What happens when a messaging platform stops thinking only about communication and starts thinking about currency?

Recorded live at Think Apps: The Google App Summit in APAC in Vietnam, this MobileGroove episode features my conversation with Hiroaki Fujino, Content & Membership at LY Corp (formerly LINE), one of Japan’s most powerful digital ecosystems.

LINE began as a messaging app. Today, LY Corp spans games, payments, music, stamps and a growing portfolio of services that reach the majority of Japan’s internet population. The company’s ambition is not simply to add features, but to integrate behavior, community and rewards into a single environment.

In this conversation, I explore how the company is using gamification and point systems to deepen engagement across its ecosystem. Hiroaki shares his vision for a future where everyday actions, not just transactions, generate value. Walking, spending time in-app, engaging with content, even interacting across services can become part of a broader point culture that blends entertainment, commerce and community.

We talk about:

• Why LINE Walk converts real-world activity like steps into rewards, and what that signals about the future of gamification
• How converting distance, time and daily behavior into points creates a new kind of engagement loop
• What “play-to-earn” looks like in the Japanese market and whether that model can travel across APAC
• What it means to build a casual gaming powerhouse inside a messaging platform

We also discuss what it means to take this model beyond Japan and whether LY Corp’s approach can serve as a blueprint for other markets in APAC and beyond.

If you are building community-driven platforms, loyalty systems or games that connect digital behavior to real-world value, this episode offers insight into how one of Japan’s largest ecosystems is leading the change.

Chapters

00:00 The Rise of Play-to-Earn Apps

01:15 Line's Continuous Evolution

02:27 The Line Messenger Ecosystem

03:50 Exporting the Line Model

05:30 Converting Daily Life into Points

09:51 The Challenge of Global Gamification

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