Mobile Factory, an IT service company that develops location-based games and also provides NFT functions in the NFT sales and generation market "Unima" and blockchain-related service "Ekimemo! Our Rails," has withdrawn from the blockchain business as of March 31, 2024.
After Unima ended its service, development of the P2E (Play to Earn) function "Shabon System" that was planned to be installed in Ekimemo! Our Rails was also canceled.
The reason for the withdrawal from the business was a report about the location-based SNS "NauNau" provided by Mobile Factory subsidiary Suisho. This was that at least 2 million users' location information and chats were temporarily made accessible from outside on "NauNau."
Mobile Factory conducted an investigation into the report and stated that no personal information leaks were confirmed within the scope of the investigation, but the service has not yet resumed.
On the other hand, Mobile Factory announced in October last year that it would proceed with the IEO of "QYS Coin" on the domestic cryptocurrency exchange GMO Coin with the aim of "forming the next generation entertainment market." It explained that in order to aim for the IEO of "QYS Coin," it is important to expand the number of service users and economic sphere of the company group, including "NauNau."
However, due to the information leak report of NauNau, Mobile Factory decided that it would be difficult to increase the number of users and expand the economic sphere as originally planned. It appears that it has decided to position the NFT business as an unprofitable business and withdraw from the business. In addition, due to this management decision, it will also request GMO Coin to withdraw from the IEO.
Mobile Factory has announced that it will concentrate its management resources on "Ekimemo!" as its future policy. In addition, this management policy is viewed favorably by the market.
At first glance, it seems that Mobile Factory changed its management policy in response to the information leak report, but according to some analysts, Mobile Factory had been selling "Ekimemo!" in the fiscal year ending December 2021 even before the information leak report. They point out that Mobile Factory's blockchain business, which was positioned as an upfront investment, has not generated profits in line with the initial plan.
In addition, the blockchain business, which was positioned as an upfront investment, has naturally not generated profits, and even recently, it has posted a deficit of around 60 million yen per quarter and 250 million yen per year, so some point out that Mobile Factory's blockchain business may have stumbled from the start.
For these reasons, some point out that Mobile Factory's withdrawal from the blockchain business was a foregone conclusion, but at this stage these are merely speculations, and it will be necessary to keep a close eye on the policy of concentrating management resources on "Ekimemo!" as stated in the press release.
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