a region that continued to gain share

With a clear majority of revenue from the top PvP mobile games coming from Asia-Pacific, it will be interesting to see if PvP titles can significantly increase their popularity in North America and Western Europe in 2018

Why we think Japan, gaming, and Kin are a winning combination

While we understood we had numerous open questions and much to learn from our in person meetings, we did arrive at a working hypothesis as to why Kin would be a good fit for gaming in Japan. We broke it down this way:

What’s the challenge? Unlock new in-game engagement and monetization opportunities

Unlock new in-game engagement and monetization opportunities What’s the opportunity? Kin is in a unique position to offer a low barrier entry-point for blockchain technology, allowing app developers and digital services access to an entire ecosystem with new user experiences and revenue streams by rewarding developers for enabling Kin transactions

Kin is in a unique position to offer a low barrier entry-point for blockchain technology, allowing app developers and digital services access to an entire ecosystem with new user experiences and revenue streams by rewarding developers for enabling Kin transactions What’s the value proposition? Drive revenue by Increasing engagement & retention without the game experience. Access to Kin’s fair and decentralized rewards ecosystem.

So then why Japan? Well, there are a few key points that make it such a natural fit:

Mobile gaming revenue in Japan has grown by approximately 35% year on year, surpassing the US for three years in a row.

Japanese gamers are a highly engaged, highly monetizable audience

Japan is positioning itself as a leader in fin-tech and payments innovation — source

Tokyo Metro Government is positioning itself as the best place to invest in and build blockchain and crypto projects. Most recently, running a fully funded accelerator program for businesses building in blockchain — source

Japan is the first to offer a regulatory framework for digital currency exchanges — source

In April, Japan was the first country to recognize virtual currencies, explicitly citing Bitcoin, as legal tender — source; source

Japanese market is leader in Bitcoin holdings (source) with Japanese exchanges working to add more exposure to alt-coins.

What We Learned From Our Trip

I will be writing a comprehensive follow up post about the the Kin value proposition that for gaming that evolved from the trip (stay tuned), but I thought I’d first share some initial reflections on the experience itself, in terms of a few, occasionally hard learned, pointers for anyone who may be heading to Japan for the first time.