Gree (Japanese company)
GREE Holdings, Inc. is a Japanese social media and video game company with headquarters in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi, Tokyo. It has been operating the social network service GREE since its establishment in December 2004.
Etymology
The company name GREE comes from a hypothesis, Six Degrees of Separation postulated by social psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1967. "Six degrees of separation" is a hypothesis that everyone is approximately six steps away from any other person on Earth. If a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements are made, on average, any two people in the world can be connected in six steps or fewer. The name symbolizes GREE's hope to "create and provide any new possibilities of the Internet" and to "create new forms of fun, convenience, and excitement."History
- Feb. 2004: Release of GREE alpha to the public by Yoshikazu Tanaka as a personal hobby
- Mar. 2004: Exceeds 10,000 users
- Dec. 2004: Established GREE, Inc.
- Nov. 2006: Launches EZ GREE as a KDDI Mobile official service
- Feb. 2007: Launches GREE as a NTT Docomo official service
- Mar. 2007: Exceeds 1 million users
- Aug. 2007: Launches GREE as a Softbank official service
- Dec. 2008: Listed on the Market of the High-Growth and Emerging Stocks
- Apr. 2009: Exceeds 10 million users
- Jun. 2010: Exceeds 20 million users
- Jun. 2010: Listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange
- Jun. 2010: Release of third-party applications on "GREE Platform"
- Jul. 2010: Relocates Company headquarters to Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, Tokyo
- Nov. 2010: Announcement of investment in Project Goth, Inc.
- Dec. 2010: Launches "GREE Platform for smartphone"
- Dec. 2010: Exceeds 23.8 million users
- Jan. 2011: Establishment of a subsidiary, GREE International, Inc. in the US
- Jan. 2011: Acquisition of Atlantis Co., Ltd.
- Jan. 2011: Announcement of business collaboration with Tencent
- Apr. 2011: Buys US social mobile gaming platform OpenFeint for $104 million
- May 2012: GREE purchased the mobile game developer Funzio for $210 million
Subsidiaries
GREE Entertainment
GREE Entertainment, Inc., formerly Funplex, is an anime production and video game licensing company. It was formed on July 1, 2021 through a merger of GREE Inc.'s gaming and licensing divisions with Funplex.GREE Studios
GREE Studios is a video game development studio founded on November 1, 2024 from a consolidation of WFS and Pokelabo's consumer games business.WFS, Inc.
WFS, Inc., formerly Wright Flyer Studios, is a live service game developer and publisher wholly owned by GREE Holdings. It was founded on February 21, 2014 by GREE director Eiji Araki.| Year | Title | Platform | Publisher | |
| 2014 | Shoumetsu Toshi | iOS, Android | GREE | |
| 2017 | Another Eden | iOS, Android | Wright Flyer Studios | |
| 2018 | Wild Arms: Million Memories | iOS, Android | ForwardWorks | |
| 2019 | Fishing Star World Tour | Nintendo Switch | WFS | |
| 2019 | Afterlost – Shoumetsu Toshi | iOS, Android | GREE | |
| 2022 | Heaven Burns Red | iOS, Android | WFS, Key | |
| 2022 | Echoes of Mana | iOS, Android | Square Enix |
Pokelabo
Pokelabo is a brand of WFS focused on live service game development. Founded in 2007, Pokelabo was acquired by GREE in October 2012 for $173.8 million. On January 1, 2025, Pokelabo was converted from a wholly owned subsidiary of GREE into a video game brand under WFS, with its game development business absorbed by WFS.| Year | Title | Platform | Publisher | |
| 2017 | SINoALICE | iOS, Android | Square Enix | |
| 2021 | Assault Lily: Last Bullet | iOS, Android | Bushiroad Games | |
| 2025 | Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Magia Exedra | iOS, Android | Aniplex |