The Gamers Powering Japan’s $22.1 Billion Games Market: Consumer Motivations, Behavior & Data

The Japanese games market is one the most prominent and most influential in the world. This year, Japan’s 75.6 million players will help it generate revenues of $22.1 billion. Despite its small size compared to other countries, Japan is the third-biggest games market worldwide.

The Japanese gaming audience is also unique. Truly understanding what makes these consumers stand out is vital for success in the market. Luckily, we surveyed 1,141 gamers in Japan as part of our gamer Consumer Insights research to discover what makes them tick.

What genres do gamers in Japan play? Which art styles and settings do they enjoy? And what actually motivates them to play games?

Let’s dive into the data.

Japan’s Popular Game Platforms, Genres, Themes, and Art Styles

Our Global Games Market Report shows that mobile is Japan’s biggest game platform in terms of revenues and players. Mobile is followed by console and PC for both metrics.

As part of our Consumer Insights research, we asked respondents in Japan what genres they played in the past six months. As you can see below, RPG is the #1 genre across all platforms in Japan:

As far back as the 80s, RPGs have long been a staple of Japan’s games market — so much so that AAA game launches for franchises like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokémon are seen as cultural events in the market. Japan’s console gamers are twice as likely to have played an RPG title in the past six months.

Meanwhile, free-to-play RPGs on mobile, like Fate/Grand Order and Genshin Impact, keep players in Japan engaged and spending over time.

We asked our respondents which game themes they like most. More than half of gamers in Japan find fantasy settings appealing, making it the market’s #1 most appealing game theme. Fantastical settings dominate Japan’s favorite genre, RPGs.

But most of the players we asked across the world prefer another genre.

Japan’s Console Players Are Less Likely to Play Shooters

Shooter franchises are extremely popular globally across different platforms and markets. But less so in Japan. To illustrate, let’s compare Japan’s most played console genres in Japan to the global average:

You can see above that shooter was the country’s #6 most played genre on console. However, shooter was #1 across all 33 markets covered in the research. Japan’s share was lower than almost every market we cover.

The Switch is a massively popular console globally, but is a wild success in Japan. According to data from our partner KADOKAWA ASCII Research Laboratories, the Switch has sold more than 22 million consoles in Japan as of November 21, 2021.

This number, which was recently boosted by the strong sales of the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes, accounts for over a fifth of all Switches worldwide.

The massive share of Switch consoles in Japan contributes to the market’s lower share of shooter engagement on console (and its higher share of RPG engagement). Apart from Splatoon, there are far fewer prominent shooters on Switch vs. PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Instead, the Switch has a massive number of popular single-player Japanese RPG franchises: Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler — the list goes on. All these titles are huge in Japan and on Switch.

Meanwhile, Xbox — one of the three biggest console manufacturers worldwide — is comparatively less popular in Japan. This is significant, as our console MAU data shows that shooters are extremely popular on Xbox consoles — especially lately, owing to the early release of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer. However, it is worth noting that the Xbox brand is starting to pick up steam in Japan.

Japan’s Favorite Game Art Styles and Motivations to Play

We mentioned earlier that fantasy is the most appealing theme among gamers in Japan. Yet 25% of the group has no strong preference for themes (vs. 16% across all 33 markets).

Even more striking is many Japanese gamers’ indifference towards art styles. While the most appealing art style for respondents is anime (38% chose it), the next-most-common answer was no preference at all (37% vs. 19% across all 33 markets).

For players in Japan, it’s all about the gameplay, which brings us to our next question: what motivates players in Japan to play games?

Let’s take a look closer at the market’s top three reasons for playing:

• 50% of gamers in Japan play to relax and unwind. While this is a high share, it is far below the global average (63%)
• 49% of gamers in Japan play to fill time — again, this is below the global average (55%)
• 45% in Japan play to explore game storylines and get immersed (vs. 38%) globally

Japan’s lower scores for relaxation and time filling are atypical for such a mobile-first market. However, it is explained by the market’s love for more core RPG titles, even on mobile. Even the market’s popular puzzle games — like Puzzle & Dragons — include more core RPG mechanics.

Looking at Japan’s lowest-scoring motivators is also telling:

• 13% of gamers in Japan play to socialize (vs. 25% worldwide)
• 11% play to for the competition and enjoyment of beating others (vs. 24% worldwide)
• 9% play to work with teammates to complete goals (vs. 17% globally)

Simply put, Japan’s gamers are less motivated by competition and social factors and more motivated by exploration.

Gamers in Japan Tend to Prefer Single-Player Games

We’ve highlighted that the Switch is huge in Japan, PC is smaller (where competitive games reign), shooters are less popular in Japan vs. the global average, and RPGs are more popular. Therefore, it is no surprise that our data shows that Japan’s gamers gravitate towards single-player titles:

Less than half of respondents in Japan say multiplayer is one of the modes they play most on console and PC. Even less (below a third) chose multiplayer on mobile. These shares are far below the average across all 33 markets covered.

However, that’s not to say competitive titles and shooters aren’t popular in Japan. EA’s battle royale and shooter title Apex Legends, for example, is very successful in Japan. In fact, the Newzoo Platform shows that Apex Legends is consistently Japan’s #1 game by MAUs across PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam.

Just like in other markets, streamers initially triggered Apex Legends’ popularity in Japan. The country’s passionate streaming community has been facilitating Apex’s popularity even further.

With an imminent mobile version of Apex in development, we may see the title spiking Japan’s shooter and battle royale engagement on mobile in the not-too-distant future.

Speaking of the future, our Global Games Market Report data points for an exciting future ahead for Japan’s games market, in terms of engagement and consumer spending alike.

With blockbuster titles like Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild 2, and Final fantasy XVI on the horizon — as well as the ongoing success of free-to-play mobile titles — Japan’s games market has an exciting road ahead.