New Japanese Game Maker Alim Debuts With Funding, Launches Mobile RPG “Brave Frontier”

Dr. Serkan Toto is a gaming expert and independent consultant based in Tokyo. You can follow him on Twitter and his blog. This article is republished with his permission.

New mobile gaming startups are a very rare sight these days in Japan, but earlier this week a studio called Alim officially appeared on the scene.

Based in Tokyo, the company registered its existence in March and it has just received investment from Gumi Ventures, B-Dash Ventures, and Fuji Startup Ventures. Choosing the last partner is particularly interesting: Fuji Startup Ventures is operated by Fuji TV, a large national TV network that started broadcasting in Japan in 1959 and sits on a treasure trove of characters and intellectual property (IP).

As news blog SD Japan reports, it’s access to that IP that Alim thinks will differentiate itself from other game makers and give it a fighting chance in the country’s super-competitive, crowded gaming market.

It remains to be seen how easy that access will be in reality (in theory, Alim could also use Fuji TV’s national advertising power), but this actually is a valid argument – especially in light of the fact that IP is used by a wealth of mobile and social games in this country where recognisable characters are so important.

Along with Alim’s official launch announcement, the studio also rolled out a game called Brave Frontier. It’s a social RPG in extra-cute 8-bit style that features over 200 different characters and is quite heavy on battles, but there is also a story/quest mode.

The new game looks and plays really well (2,700 reviews on the App Store so far with an average 4.5 star rating), which means it’s good news that Alim is set to launch on Android and globally as well.

Brave Frontier is free in the App Store but only in Japan for now. Here’s the trailer:

(Editing by Willis Wee)