It is not a Game, Not Even Social: New Service Engineering Paradigms from Lessons Learned in Mobile Social Games in Japan

There is an increasing visibility of mobile social games in Japan. The radical growth of item-purchasing in mobile social games is generating new hype in mobile business. The author revisits the game and social factors of the revenue-generating engines of mobile social games. The author examines the underlying principles of revenue-generating engines in mobile social games, which leads to exploration of a new framework of service engineering for a wider scope beyond game design.