Japan’s PC Gaming Industry Size Has Expanded Twice In Last 3 Years

Video games have proven to be a popular entertainment media that emerged a few decennia ago. Since then, games have improved in every way possible, with recent AAA games featuring real-life-like visuals and immersive gameplay. Moreover, the popularity of gaming has also grown to new horizons in the last few decades.

What used to be just tiny pixels on an arcade screen has now evolved into virtual words we all can experience. PC gaming has arguably always been the most preferred method to play games due to the extensive flexibility and features that come with it.

The ability to upgrade PCs and mod support in games are among some of the perks.

The PC gaming market has seen stellar growth worldwide, and regions like Japan have also begun seeing a resurgence faster than ever before. The new report gives a great insight into the quick expansion of PC gamers in Japan and how the trend of gaming is slowly shifting towards the PC platform.

Major Takeaway:

• The PC gaming market has grown extensively in Japan in the last decade, with numbers continuing to expand quicker every new year.
• The scope of Japan’s PC gaming sphere has doubled in magnitude because more players are beginning to use computers as gaming platforms.
• Storefronts like Steam have improved their support extensively to the Japanese region, providing many Japanese-made games and features that were once lacking.
• The rising approval of indie and international titles has also resulted in more Japanese gamers embracing PC gaming.

Initially covered by KantanGames, a report by Japan’s KADOKAWA ASCII Research Laboratories suggests that the PC gaming market in Japan has grown extensively, reaching new horizons faster than ever before in history. The Japanese PC gaming industry has doubled in size in the last 3 years, according to KantanGames.

The report by KADOKAWA ASCII mentions there were 16 million PC gamers in Japan last year, with 4 to 5 million gamers playing exclusively. It is a little chunk, however, when compared to the overall gamers of 55.4 million people. The population of Japan stood at around 125.7 million last year.

The growth is fantastic as the same company specified just 11 million pc gamers in 2015, with 2.2 million users exclusive to PC gaming. In other words, the total number increase by a whopping 45% by 2021; the actual growth is 22% if the total gamer population (45 million) of that time is considered.

As per the report, the entire gaming industry in Japan was worth about 2 trillion yen in 2021, with every console, handheld, smartphone, and PC game combined. The figure currently converts to just US$13.642 billion. It is worth considering the degradation of Yen’s worth last year.

The report by KADOKAWA ASCII also cites that Japan’s PC gaming market alone fetched a colossal 131.3 billion yen (US$896 million) in 2021. The popularity of Japan’s PC gaming dates back to the 1980s, but the resurgence of consoles and smartphones took over in the following decades, which halted the growth of PC gamers. 

The recent boom in Japan’s PC gaming market began in 2018 because titles like PUBG and Fortnite became critically acclaimed in the region. And since then, the numbers have started to grow faster in history than ever before. 

Since the last decade, Japan’s PC gamers have expanded due to various factors, including new Japanese games, increased support, and more opportunities on the Steam storefront. Furthermore, Japanese gamers are also more accepting of indie and internationally prevalent titles, making them catch up to the western audience.

All in all, these factors combined have played a significant role in growing Japan’s PC gaming industry. We can safely expect Japan’s PC gaming to grow more vastly and quickly in the near future.

What are your thoughts about the growth of Japan’s PC gaming market doubling in size in the last 3 years? Do let us know your opinions in the comments below.

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