While some of the big European and American game companies have expressed skepticism about Web3 gaming, scaled down ambitions or adopted a wait-and-see approach, things are very much different in Japan. (In that context, Japan is actually similar to South Korea (or Asia in general), but I will...
GLOBAL GAME BUSINESS TRENDS IN 2023 (PREDICTION)
As every year, game industry news site GamesIndustry.biz asked several analysts for predictions about the global gaming market in 2023. Here is a repost from my contribution to their article: Prices will continue to rise Not all studios have hiked prices to keep up with the rise of production and...
Memento Mori: Japan’s Last Mobile Game Hit Made US$34 Million In 24 Days
It has been a very rare occurrence for a new mobile game in Japan to break into the top 10 grossing rankings (and to stay there, at least for a while) for a very, very long time now. I would say Japan’s last real “mega blockbuster” was Fate Grand Order by Aniplex, an RPG that...
Japan’s PC Gaming Market Doubles In Size In 3 Years
Mobile is king in Japan’s gaming market, there can be no doubt about that. In terms of market size, mobile gaming has become about 3x bigger than console gaming in Japan over the last decade. But what about Japan’s PC gaming market, long considered a niche? Japan’s PC Game Market...
Salaries In Japan’s Game Industry
The current discussion around the proposed payment for voice actress Hellena Taylor for working on Bayonetta 3 in the West has given me the idea to provide an overview of the salary situation in Japan’s game industry. Quick background:In 2019, I acquired a recruiting license (the business is...
Japan’s Mobile Gaming Market Grows To US$12 Billion
Japan’s Mobile Content Forum (MCF), an industry association, just reported that Japan’s market size for mobile games has reached the equivalent of US$12 billion in 2021. (Due to the recent and drastic yen-dollar currency fluctuation*, the sum in US$ is smaller than last year.) The...