Abby

What Abby does

Abby (株式会社Abby) is a privately-held Japanese mobile game development studio founded on June 1, 2004, headquartered in Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, with a secondary office in Toyama. The company operates a two-track business. On the consumer side, Abby develops and operates licensed-IP mobile games on iOS and Android under a free-to-play model with in-app purchases — flagship titles include Rilakkuma Farm (2019), Sumikkogurashi Farm (2020; 5M+ downloads by June 2023, Google Play Best of 2021 Cute & Casual), Korilakkuma Tower Defense (2023), and Medarot Survivor (2025). On the B2B side, Abby acts as a full-cycle development contractor (client and server-side) for IP holders and publishers including Imagineer Co., Poppin Games Japan, and Bushiroad Inc., who handle publishing, marketing, and distribution under their own brands.

The technical stack centers on cross-platform mobile development using Unity and libGDX with RoboVM (single Java codebase targeting iOS and Android), Go-based server infrastructure running on AWS (EC2, ECS, S3, Aurora, CloudFront, ElastiCache, CDK), and React/TypeScript for web tooling. Abby's engineers are visibly senior — authoring technical books on Docker, HHVM/Hack, and Java, and contributing to open source (e.g., CTO Yutaka Matsubara's Meinheld Python WSGI server, recognized via a 2018 Google Open Source Peer Bonus).

Revenue mechanics split between (a) consumer in-app purchases on freemium games distributed via the App Store and Google Play (Sumikkogurashi Farm available globally excluding mainland China in Japanese/English/Traditional Chinese), and (b) contract development fees and live-operations revenue from enterprise IP holders under multi-year publisher relationships. Leadership is founder-led: Masaaki Yonebayashi (米林正明) is CEO since founding; Yutaka Matsubara (松原豊) is CTO and Executive Officer. The company was recapitalized in October 2022, raising registered capital 7x from ¥10M to ¥70M to support financial stability and service investment.

Name

Abby

Legal name

株式会社Abby

Website

https://abby.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Abby is a Tokyo-based mobile game developer founded in 2004. It develops and operates IP-based casual games including Rilakkuma Farm, Sumikkogurashi Farm, and Medarot Survivor, and provides full-cycle contract mobile game development services to IP holders such as Imagineer, Poppin Games Japan, and Bushiroad.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Game Development

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Mobile & F2P Game Studios (MPAFAAAB)

Keywords

• Mobile game development
• Casual mobile games
• IP-licensed games
• Freemium mobile games
• Cross-platform development

Headquarters

HQ city

Kami-meguro

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Mobile Game Operations (Freemium/IAP): Abby develops and operates its own mobile games (Rilakkuma Farm, Sumikkogurashi Farm, Medarot Survivor) using a free-to-play model with in-app purchases for revenue.
2. Game Development Contracting: Abby provides contracted game development services (client + server-side) to IP holders/publishers such as Imagineer, Poppin Games Japan, and Bushiroad. Revenue is generated through development fees and/or ongoing service agreements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Abby is a Japanese mobile game development studio that develops and operates freemium iOS/Android games built around licensed character IP (Rilakkuma, Sumikkogurashi, Medarot, Korilakkuma, Crayon Shin-chan, Moomin, Peter Rabbit, etc.), primarily distributed via Imagineer and other publishers. The company also operates as a B2B development contractor, providing full-cycle client and server-side game development services to IP holders and publishers such as Imagineer, Poppin Games Japan, and Bushiroad.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sumikkogurashi Farm (すみっコぐらし 農園つくるんです) iOS/Android free-to-play garden simulation mobile game featuring the popular San-X Sumikkogurashi characters, developed by Abby for Imagineer as publisher; supports Japanese, English, and Traditional Chinese; available globally excluding mainland China; reached 5 million downloads by June 2023 and won Google Play Best of 2021 Cute & Casual category.
• Rilakkuma Farm (リラックマ農園～ゆるっとだららんファーム～) iOS/Android free-to-play garden simulation mobile game featuring San-X Rilakkuma characters, developed by Abby and published by Imagineer.
• Medarot Survivor (メダロットサバイバー) iOS/Android free-to-play survivor action mobile game based on the long-running Medarot franchise (3.3M+ units sold since 1997), with 30+ playable Medarot units at launch; developed by Abby and published by Imagineer.
• Korilakkuma Wind-up Ranger (コリラックマのねじ巻きレンジャー ～とびだせおもちゃの箱～) iOS/Android free-to-play tower defense mobile game featuring Korilakkuma and other Rilakkuma-series characters; developed by Abby and published by Imagineer.
• New Alice's Mad Tea Party (新アリスの不思議なティーパーティー) iOS/Android free-to-play Alice in Wonderland themed garden simulation mobile game with worldwide release; developed by Abby using the libGDX cross-platform framework.
• Moomin ~Welcome to Moomin Valley~ (ムーミン ～ようこそムーミン谷へ～) iOS/Android free-to-play Moomin-themed garden simulation mobile game released in Japan; developed by Abby for Poppin Games Japan with Go-based server infrastructure.
• Bears School - Jackie's Happy Life (くまのがっこう - Jackie's Happy Life -) iOS/Android free-to-play garden simulation mobile game based on the Bears School / Jack's Happy Life franchise; developed by Abby for Poppin Games Japan.
• Crayon Shin-chan: Kasukabe City Development (クレヨンしんちゃん 一致団ケツ！かすかべシティ大開発) iOS/Android free-to-play Crayon Shin-chan themed city-building simulation mobile game; developed by Abby with Bushiroad as publisher.
• Peter Rabbit Garden (ピーターラビットガーデン) Android garden simulation mobile game featuring the Peter Rabbit IP; the first Abby game developed in partnership with Poppin Games Japan, marking the start of an ongoing multi-title collaboration.
• B2B Mobile Game Development Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Sumikkogurashi Farm reached 5 million cumulative global downloads
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Imagineer Co., Ltd.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 February 2025Imagineer is the publisher and IP holder for Rilakkuma, Sumikkogurashi, Korilakkuma, and Medarot mobile games. Abby develops the client and server-side of these games while Imagineer handles publishing, marketing, and operations. This is Abby's primary ongoing partnership for flagship game titles.
• Bushiroad Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2017Abby provided client and server-side development for Bushiroad's Crayon Shin-chan mobile game 'Kasukabe City Development'. Bushiroad handled publishing and distribution.
• Poppin Games Japan Co., Ltd.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 August 2013Poppin Games Japan partnered with Abby for Android development of Peter Rabbit Garden (first partnership, 2013), followed by Alice's Mad Tea Party (2015), Moomin Valley (2015), and Bears School (2016). Abby handles development while Poppin Games handles publishing and marketing.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Colopl, Inc. Tokyo-headquartered mobile game developer (White Cat Project, Disney Tsum Tsum) with a strong licensed-IP business, comparable to Abby in Japanese mobile F2P focus.
• Drecom Co., Ltd. Tokyo-based mobile game developer and internet services company with a portfolio of F2P titles, directly comparable to Abby's mix of own-IP publishing and contracted development.
• f4samurai, Inc. Tokyo-based mobile game developer known for Fate/Grand Order co-development, working with major Japanese IP holders — analogous to Abby's role as a contracted developer for tier-1 IP.
• Wright Flyer Studios: Mobile game publishing/development arm of GREE, Inc., comparable to Abby in Japanese mobile F2P publishing with licensed IP.
• Sumzap, Inc. Tokyo-based mobile game developer and GungHo subsidiary focused on licensed-IP titles (Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle co-development), comparable in size and licensed-IP strategy to Abby.
• Pokelabo Inc. Tokyo-based mobile game developer (SINoALICE, Merc Storia) and GungHo subsidiary focused on midcore licensed-IP titles, comparable in scale and licensing model.
• Akatsuki Inc. Tokyo-based mobile game studio focused on F2P titles (Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, etc.), comparable to Abby in size and F2P mobile focus, also serving major Japanese IP holders.
• KLab Inc. Tokyo-headquartered mobile game developer (Love Live! School Idol Festival, Bleach: Brave Souls), serving as both developer and co-publisher with major anime/IP licensors — a strong parallel to Abby's licensed-IP model.
• Aiming Inc. Tokyo-based mobile and online game developer (Caravan Stories, Dragon Quest Tact) of comparable scale to Abby, working with major Japanese IP holders including Square Enix.

Broad incumbents

• DeNA Co., Ltd. Major Tokyo-based mobile and online game company (Pokémon Masters, Super Mario Run co-development) operating broadly in the same Japanese F2P mobile space as Abby but at materially larger scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/abby_co_jp
• Facebookfacebook.com/abbycojp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/abbycojp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Abby