Sales surge for Ngmoco owner DeNA

Japanese social games company DeNA wants to go global this year, but it seems its domestic market will continue to provide a lucrative base for those ambitions.

The company reported net revenues of JPY 29.5 billion (around $359 million) for its fiscal third quarter, and an operating profit of JPY 14.7 billion (around $181 million). That’s up 153% and 182% year-on-year respectively.

DeNA says increased sales of virtual items within its social mobile games were a key factor in the revenue growth. 90% of its revenues come from its Mobage-town social mobile gaming service, which is hugely popular in Japan.

Mobage-town now has 24.48 million registered users, and is now attracting more 30+ year-olds thanks to advertising on TV. DeNA says it now has 88 third-party developers making games for the platform.

2011 will see Mobage go global, via DeNA’s ngmoco subsidiary, which was acquired last year. DeNA is also working with Samsung to push the community via handset preloads.

This article originally appeared on Develop sister site Mobile Entertainment