Japanese Chat App ‘Line’ Does Gangnam Style

NHN Japan’s animated rendition of Gangnam Style

Korean pop star PSY, who recently hit a billion views on YouTube, is being featured by Japanese chat application ‘Line’ in a fun promotional video. The clip only runs for about a minute in length, but it’s really well done, and features all Line characters that you’re likely familiar with if you use the up-and-coming application. Check it out below:

While PSY long-surpassed the status of global phenomenon, NHN Japan’s Line application has been a phenomenon in its own right in Japan and around Asia — but clearly its intention is to become something bigger. It has about 89 million users right now, and is pushing pretty hard to grab more. Hooking its wagon to PSY’s infectious Gangnam Style is certainly not a bad idea [1].

Meanwhile in Taiwan, the company has gone so far as to advertise on a local train. And by that, I mean that NHN has literally plastered an entire train green and covered it with Line characters (pictured below). On the inside of the train, passengers can use their smartphones to scan QR codes and read/receive events from the application.

Meanwhile, More Games

NHN Japan has also continued to roll out more games via its chat platform, with three new titles including the new Line Bubble (iOS/Android). That title is currently ranked as the number one free iOS app here in Japan, and on Google Play, it’s ranked fourth. The games are all casual titles like previously released Line games, and all will likely do very well thanks to quick and easy distribution via the Line chat application.

[NHN Japan via Techwave]