GREE Tells TellIt to Shut It, Gives Up on Building a Messaging App

Earlier this year, Japanese social gaming giant GREE (TYO:3632) got a rocket up its butt from the huge success of apps like Line (which also has social gaming integration) and decided to build its own messaging app called Tellit. But that’s all over today as Tellit is now marked to be closed down.

Tellit – which was built by GREE’s partner eBuddy – apparently never gained traction, and GREE never revealed any figures for user numbers (always a bad sign). Arriving so late to the battle – where Line already has over 200 million registered users, and game-loving KakaoTalk has over 100 million – it was clear the app never stood a chance.

The TellIt site informs users today:

Although the product has seen steady usage and has loyal users, we are facing strong competition in other areas of our business.

In order to focus our efforts and succeed in a competitive environment, unfortunately sometimes we need to make difficult decisions. As a result, today we’re announcing that the Tellit application is scheduled to be closed down on September 1, 2013. We wanted to give you some advance notice so that you are both aware of it and have some time to find an alternative chat tool.

GREE’s most direct rival, DeNA, also has its own late-starting messaging app called Comm. Will that be next to be shoved into the deadpool?

(Editing by Enricko Lukman)