Japan’s DeNA cuts mobile gaming deals with Chinese carriers that have a billion users

Japanese mobile social gaming network firm DeNA has announced it has signed deals with China’s three largest mobile carriers, enabling DeNA’s games to get in front of nearly 1 billion mobile subscribers.

DeNA’s Mobage China network, which allows gamers to buy social games and play them with their friends, will now be accessible via China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. That should give Tokyo-based DeNA a huge reach for its free-to-play mobile gaming apps. It’s also important because Google’s official Google Play Android store is not supported in China.

The apps will now appear in the carriers’ official mobile app stores, rather than only on mobile web sites. Chinese subscribers can use their direct carrier billing to purchase virtual items in Mobage China games and have the payment executed through their mobile phone bills.

China Mobile, which has 650 million subscribers, started offering Mobage China apps on March 1. China Unicom, with 205 million subscribers, debuted its Mobage China store section on March 8. And China Telecom, with 126 million subscribers, began offering Mobage China apps on Feb. 29. DeNA generated sales of $1.4 billion in the past year and it has 35 million users in Japan and 1,800 games.

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