DeNA Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社ディー・エヌ・エー, Hepburn: Kabushikigaisha Dī-Enu-Ē, pronounced "DNA") is a Japanese provider of mobile portal and e-commercewebsites headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It owns the Mobage platform,[3] which is one of the most popular cell phone platforms in Japan. It also operates many other services, including a popular e-commerce website DeNA Shopping (formerly: Bidders).
March: Consolidates Mobage Town and Plus+ (ngmoco's social gaming network) into a single global brand, Mobage.[4]
June: Japan Fair Trade Commission issues a cease-and-desist order against DeNA, finding that it violated article 19 the anti-monopoly act by pressuring or forcing game developers to release titles only for the Mobage platform.
June: Founder and CEO Tomoko Namba stepped down to focus on her husband's recovery from an illness. Namba remained on the board as a director, with COO Isao Moriyasu being appointed President and CEO as well as general manager of social media, and the former CFO Makoto Haruta becoming the Director and Chairman.[5]
November: Formally announced intent to acquire a 66.92% stake in Yokohama BayStars Baseball Club, Inc., which operates Yokohama BayStars professional baseball team in Japan's Central League, for 6.5 billion Japanese yen[7] from Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings, INC. and BS-TBS, INC.[8]
November: Following the June 2011 cease-and-desist order, GREE and KDDI file suit against DeNA, claiming 1.5 billion yen in damages.
December: 11 of the 12 professional baseball club owners approve DeNA's acquisition of the Yokohama BayStars, with Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles dissenting. Yokohama DeNA BayStars comes into existence the following day, after transfer of club shares from Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings.
2012
February 19: Developed JSX as a research project. The main developers are Kazuho Oku and Goro Fuji (a.k.a. gfx).[9]
March: Announced a partnership with Disney to develop and promote mobile social games, including the tower defense mobile game Star Wars: Galactic Defense, released many months after Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the Star Wars intellectual property in October 2012.
June: DeNA subsidy DeNA-China announced partnership with Chinese social network Renren to bring mobile games to Renren users using DeNA's Mobage social gaming platform.[10]
October 23: Released VoIP and messaging service Comm.
November 7: DeNA and Cygames announce that they have entered a capital and business alliance, whereby DeNA would acquire a total of 500 shares or 20.03% of the company for 7.4 billion yen from Cygames majority owner CyberAgent and the Cygames board of directors. This was a follow-up to a strategic alliance formed in the February of this year between the two companies.[11]
2013
January 10: Announced social music service, "Groovy", along with a music partnership with SonyMusic, Universal Music Group, and several others.
January 10: New logo revealed as well as the consolidation of the names of various services, including renaming Bidders as DeNA Shopping and Skygate as DeNA Travel.
January 10: Introduced the new slogan, "Delight and Impact the World".
November 25: Launch of Showroom app and browser, a Japanese live streaming service used primarily for Japanese idols and voice actors. It also has been integrated into the audition process for idol groups such as 22/7, Nogizaka46, and Keyakizaka46.
March 17: A business alliance with Nintendo is formed.[13]
2016
October: DeNA shuts down its U.S. subsidiary DeNA Global, Inc. due to the Western market share not meeting expectations, and shift focus towards its partnership with Nintendo. Japanese HQ DeNA Co., Ltd. will still oversee prior product releases in the Western market however.[14]
2019
January: MEDIA DO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. obtains all equity interests of MyAnimeList, LLC (head office: State of California, U.S., hereinafter "MAL") from DeNA Corp. (head office: State of California, U.S., hereinafter "DeNA"). MAL runs "MyAnimeList", one of the world's largest anime and manga database communities, and MEDIA DO HOLDINGS has signed an equity interest transfer agreement with DeNA through one of its subsidiaries, Media Do International, Inc. (head office: State of California, U.S.).[15]
2022
November: Nintendo and DeNA to establish a joint venture called Nintendo Systems, with Nintendo owning 80% of the shares and DeNA owning 20% of the shares. The company will be a Nintendo subsidiary and will focus on the research and development of Nintendo accounts, strengthening the business both companies have been working together since 2015.[16]
