The unexpected result of Japan’s one and only console manufacturer prioritizing cutting-edge graphical fidelity abandoning them in favor of pushing progressive Western themes and censorship has finally backfired as Japanese consumers are beginning to embrace the PC platform with open arms.
Just before the Tokyo Game Show 2024, the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) released data highlighting the rapid growth of Japan’s PC gaming industry. According to CESA, Japan’s PC games market grew 2.87 times over four years, rising from ¥82.2 billion ($560 million) in 2019 to ¥236.4 billion ($1.61 billion) in 2023.
This represents a staggering 187.5% growth, a remarkable figure in any sector. The data includes only software (game) sales. Serkan Toto of Kantan Games, who shared the report, also pointed out that while the revenue may seem low in dollar terms, the significant depreciation of the Japanese yen over the past few years has contributed to this.
It’s not just the collapse of the Japanese yen, down over 28% against the US dollar since October 2020 that’s affecting the market. The DIY PC hardware scene is also struggling, with affordable graphics components becoming scarce. As we enter the new year, marked by the release of next-gen products from AMD and NVIDIA, it’s arguably the worst time to buy a new gaming PC.
Both NVIDIA’s RTX 4000 series and AMD’s Radeon RX 7000 series of graphics cards have offered some of the worst consumer value in recent memory. Despite these challenges, Japan’s PC gaming industry still grew by nearly 25% in 2023 alone.
According to CESA, PCs made up 13% of Japan’s total gaming market (US$12.7 billion) in 2023, compared to just 5% in 2019 when the overall market was valued at US$10.4 billion. This marks another remarkable increase for Japan. Interestingly, console market share has held steady at around 20% since 2019, largely thanks to the incredible success of the Nintendo Switch.
Its portability and exclusive game titles continue to drive demand, making it the only current-generation console with games that players truly want.
For instance, according to the latest Famitsu sales chart (September 23–29), Japanese consumers purchased 74,351 Switch consoles across all three models, while Sony sold only 10,799 PlayStation 5 systems during the same period.
Nintendo now dominates, with the Switch outselling the PS5 by a factor of 6.88:1
Sony’s weekly sales have plummeted, largely due to its price hikes, as the company seems to be abusing its former home market.
A significant factor driving Japan’s growing interest in PC gaming is Sony’s treatment of Japanese developers over the years, along with its mismanagement of the PlayStation 5. The PS5 lacks true exclusives, as modern AAA game development, especially by Sony’s Western-based subsidiaries takes years to complete, costing hundreds of millions in dev costs, what few titles they have are eventually ported to PC anyway.
Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch has maintained its ¥29,980 price point in Japan since its 2017 launch, but the same can’t be said for the PS5, which has only seen price hikes outside the U.S.
At launch, the PS5 Digital Edition and the standard PS5 with a disc drive were priced at ¥39,980 and ¥49,980, respectively. However, in 2022, Sony increased these prices in Japan by 21%, bringing the Digital Edition to ¥49,478 and the disc version to ¥60,478.
Recently, the prices were raised again to ¥72,980 and ¥79,980. Despite the Japanese yen depreciating by about 30%, the PS5’s price increases have far outpaced this, with the disc version rising by 60% and the Digital Edition by 82.5% since launch.
This sharp increase has made the PS5 increasingly unaffordable and unappealing to Japanese gamers.
In any case, there’s little reason for Japanese consumers to support Sony. It was Japanese developers and consumers who helped the PlayStation 3 recover after its rocky launch, largely due to the influx of Japan-developed titles.
Yet, during the PlayStation 4 era, Sony began enforcing strict censorship on Japanese developers, particularly targeting fanservice content featuring female characters, while shifting its focus toward Western games, many of which prominently feature LGBT characters and explicit content, such as The Last of Us Part 2 by Naughty Dog.
Recently, Sony took a major financial hit with the failed release of Concord, a $40 live-service hero shooter. The game, featuring bland and overtly progressive character designs, performed so poorly that Sony was forced to refund buyers and shut it down after just two weeks, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in the process and are now passing their losses onto the consumer.
Since 2018, Sony has increasingly interfered with Japanese game developers, enforcing censorship on content aimed at heterosexual audiences. This shift began just prior to Sony Interactive Entertainment moving its headquarters from Japan to California, forcing Japanese developers to communicate in English and adhere to more restrictive content policies.
One major casualty of these changes was Marvelous’ Senran Kagura franchise. The highly anticipated release of 7EVEN was altered and compromised to such an extent that the series creator left Marvelous, leaving the game in limbo.
Sony’s censorship policies, which increasingly favor globalist, LGBT-focused content, are still evident today. Notable examples include the censorship of Stellar Blade via a day-one patch, as well as restrictions placed on titles like Blue Protocol, Tsukihime, and Princess Maker 2.
Over the years, Sony has burned bridges with Japanese developers, many of whom initially prioritized the PlayStation 4 due to its massive commercial success. As a result, these developers have shifted their focus to Nintendo’s Switch, a platform more open to games featuring attractive women, suggestive artwork, and fanservice.
Meanwhile, the PS5 has become an overpriced, multiplatform machine, losing its status as a Japanese product and distancing itself from its former home market, which Sony continues to marginalize.
With the soaring cost of the PS5, it’s becoming more practical to build a competent gaming PC, which can be far more affordable in comparison. AMD’s Ryzen processors have gained immense popularity in Japan since the release of the 1000 series, primarily due to their competitive pricing.
Subsequent models, especially the Ryzen 3000, 5000, and 7000 series, have further cemented AMD’s dominance, with Akihabara stores often seeing enthusiasts lining up to purchase these components the very minute of release.
The PlayStation 5, while powered by an AMD SoC, features a customized Zen 2 CPU with a smaller FPU. Although the console’s 8-core processor should, in theory, be comparable to a Ryzen 7 3700X, its lower clock speeds and reliance on a custom RDNA 1/2-based RX 5700 graphics chip, paired with 16GB of slower GDDR6 memory, significantly hamper its performance significantly.
In practice, the PS5 performs worse than even a first-generation Ryzen (Zen 1) processor, making the PC a more attractive option for Japanese gamers.
While building a PC with comparable graphical power to a console can be more expensive in Japan, consumers can still find affordable, brand-new components off the shelf. For instance, a Ryzen 5 5600X is available for around ¥18,580 ($127 USD), and a compatible B550 motherboard can be purchased for approximately ¥10,000 ($68 USD).
Additionally, Japan’s second-hand market is filled with components still capable of handling modern gaming, as long as players are willing to lower graphical settings and render resolutions for large scale titles.
This accessibility to affordable and capable hardware is likely one of the main reasons the PC platform has gained so much traction in Japan in recent years, a trend that is expected to accelerate further as Sony continues to raise the price of its consoles.
With the PS5 now costing at least ¥72,980, and the upcoming digital-only PS5 Pro releasing in November for $700 USD, the value proposition of a gaming PC becomes increasingly appealing.
According to GameDiscoverCo, Japan ranks 10th among countries for Steam games with over 100,000 owners (from 2021 to 2024 releases), capturing a 1.90% share, marginally behind my oppressive regime of Australia.
This trend highlights the increasing popularity of premium PC gaming in a country that has traditionally favored consoles and, more recently, mobile gaming. Surprisingly, mobile gaming has seen a decline despite the Japanese being avid fans of portable gaming.
This shift could be attributed to the impact of Valve’s Steam Deck, which starts at ¥59,800 for the base 256GB LCD model. As a result, mobile gaming accounted for just 66% of revenue in 2023, marking a significant drop from its 76% dominance in 2019 meanwhile, consoles remain in second place with a 21% share, despite Nintendo’s strong sales performance.
This shift is positive for Japanese consumers and developers, as many have taken note of Sony’s stance on censorship. Small-scale indie developers are increasingly prioritizing the Nintendo Switch platform, allowing their games to be released uncensored and unmodified.
As the PC gaming platform continues to rise in Japan, it is likely that more developers will focus their efforts there, potentially leading to larger-scale projects that wouldn’t be feasible on the Nintendo Switch.
This trend is promising for fans of Japanese video games, as it opens up new opportunities for creative expression and gameplay experiences, ideally free from censorship, provided that Sony or major Japanese publishers don’t intervene. Additionally, the growing popularity of PC gaming may encourage more Japanese developers to prioritize PC releases, allowing for greater freedom in game design and content alongside bonus revenue.
