Gcrest expands presence to US

Japanese online publisher, Gcrest, has announced the opening of a new office in San Francisco as it seeks to expand its presence in North America.

The company, which publishes 1 million player base casual title @games hopes to "answer specific demands of US communities" it explained in a statement, with over half of user playing its free-to-play title TinierMe based in the country.

"We are thrilled and really excited to open our first office in San Francisco. Despite the economic downturn we have experienced a strong demand of users to expand our presence in America" said Masaru Ohnogi, VP of global operations.

"The online game market has already been multifaceted and flooded with a wide range of similar products; therefore it's going to be more difficult to collect millions of users without going global.

"Providing sophisticated, easy-to access and territory focused services is the backbone of our strategy. We will maximise our strength to entertain as many people as possible worldwide. We're starting with North America because many of our fans are here in the US."

Among the tasks for the US base of operations are plans to further identify cultural similarities and differences, collect ongoing feedback, increase the community of users, and build affiliations with local companies.