You have seen advertisements for games involving harems and dating simulations. That is the sub-genre for mobile games called ‘otome’, the Japanese word for a maiden.
Twin sisters, Anna, and Mizuki Nakajima have become multi-millionaires after their otome mobile game company rose on the stock market.
They combined stake in Coly, the firm they founded, and it launched to 15.2bn yen (RM570 million) last week.
Their games include Stand My Heroes and Promise of Wizard. They are free to download but include micro-transactions for extra storylines.
The market demand for otome games grew from 70 billion to 80 billion yen from 2019 to 2020.
The lack of software companies led by women means Coly’s success is a rarity and inspiration to women worldwide. The gaming industry has always been dubbed as a ‘boy’s club’ and the Nakajima’s success is highly unusual.
Serkan Toto, an analyst at Japanese gaming consultancy Kantan Games told the BBC, “The Nakajima twins did an exceptional job scaling their company so fast in such a hyper-competitive industry.”
According to business experts, it is still not easy to find your own way as a woman in the Japanese business world. Japan is a more male-dominated place.
With the Japanese anime style, Coly games rapidly grew in popularity, particularly in the US, China, and South Korea.