Report
FY2021 First Quarter Financial Results Briefing
FY2021 first‑quarter results for GREE, Inc. show a robust financial performance with net sales of 15.2 billion yen and operating income of 1.6 billion yen, exceeding forecasts and achieving an operating margin above 10 %. Net income rose sharply by 3.2 billion yen compared to the prior quarter, largely due to a valuation loss on investment securities and a partial reversal of deferred tax assets. EBITDA reached 1.8 billion yen, underscoring healthy profitability. The company’s game business drove the growth, highlighted by the global launch of SINoALICE on July 1st across 139 countries. Coin consumption in the app increased by 40 % from the previous quarter, and existing titles maintained strong sales momentum. Fixed costs fell by 1.41 billion yen, with a further 580 million yen reduction after excluding one‑time expenses, attributed to restructuring and lower outsourcing costs. The company also announced a share repurchase program capped at 20 million shares and 12 billion yen to enhance shareholder returns. Strategic expansion into China continued with the September release of DanMachi and a November launch of Another Eden, supported by local partners. The live‑entertainment platform REALITY added new content and avatar options, while the advertising and media segment grew its user base to over 10 million monthly users. Looking ahead, GREE plans to release two to three new in‑house titles annually, including Assault Lily: Last Bullet and licensed properties such as One‑Punch Man, with additional projects in development. The company expects operating income for Q2 to remain in the mid‑to‑high hundred million yen range, reinforcing its earnings pillars across game, live entertainment, and advertising/media businesses.
GREE
Whitepaper
Best Practices for Game Localization
Effective game localization requires a holistic integration of linguistic, cultural, and technical considerations from the earliest stages of development. The primary objective is to ensure that a game feels native to every target audience, moving beyond simple word-for-word translation to achieve true cultural adaptation. This process involves a deep understanding of regional nuances, legal requirements, and player expectations across global markets, particularly in high-growth regions such as East Asia, Europe, and Latin America. By prioritizing localization during the pre-production phase, developers can avoid costly technical debt and structural redesigns that often occur when internationalization is treated as an afterthought. Technical preparedness serves as the foundation for successful global launches. Developers must implement flexible user interfaces that accommodate text expansion, as languages like German or French often require significantly more horizontal space than English. Furthermore, the use of Unicode (UTF-8) and the externalization of all strings into manageable resource files are essential practices to prevent hard-coded text issues. Providing localization teams with comprehensive context—including character bios, lore bibles, and visual screenshots—drastically reduces errors related to gender, tone, and intent. This contextual clarity ensures that dialogue and interface elements remain consistent and immersive across all supported languages. Quality assurance and cultural sensitivity checks represent the final critical pillars of the localization workflow. Linguistic testing must be conducted within the game environment to identify clipping, font rendering issues, and contextual mistranslations that are invisible in spreadsheets. Simultaneously, culturalization reviews help identify potentially offensive symbols, historical inaccuracies, or religious references that could lead to censorship or market rejection. By employing native-speaking experts and maintaining a centralized glossary of terms, studios can protect their brand integrity and maximize the commercial potential of their titles in a competitive global landscape.
International Game Developers’ Association
