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[Three]

Actually, even the Famitsu report shows a large growth in revenue. The rise in Steam users (~14x over the past 10 years in Japan) plus the staggering revenue growth would seem to indicate the core/hardcore user base is growing while the social and casual users bled off, very likely to mobile and linked to the decline of PC browser games.

So do you agree with Famitsu or not? You're just guessing based on your own feelings with nothing to dispute the data presented by them.

The base is not growing but the revenue is. Gacha games and GaaS games have really taken off on PC and with it revenue especially as Japanese developers started to release their games on steam that has grown too. This does not dispute the legitimacy of Famitsu's data about PC userbase decline though. Famitsu is a very reputable tracker in Japan. What's bizarre is if this had said console is dying/decreasing but revenue is growing some of the same people would not bat an eye.

 

[Larxia]

Japan is a country of good taste, they know PCs are for work.

What if you like playing games with keyboard and mouse?

What if you like options, customizability etc...? (not just talking about hardware but also ingame options, like being able to disable filters and effects you don't like etc... even if nowadays some games do offer this on console too, but that's pretty recent and still not universal).

What if you like having all your library in a single system, without having to worry about generations? Being able to start a game from 15 years ago and play it on your current hardware in the resolution you want, with the peripherals you want, without needing a remaster, is pretty great.

What if you're also into modding?

There are tons of reason to enjoy pc gaming. Some people won't care about it, but for others these things are really important and a game changer.
I agree that the current prices are absolutely retarded, I haven't upgraded my GPU in forever because of that, there are issues with PC gaming right now, but it's still a unique experience that isn't there with consoles. Different tastes, different experiences.

 

[Lionel Richie]

NOOOO JAPAN PEOPLE PLEASE DON'T GET AWAY FROM THE HIGHSCHOOL DATING SIMULATORS SWEATSHOP

 

[ecosse_011172]

Japan and South Korea are soon going to have to take even more drastic measures to bump up their population.

Either you pay out nuclear families well for having babies or you allow mass immigration. Japan would do the former before they would ever allow the latter.

True but they'll do neither.

 

[nightfly]

Japan and South Korea are soon going to have to take even more drastic measures to bump up their population.

Either you pay out nuclear families well for having babies or you allow mass immigration. Japan would do the former before they would ever allow the latter.

I wish they'd do something like that in the states

 

[Donald mac Ronald]

All Japanese people do is work.

 

[Zathalus]

So do you agree with Famitsu or not? You're just guessing based on your own feelings with nothing to dispute the data presented by them.

Disagree with what? That revenue has grown? Or that the total market had shrunk? You'll note I didn't actually disagree with Famitsu in this thread (my very comment you replied to agrees with the shrinking total number of players), I pointed out that you can have different conclusions and/or outcomes depending on what analyst you go with. Or even with what part of the report you bother to highlight. Just stating that PC players has shrunk vs pointing out the Steam and revenue growth will get you widely different responses.

The base is not growing but the revenue is. Gacha games and GaaS games have really taken off on PC and with it revenue especially as Japanese developers started to release their games on steam that has grown too.

So you agree with what I said? The base has shrunk but the core market had grown?

What's bizarre is if this had said console is dying/decreasing but revenue is growing some of the same people would not bat an eye.

Plenty of not batting an eye going on already.

 

[ecosse_011172]

All Japanese people do is work.

Actually, no.
Go there and you'll see a different story.

 

[Three]

Disagree with what? That revenue has grown? Or that the total market had shrunk? You'll note I didn't actually disagree with Famitsu in this thread (my very comment you replied to agrees with the shrinking total number of players), I pointed out that you can have different conclusions and/or outcomes depending on what analyst you go with. Or even with what part of the report you bother to highlight. Just stating that PC players has shrunk vs pointing out the Steam and revenue growth will get you widely different responses.

Yes. Your initial response made it seem as if the report was inaccurate because CESA and NewZoo reported revenue growth. When Felessan pointed out that this is a different metric and Famitsu has very good data on Japan your reply was this:

I doubt Famitsu is more accurate than CESA. They also runs the Tokyo Game Show and CEDEC. The Chairman is the president of Capcom.

So you were at least giving the impression that you disagree with the report regarding playerbase shrinking on PC and growing on console in Japan.

 

[Zathalus]

Yes. Your initial response made it seem as if the report was inaccurate because CESA and NewZoo reported revenue growth. When Felessan pointed out that this is a different metric and Famitsu has very good data on Japan your reply was this:

So you were at least giving the impression that you disagree with the report regarding playerbase shrinking on PC and growing on console in Japan.

No, I'm disagreeing with only using a single statistic from a single report to make a judgment about something. I also originally didn't see the section about revenue growth either, which kind of reinforces my point about what is highlighted.

As for Famitsu being accurate, they are probably very good, but CESA is almost certainly as well, considering who is involved and their role in Japan. I personally wouldn't dismiss what they have to say about the market either.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

PCMR dying in Japan.

 

[Griffon]

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Usage of Japanese on Steam should track quite well with Japanese users (Very low number of L2 speakers and low English skills).

Steam HW Survey July 2015:
Japanese - 0.85%

Steam HW Survey July 2025:
Japanese - 2.56%

So Japanese users on Steam has grown over time as a share of the total (which has also grown over time).

Love the grassroots data analysis, brother. BRB with the number of Steam profiles over time.

Okay, so in 2015, there were 67M active monthly Steam users. And in 2025, 147M.

2015 was 67M x 0.85% = ballpark 569,500 Japanese-speaking monthly users
2025 is 147M x 2.56% = ballpark 3,763,200

So this is implying an increase of over 3,000,000 MAU over the past decade (making assumptions), the inverse of this headline.

 

[Three]

Love the grassroots data analysis, brother. BRB with the number of Steam profiles over time.

Okay, so in 2015, there were 67M active monthly Steam users. And in 2025, 147M.

2015 was 67M x 0.85% = ballpark 569,500 Japanese-speaking monthly users
2025 is 147M x 2.56% = ballpark 3,763,200

So this is implying an increase of over 3,000,000 MAU over the past decade (making assumptions), the inverse of this headline.

The visibility of steam is mentioned in the article:

"While there have been fluctuations in between, no year succeeding 2015 saw the PC population exceed 17.49 million again (for the record, the figure in 2014 was even higher at 20.37 million). The reasons for this long-term shift are not clear-cut. While PC gaming's visibility in Japan has undoubtedly grown through the rise of Steam..."

You are suggesting that steam was 0.6M out of a 17M population of PC gamers. It's very easy for steam to gain 3.2M and for the PC population to still dwindle. A lot of Japanese publishers began to release on steam instead of using direct distribution from their websites. This isn't necessarily a sign of PC gaining popularity and may even be a sign of contraction overall where they needed to reach the audience on that platform.

 

[Buggy Loop]

This is all over the fucking place the more I look into it

Japan’s PC Gaming Market Doubles In Size In 3 Years – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan

www.serkantoto.com

The same fucking research team had made the study for Famitsu in 2022 and said the PC gaming market doubled in size in 3 years.

• 2021 stats
  • PC games market in Japan was worth $868 million in 2021, nearly double that of 2018
  • There were 16 million PC gamers last year, meaning nearly 30% of the 55.4 million people who play games in Japan use a computer. That's up 45% from the 11 million reported in 2015.
  • 4.5 million only play on PC, up from 2.2 million in 2015
  • Toto reports the size of the PC gaming market in 2021 is roughly double that of 2018, and that the same is true when it comes to the number of players.

So it was 5M up from 2015→2021 and you're gonna try to tell me that from 2021→2024 it dropped by 8M players to go negative 3M from 2015?

None of their numbers even fucking make sense

2014 20.37 million
2015 as the previous report says, 11M

dafuq

 

[icecold1983]

Im surprised they arent dropping everywhere. Prices are up and quality of PC ports is generally in the toilet.

 

[delishcaek]

The visibility of steam is mentioned in the article:

"While there have been fluctuations in between, no year succeeding 2015 saw the PC population exceed 17.49 million again (for the record, the figure in 2014 was even higher at 20.37 million). The reasons for this long-term shift are not clear-cut. While PC gaming's visibility in Japan has undoubtedly grown through the rise of Steam..."

You are suggesting that steam was 0.6M out of a 17M population of PC gamers. It's very easy for steam to gain 3.2M and for the PC population to still dwindle. A lot of Japanese publishers began to release on steam instead of using direct distribution from their websites. This isn't necessarily a sign of PC gaining popularity and may even be a sign of contraction overall where they needed to reach the audience on that platform.

Famitsu combines Browser games with PC games.... that 17m number includes games like Kantai Collection, which had 3 million players when it launched in 2015 (JP only). Granblue and Im@s was also played by millions at the time. In a browser. Not on Steam.

The decline comes from these browser games moving to mobile (Kantai Collection got an Android version in 2016 for example), or simply become less and less popular due to age.

Browser games were huge in Japan back then.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Im surprised they arent dropping everywhere. Prices are up and quality of PC ports is generally in the toilet.

Maybe because people don't need to buy new parts every time and the toilet ports were patched.

 

[StereoVsn]

Triple the market size with 3 million less users.

It depends on how you define the market.

It could be that 3mil+ causal players (played occasional gatcha, puzzle game or whatnot) went to mobile, Switxh, etc.

But core gamers started migrating to Steam in particular, hence increasing addressable market for actual spend. So while overall market shrank, the actual paying users grew.

Edit: see the bit about browser games earlier.

 

[Three]

Famitsu combines Browser games with PC games.... that 17m number includes games like Kantai Collection, which had 3 million players when it launched in 2015 (JP only). Granblue and Im@s was also played by millions at the time. In a browser. Not on Steam.

The decline comes from these browser games moving to mobile (Kantai Collection got an Android version in 2016 for example), or simply become less and less popular due to age.

Browser games were huge in Japan back then.

If I had to guess I think it's a little more than that migration to mobile for past browser game populations since the explosion of mobile goes way beyond the difference. There has been a decline in home consoles in favour of handheld consoles in Japan so there is no reason for PC to not suffer the same fate there. People there are switching to more portable devices like Switch and mobile especially with the PC prices nowadays even for traditional games like monster hunter, minecraft, etc. I suspect the increase in console is primarily driven by Switch as well.

 

[EN250]

Nintendo gives them what they want and they don't want to try other stuff, same happened with PlayStation, once the consoles there used to sell a lot, now barely do

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Just curious, one of the few reasons to play on PC in Japan over consoles is access to visual novel games consoles don't allow. Have tablets and smartphones made any in-roads to those markets over time?

Yeah, but many of those games require literally a Core 2 Duo as a minimum requirement. Someone could be a "PC gamer" in Japan using a 15 year old PC - counting them as a current PC gamer would be like counting someone that only owns a PS3 as a current console gamer.

 

[Cramoss]

 

[delishcaek]

If I had to guess I think it's a little more than that migration to mobile for past browser game populations since the explosion of mobile goes way beyond the difference. There has been a decline in home consoles in favour of handheld consoles in Japan so there is no reason for PC to not suffer the same fate there. People there are switching to more portable devices like Switch and mobile especially with the PC prices nowadays even for traditional games like monster hunter, minecraft, etc.

Oh yeah, that's true, too, but if you were just to look at the numbers after 2015, you'd notice that PC gaming was relatively stable in terms of players with the exception of 2016.

2016 is when Kantai Collection launched on mobile. We can safely assume that Kantai Collection boosted that number to 17m in 2015 and the mobile launch was a factor of it crashing down in 2016, as the numbers recovered after that with another drop in 2019... then the numbers go back up into that 14-15m range again (+COVID boost to 16m for a year). 2024 is pretty much the same as 2017.

10m in 2016

国内ゲーム市場の成長続く： 2016年は過去最高の1兆3801億円に到達、ただしアプリが半数 - EAA FPS（イーエーエー）

カドカワ株式会社擁するゲーム総合情報メディア「ファミ通」は、 国内外のゲーム市場やマーケティング調査などをもとに、 国内外ゲーム・エンターテイメント市場の最新動向を分析したデータ年鑑『ファミ通ゲーム白書2017』を6月8日に発刊することを発表しました。

fpsjp.net

14.8m in 2017

2017年の世界ゲームコンテンツ市場は前年比約2割増、デジタル配信が9割を占める 『ファミ通ゲーム白書2018』が6月25日に発刊 - ファミ通.com

ゲーム総合情報メディア“ファミ通”は、『ファミ通ゲーム白書2018』を2018年6月25日に発刊する。

www.famitsu.com

15.5m in 2018

【ファミ通調査】2018年の国内ゲームアプリ市場は1兆1660億円に伸長　国内クラウドゲーム市場は2022年に100億円突破の見込み　『ファミ通ゲーム白書2019』発刊 | gamebiz

ゲーム総合情報メディア「ファミ通」は、6月7日、2018年の世界ゲームコンテンツ市場について、前年比約2割増の13兆1774億円との推定を発表した。この市場規模は、家庭用及びPC向けパッケージゲーム市場の1兆1544億円と、デジタル配信ゲーム市場（モバイルゲーム、PC配信ゲーム、家庭用ゲームデジタル配信）の12兆230億円を合算したものとなる。パッケージ市場は、旧世代機ソフトの落ち込みが続く一方…

gamebiz.jp

13.3m in 2019

2019年の世界ゲームコンテンツ市場は15兆円 - ファミ通ゲーム白書2020

ゲーム総合情報メディア「ファミ通」は、『ファミ通ゲーム白書2020』を7月9日に発刊すると発表した。

news.mynavi.jp

15.3m in 2020 (COVID)

『ファミ通ゲーム白書2021』が7月15日に刊行。2020年の世界ゲームコンテンツ市場は前年と比べ3割増しとなり、史上初の20兆円の大台を突破 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

ゲーム総合情報メディア“ファミ通”は、2021年7月15日に『ファミ通ゲーム白書2021』を発刊する。

www.famitsu.com

16m in 2021 (COVID)

『ファミ通ゲーム白書 2022』が本日（8/25）発売。国内のゲームアプリ市場規模はほか分野を圧倒する結果に | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

角川アスキー総合研究所は、2022年8月25日に『ファミ通ゲーム白書 2022』を発刊する。

www.famitsu.com

14m in 2022

『ファミ通ゲーム白書2023』が本日（8/29）発売。世界のゲーム市場やプレイヤー人口などを分析したデータ年鑑 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

角川アスキー総合研究所は、ゲーム業界のデータ年鑑『ファミ通ゲーム白書2023』を2023年8月29日（火）に発売した。

www.famitsu.com

14.5m in 2023

ゲーム業界データ年鑑『ファミ通ゲーム白書 2024』発刊　創刊20号記念！過去20年の国内市況推移を紹介

株式会社角川アスキー総合研究所のプレスリリース（2024年8月22日 11時00分）ゲーム業界データ年鑑『ファミ通ゲーム白書 2024』発刊　創刊20号記念！過去20年の国内市況推移を紹介

prtimes.jp

14.5m in 2024 which is this article in the OP.

Here's next years headline: Japan's PC gaming population has increased by 4.5 million in the past decade, studies suggest

 

[sigmaZ]

I live in Japan and am around college students. They all technically game, but they play horrible slop and gambling games on their iphones.

 

[Kumomeme]

this is why Switch 2 could be game changer at japan. especially toward their AAA developer.

 

[icecold1983]

Maybe because people don't need to buy new parts every time and the toilet ports were patched.

The patches don't change the poor experience much at all in the majority of cases.

 

[rodrigolfp]

The patches don't change the poor experience much at all in the majority of cases.

Excuse me?? Almost every toilet port was patched and is the best version.

 

[Radical_3d]

They are decades ahead of us…

 

[vkbest]

Most japanese game players on PC are playing gacha games or GAAS like Apex. Probably even Sony is getting higher revenue in Japan only with those gachas (genshin, star rail, wuwa) and Apex than PS3 era.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

this is why Switch 2 could be game changer at japan. especially toward their AAA developer.

What can Switch 2 do that the first one didn't do?

 

[ecosse_011172]

What can Switch 2 do that the first one didn't do?

With further DLSS use it's arguably closer to the other platforms than Switch was in it's day.
However, no idea what it has to do with this thread.
Switch 1 sold tons in Japan, as will Switch 2 but the biggest platform is the iPhone for people to play crap on on their way to work/school/whatever.

 

[Durin]

Yeah, but many of those games require literally a Core 2 Duo as a minimum requirement. Someone could be a "PC gamer" in Japan using a 15 year old PC - counting them as a current PC gamer would be like counting someone that only owns a PS3 as a current console gamer.

Agreed, I wouldn't really count them either, but I wondered if that audience just moved to phones and tablets over time because the games could run on anything.

 

[Elfstar]

But Steambros are always telling us Japan is ditching non-Nintendo consoles for PC in droves...? Who's wrong here?

 

[Ebrietas]

Most japanese game players on PC are playing gacha games or GAAS like Apex. Probably even Sony is getting higher revenue in Japan only with those gachas (genshin, star rail, wuwa) and Apex than PS3 era.

Would be interesting to see Sony's revenue in Japan compared to past generations.

 

[BennyBlanco]

But Steambros are always telling us Japan is ditching non-Nintendo consoles for PC in droves...? Who's wrong here?

Are the steambros in the room with you? Sony consoles and software are not selling in Japan. Switch 1 is outselling ps5 2:1 even with the Switch 2 out. Only time Ive seen this discussed is when a news story pops up about the steam survey and the use of japanese language goes up. Sony getting bullied out of Japan has nothing to do with this.

 

[Durin]

Are the steambros in the room with you? Sony consoles and software are not selling in Japan. Switch 1 is outselling ps5 2:1 even with the Switch 2 out. Only time Ive seen this discussed is when a news story pops up about the steam survey and the use of japanese language goes up. Sony getting bullied out of Japan has nothing to do with this.

Yeah, was gonna say. Pretty much phones and Nintendo have been the only gaming devices selling in Japan since the PS4 era.

Only thing I've seen the Steam Deck do in Japan is find a small hardcore audience, maybe a few casuals because it's portable, or as an emulation machine that can support most controllers/fight sticks under the sun.

 

[yurinka]

PCMR dying in Japan.

That sounds a bit surprising to me because I thought it was the opposite, that it increased compared to the past where it was almost non existent. With all the japanese studios now porting games to PC etc... which didn't use to be a thing before.

Just curious, one of the few reasons to play on PC in Japan over consoles is access to visual novel games consoles don't allow. Have tablets and smartphones made any in-roads to those markets over time?

not surprising, PCMR still think PC gaming is "growing" in Japan lmao.

And most japanese play freemium games, they dont buy games on PC unless the specific ones.

How the f does PC gaming "grows" while its way larger than a normal console, and crazy ass GPU prices xD

It's inevitable , if your population is decreasing by almost 1% every year , getting much older and there is pretty much no chance of it being reversed then the market must contract.

More like PC market shrunk a bit in Japan, but PC gaming is doing better than ever.

These things are always conflated.

Writer of the article knows what they're doing.
Instead of saying that PC gaming had a weird peak in 2015 (for whatever reasons), they're saying it shrunk.

While technically correct, the PC market over there has been incredibly stable for the past decade. 14-16m every friggin year with spending only pointing upwards.

It's like saying "PlayStations gaming population shrunk by 40m over the past 20 years" because they peaked with PS2 back then.

The confusion is due to a clickbaity and misleading title in the OT and linked article, probably due to anti-PC fanboyism.

According to the source research (Famitsu Game White Book 2025, made every year by the Kadokawa ASCII Research Institute, Inc.) mentioned in the article of the OP, the PC userbase decreased a bit in these 10 years (almost 3M), but the PC game revenue generated hugely grew instead during that same period.

It also says that the Japanese physical game sales only represents 4.67% of the total game revenue (not counting hardware or subs) and the digital console game sales highly grew starting 2020 (covid lockdowns + the year PS5 was released).



Amount of Japanese users (not mutually exclusive, people can be counted in 2 or 3 groups) aged between 5 and 59 years old:

• Mobile
  • 14.11M (2015)
  • 42.77M (2025)
  • Mobile won 28.66M users in the last 10 years
• Console
  • 26.12M (2015)
  • 29.51M (2025)
  • Console won 3.39M users in the last 10 years
• PC
  • 17.49M (2015)
  • 14.52M (2025)
  • PC lost 2.97M users in the last 10 years
• Total
  • 48,55 (2015)
  • 54.7M (2025)
  • The total Japanese gaming userbase aged between 5 and 59 increased in 6.15M users in the last 10 years

Graph with evolution of the Japanese gaming market revenue (numbers are milllions of yens):

• Orange: mobile gaming revenue (smartphones & tablets)
• Blue: PC revenue
• Green: Online console revenue
• Pink: Physical console revenue

The pink part is the one covered every week in the Japanese game sales ranking: only covers a 4.67% of the total Japanese game revenue (not including hardware or subs) and 29.25% of the console game revenue.

And yet CESA reported massive growth - https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/

So did Newzoo - https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/insights-into-the-japanese-gaming-market-in-2025

Analysts, different picture entirely depending on who you use.

The research quoted in the OP says the same than CESA and Newzoo, in fact pretty likely they all the same source: the yearly edition of the Famitsu Game White Book, made by the Kadokawa ASCII Research Institute.

Japanese PC game revenue multiplied in size several times in the last 10 years despite having decreased from 17.49M to 14.52M users (almost 3M) in this period.