Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has recently revealed plans to allocate a total of 1.5 billion yen (approximately $9.2 million USD) in subsidies to mobile game developer DeNA, widely recognized for their recent success with Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. As reported by The Nikkei, this financial support is intended to bolster DeNA’s mobile game development efforts and encourage the creation of high-caliber content with the potential to achieve global recognition.
This decision follows DeNA’s selection for inclusion in the Japanese government’s IP360 initiative, a program designed to fund the development of new domestic intellectual properties and enhance Japan’s content industry competitiveness on the international stage. Specifically, DeNA was identified as one of the companies chosen for the initial round of subsidies under the “general support for large-scale production” category, alongside prominent developers such as SEGA, Konami, Square Enix, Koei Tecmo, and Arc System Works.
However, METI’s announcement regarding DeNA’s subsidy quickly drew criticism from Japanese social media users. Although the IP360 program also extends support to indie developers, with grants reaching up to 10 million yen ($62,000 USD), many have questioned the allocation of public funds, igniting a debate over whether such a substantial investment is justified for a major company like DeNA.
Huh, why? The National Museum is doing crowdfunding, so if you have that kind of money, why don’t you stop trying to make the museum turn a profit and just start supporting it instead.
Why are our taxes flowing out to major companies that aren’t even struggling when it comes to capital? This is what they’re doing while cutting the budgets for public museums and art galleries. If DeNA’s mobile games actually do sell, what do we gain from that? It’s just a private company gaining even more profit.
Hiroyuki Nishimura, founder of 2channel and current owner of 4chan, also remarked: “In an age where solo-developed indie games are becoming increasingly popular, the Japanese government is pouring 1.5 billion yen into a publicly-listed mobile game developer.”
Numerous Japanese users contended that DeNA is a privately-owned entity, suggesting that the government is using taxpayers’ money to fund mobile games while neglecting public cultural institutions such as museums, galleries, and universities.
Others argued that if the government has billions to allocate to major corporations, those funds should instead be directed toward supporting the nation’s emerging solo and indie developers. “With this kind of approach, it looks less like they are trying to nurture new talents, and more like this is going to make strong companies even stronger,” one user stated.
Conversely, industry professionals offered a different viewpoint. In a recent statement, Indie-us Games representative alwei explained that securing substantial government funding is exceptionally challenging for small and indie developers. Larger companies with stable revenue and notable achievements are far more likely to have their subsidy applications approved.
However, indie developers face a high risk of being unable to fulfill their obligations if their projects fail after receiving significant subsidies. Subsidies generally come with stricter application criteria compared to grants and are typically disbursed post-project completion, making them unsuitable for individual creators, alwei suggested.