If Japan is a bit like the home of sweet childhood memories related to video games (thanks to consoles, of course), over the years Japanese players have increasingly moved away from the concept of home gaming, favoring other platforms such as the mobile one. Now, next to the iOS and Android devices (as well as the Nintendo ones), the PC has also been added. As reported by Dr. Serkan Toto, market analyst, the world of computer gaming in Japan has in fact exploded, so much so that it has become three times larger than the console one.
In the study, available in its entirety at this address, Toto analyzes how over the last few years the PC market has evolved, so much so that it has become about twice as large as in 2018. The data analyzed refer to last year and it is very likely that those of 2022 are decidedly better than these.
Comparisons with previous years are useful to give us a correct dimension of how popular PC gaming is in Japan. In 2015, for example, only 11 million gamers identified themselves as PC gamers. Today we are around 16 million. In addition, of this large group, over 4 million Japanese have reported playing only on computers.
From my site:
"Japan's PC Gaming Market Doubles In Size In 3 Years" https : //t.co/Yen85aBMPk
- Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) November 6, 2022| ); }
There are several factors on this sudden marriage, starting with the very conception of Japanese players for the computer. In reality, the love for hardware has never completely gone away, and the COVID-19 pandemic, together with the impossibility of having a PS5 in a short time (and with increasingly stringent rules to avoid touts) , accelerated this resurgence of popularity after the early 1980s. In addition, Japanese players have accepted even more foreign and smaller productions, commonly referred to as "indie". All elements that have led to a growth in the market, after years of inactivity and that will probably make this sector grow even more.