Japan's PC games market almost tripled since 2019, surpassing $1.6 billion in 2023

Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) has shared some data on the domestic video games market. The PC segment has shown significant growth since 2019, steadily increasing its share.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream, currently the top-selling game on Steam in Japan

According to CESA, Japan’s PC games market increased 2.87x over a four-year period, from ¥82.2 billion ($560 million) in 2019 to ¥236.4 billion ($1.61 billion) in 2023. This corresponds to a 187.5% growth.

These figures include software (video game) sales only. Kantan Games’ Serkan Toto, who spotted the report, also noted that PC revenues “may sound low in dollar terms, but note the Japanese yen has been extremely weak over the last years and still is.”

Looking at other segments, the console games market grew 39% over the same period to ¥386 billion ($2.6 billion), while mobile game revenue increased 5.9% to ¥1.23 trillion ($8.4 billion). Excluding rapid growth at the start of the pandemic, both segments have remained relatively stagnant, with console revenues down 2.1% since 2020.

Console (blue), PC (yellow), and mobile (green) game revenues in Japan from 2019 to 2023 (via CESA)

In 2023, PC accounted for 13% of Japan’s total video game revenue — compared to just 5% in 2019. So it will be interesting to see whether the segment can increase its share in the coming years.

The growth of Japan’s PC games market is in line with data provided by Valve earlier this year. In its business update, the company noted that Steam’s user base has expanded across various regions, including Asia. For example, the number of new users in Japan has increased by more than 150% since 2019.

According to GameDiscoverCo, Japan ranks 10th among Steam games with over 100k owners (2021-2024 releases), with a 1.97% share. This also speaks to the growing popularity of premium PC gaming in the country, which historically leaned towards console titles.