As reported by Automaton, Famitsu has launched a preview of its annual Famitsu Sport Hakusho, a survey of the video games trade by Kadokawa ASCII Analysis Laboratories. One confounding takeaway from the information is that the video games market in Japan is larger than ever, with the PC house practically matching consoles for financial influence, whereas there are barely fewer players within the nation total, and plenty of thousands and thousands fewer PC players than only a decade in the past.
Japanese video games trade by market dimension (Famitsu estimate)
General market 2024: 2,396.1 billion ($16.2 billion)General market 2023: 2,317.6 billion ($15.7 billion)PC gaming market 2024: 265.3 billion ($1.8 billion)
Japanese players by inhabitants (Famitsu estimate)
General 2024: 54.753 millionOverall 2014: 48.55 millionPC 2024: 14.52 millionPC 2023:14.45 millionPC 2014: 17.49 million
The market numbers correlate with these produced by funding technique agency Epyllion earlier this yr for the worldwide video games market: Sturdy development for PC and cellular gross sales, with a slight decline for consoles. The inhabitants determine is an actual headscratcher, although: Three million fewer PC players than reported within the 2015 Famitsu Sport Hakusho.
Knowledge agency Newzoo has likewise proven monumental development for the PC market in Japan lately, whereas final October, Kantan reported that Japan’s Pc Leisure Provider’s Affiliation (CESA) shared knowledge displaying that Japan’s PC gaming sector tripled in dimension from 2020 to 2024—that is going by software program gross sales alone, whereas the Famitsu Gaming Hakusho accounts for software program and {hardware}.
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As for methods to clarify this discrepancy, the general public preview of the 2025 Famitsu Sport Hakusho has the next abstract of Japan’s total gaming development (produced by way of machine translation): “Rising costs in Japan are additionally affecting the sport market, with value will increase throughout the market, together with not solely sport consoles and peripherals but additionally subscriptions and merchandise fees, instantly resulting in an enlargement of the market dimension.”
Supporting this within the PC house, Automaton pointed to a June 2025 The Nikkei article reporting that pre-built PC costs in Japan have risen by 40% since 2019, whereas some elements—most certainly graphics playing cards—have “greater than tripled” in value throughout the identical interval. One doable clarification is that Japan has fewer PC players, however they’re all paying much more for the privilege.
However that does not seem to be the total story: As PC Gamer senior editor Wes Fenlon identified, if you happen to had a gaming PC in 2019, you are in all probability nonetheless utilizing it in 2025, and the folks’s champion GTX 970 and 1060 graphics playing cards launched in 2015 and ’16 respectively can nonetheless run a number of video games right this moment.
One other issue which will assist to clarify the market/inhabitants discrepancy is the decline in reputation of low-cost and free browser video games in favor of cellular gaming, however there is not onerous knowledge accessible to again this supposition up. Regardless of the case could also be, there’s purpose to doubt that three million hardcore Japanese PC players beat their desktops into plowshares and left the passion behind previously ten years.
