CESA Game Industry Report 2024: Japan's PC game revenue triplied in 4 years

[Yurinka]

Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) shared this data in their CESA Game Industry Report 2024.

According to CESA, Japan’s PC gaming market almost tripled in size from 2019 to 2023, reaching US$1.6B last year and being the 3rd year in a row that generates more revenue than console in Japan.

https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/
https://www.cesa.or.jp/action/industry-research/
https://www.cesa.or.jp/assets/pdf/action/tgs2024-press0926.pdf

Google Lens localization of the report:

In Japan PC generated 2364B yen ($1,614B) in 2023 -> 187.59% up vs 2019

As reference they also reported the 2023 worldwide game software revenue in the same report:

• Mobile: 17.4 Trillion yen / $118.81B (59%) -> 104.70% up vs 2019
• PC: 6.4 T yen / $43.69B (22%) -> 148.15% up vs 2019
• Console: 5.7 T yen / $38.91B (19%) -> 162.86% up vs 2019

 

[Etifilio]

congratulations Sony, you'll deeply regret putting your games on Steam and incentivizing people to build their digital libraries there

 

[Puff]

Japan’s PC gaming industry continues to grow.

Just before Tokyo Game Show 2024 started last week, Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) shared data showing how rapidly the sector in this country has been expanding.

According to CESA, Japan’s PC gaming market almost tripled in size from 2019 to 2023, reaching US$1.6B last year.

(The number may sound low in dollar terms, but note the Japanese yen has been extremely weak over the last years and still is.)

Here is a chart based on CESA’s data (software only):

CESA also says that the PC accounted for 13% of the size of Japan’s gaming market overall in 2023 (US$12.7B) vs just 5% in 2019 (when the overall market was at US$10.4B).

What’s interesting further is that the specific market share for consoles has been staying solid at around 20% since 2019, mainly due to the incredible success of the Nintendo Switch in Japan.

Japan’s PC Gaming Market Size Triples In 4 Years – Kantan Games Inc. CEO Blog – From Tokyo, Japan

www.serkantoto.com

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

PC (specifically, the gaming storefronts on it and Windows as the gaming OS of choice basically by default) nigh-tripling its market share in Japan in just 5 years is something MS and specifically Sony need to be mindful of.

And in Sony's case, weary, because what's happened in Japan could easily happen in other markets around the world, in due time. PC growing at the expense of Xbox & PlayStation primarily, doesn't necessarily hurt Microsoft as much because they own the OS where that growth is taking place at. They own the SDK & API suite being used to make games for the dominant gaming OS on the PC platform. Sony doesn't have those vested interests; they don't even have a storefront on PC (yet).

So if they find themselves out of position on this front even into the next gen, and other markets start following Japan in this expansion of the PC gaming market...that won't be good news for PlayStation.

 

[Puff]

PC (specifically, the gaming storefronts on it and Windows as the gaming OS of choice basically by default) nigh-tripling its market share in Japan in just 5 years is something MS and specifically Sony need to be mindful of.

And in Sony's case, weary, because what's happened in Japan could easily happen in other markets around the world, in due time. PC growing at the expense of Xbox & PlayStation primarily, doesn't necessarily hurt Microsoft as much because they own the OS where that growth is taking place at. They own the SDK & API suite being used to make games for the dominant gaming OS on the PC platform. Sony doesn't have those vested interests; they don't even have a storefront on PC (yet).

So if they find themselves out of position on this front even into the next gen, and other markets start following Japan in this expansion of the PC gaming market...that won't be good news for PlayStation.

CESA: Japan’s PC gaming market size almost triples in 4 years

https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/ Japan's PC gaming market almost tripled in size from 2019 to 2023 according to CESA research. CESA also notes that PC accounted for 13% of Japan's gaming market overall in 2023 vs just 5% in 2019. Console has been mostly flat...

www.installbaseforum.com

Apparently the numbers are incorrect

 

[Gods&Monsters]

This is digital spending only so basically DLC, monetization, gacha and other crap. Yes this went up everywhere, it doesn't mean people are moving to PC.

Apparently the numbers are incorrect

Of course these numbers are always fake or badly reported.

 

[Yurinka]

Apparently the numbers are incorrect

Of course these numbers are always fake or badly reported.

They aren't incorrect or fake, it's the yearly report from CESA.

CESA is the Japanese national trade association of game publishers (equivalent to ESA in USA, Ukie in UK, DEV/AEVI in Spain etc), so they have the data directly from all of them and their storefronts, plus the data from the other country trade associations of game publishers, plus the data from IDC, Newzoo, Media Create, etc.

As an example, as of now the chairman of CESA is the CEO of Capcom and their board of directors has reprensentatives from Bandai Namco, Konami, Koei Tecmo, Sega, DeNA or Gree. Traditionally in these national associations these positions are voted/rotated every few years but often are top members of top publishers of the country.

This chart only includes game revenue. It doesn't include revenue from things like hardware, accesories, merchandising, movies or merchandising and toys as the Nintendo's Japanese revenue may include.

 

[Yurinka]

PC (specifically, the gaming storefronts on it and Windows as the gaming OS of choice basically by default) nigh-tripling its market share in Japan in just 5 years is something MS and specifically Sony need to be mindful of.

And in Sony's case, weary, because what's happened in Japan could easily happen in other markets around the world, in due time. PC growing at the expense of Xbox & PlayStation primarily, doesn't necessarily hurt Microsoft as much because they own the OS where that growth is taking place at. They own the SDK & API suite being used to make games for the dominant gaming OS on the PC platform. Sony doesn't have those vested interests; they don't even have a storefront on PC (yet).

So if they find themselves out of position on this front even into the next gen, and other markets start following Japan in this expansion of the PC gaming market...that won't be good news for PlayStation.

In addition to show the 2019-2023 game revenue charts for the Japanese market, this report also shown the worldwide numbers for the same period.

It shows PC worldwide game revenue being bigger than the console (all consoles, not only PS or XB). In this period the PC revenue triplied in Japan, and worldwide in 2023 was 248.15% of the revenue generated in 2019 (148.15% up).

MS and Sony know there's a lot of money to be made on PC, so they go for it because their AAA are very expensive, so need extra revenue/profit to make them less risky.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

In addition to show the 2019-2023 game revenue charts for the Japanese market, this report also shown the worldwide numbers for the same period.

It shows PC worldwide game revenue being bigger than the console (all consoles, not only PS or XB). In this period the PC revenue triplied in Japan, and worldwide in 2023 was 248.15% of the revenue generated in 2019 (148.15% up).

MS and Sony know there's a lot of money to be made on PC, so they go for it because their AAA are very expensive, so need extra revenue/profit to make them less risky.

You missed the entire point of my post. You're using the short-term thinking, and assuming growth of PC is happening as if all the consoles are performing up to par (they aren't). There is a correlation between more console gamers getting frustrated with the Xbox and now PlayStation platforms, and them shifting to PC.

Non-Nintendo consoles are losing more and more customers to PC; that was the point of my post and if the data is correct, it only helps reinforce my point. You can also read plenty of anedoctals online of gamers who literally tell you why they moved from console to PC. This is something that helped destabilize a lot of Xbox's console sales this gen, and if Sony aren't careful, they'll end up doing the same to PlayStation.

The "lot of money" in PC you're referring to is coming from lateral transfer of sales and customer bases; again we saw a clear example of this with Helldivers 2 earlier this year with plenty of PS5/PC owners opting to buy it on Steam for various reasons (free online, better performance, cheaper price, no PSN at least for a while). Sony are only enabling that shift but it's coming at the expense of realizing PlayStation's full potential as a platform.

Finally, I think we need to be more clear-cut when talking about the "PC" gaming market, because PC gets used as a blanket term. Really, it's the Windows (Microsoft) gaming market and the platforms thereof being Steam (Valve), EGS (Epic), GOG (CDP), Riot, Battle.NET (WOW, etc.) and other similar stores. But for some reason certain people want to avoid referring to the OS in particular that holds that PC gaming market together. Either because they're ignorant to the fact, or they want to downplay Microsoft's monopoly in the PC OS space out of fear it could complicate "other" actions going forward (like future gaming publisher acquisitions).

 

[Systemshock2023]

About damn time. Right in the land of Nintendo. Not sure if the Japanese gaming audience can handle that kind of freedom though. This is the country where selling modded save data can put you in jail.

Japanese Police Arrest 36-Year-Old Man on Suspicion of Tampering With Pokémon Violet Save Data - IGN

Police in Japan have arrested a 36-year-old man on suspicion of selling illegally modified Pokémon save data to customers online — a practice which is banned under the country’s 2019 Unfair Competition Prevention Act.

www.ign.com

 

[Summer Nightmares]

This is digital spending only so basically DLC, monetization, gacha and other crap.

Aren't 99% of pc sales digital anyway? so they are counting games too.

 

[Summer Nightmares]

Probably because of Steamdeck and other handhelds. Portability is huge in Japan. I guess if Playstation release another Vita or something like that it would sell well too.

 

[TrishaCat]

YESYES
More people to play Freedom Wars with come January
The Japan Panopticon will be a threat not to be trifled with

Canada bros...lend me your power.

 

[ethomaz]

CESA: Japan’s PC gaming market size almost triples in 4 years

https://www.serkantoto.com/2024/10/03/japan-pc-gaming-market-size/ Japan's PC gaming market almost tripled in size from 2019 to 2023 according to CESA research. CESA also notes that PC accounted for 13% of Japan's gaming market overall in 2023 vs just 5% in 2019. Console has been mostly flat...

www.installbaseforum.com

Apparently the numbers are incorrect

That was I thought...

It comes from CESA that uses Famitsu digital estimate to make the reports.
But these Famitsu digital estimates heavy underestimate digital game sales for consoles that gives the wrong picture of the market.
Famitsu doesn't have access to Sony, Nintendo, Xbox, etc digital store front data like Circana.

If we have more accurate data we could draw conclusions if the PC market share is increasing of not.

For the others part the PC revenue increasing in the last 5 years seems to be accurate.

 

[ethomaz]

Probably because of Steamdeck and other handhelds. Portability is huge in Japan. I guess if Playstation release another Vita or something like that it would sell well too.

Steam Deck is not even huge worldwide.. so what make you think it is huge in Japan?
Or do you take huge as like 100k units sold?

BTW just for some data... Steam Deck OLED launch in Japan sold 80-100 units in 2 days (yeap there is no K in the numbers).

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Aren't 99% of pc sales digital anyway? so they are counting games too.

Yeah but these flawed numbers are reported by that Toto bitch, he's the Sony hater that works with Mochizuki from Bloomberg. There's always an ulterior motive in all his reports.

Sony don't provide the numbers so they use fake data from Famitsu.

 

[Summer Nightmares]

Steam Deck is not even huge worldwide.. so what make you think it is huge in Japan?
Or do you take huge as like 100k units sold?

BTW just for some data... Steam Deck OLED launch in Japan sold 80-100 units in 2 days (yeap there is no K in the numbers).

Damn, I didn't know about those numbers. I was just guessing since portable consoles were always so popular there. But I guess a 300% spending increase on desktops pcs on japan is even more impressive.

 

[Yurinka]

You missed the entire point of my post. You're using the short-term thinking, and assuming growth of PC is happening as if all the consoles are performing up to par (they aren't). There is a correlation between more console gamers getting frustrated with the Xbox and now PlayStation platforms, and them shifting to PC.

Non-Nintendo consoles are losing more and more customers to PC; that was the point of my post and if the data is correct, it only helps reinforce my point. You can also read plenty of anedoctals online of gamers who literally tell you why they moved from console to PC. This is something that helped destabilize a lot of Xbox's console sales this gen, and if Sony aren't careful, they'll end up doing the same to PlayStation.

The "lot of money" in PC you're referring to is coming from lateral transfer of sales and customer bases; again we saw a clear example of this with Helldivers 2 earlier this year with plenty of PS5/PC owners opting to buy it on Steam for various reasons (free online, better performance, cheaper price, no PSN at least for a while). Sony are only enabling that shift but it's coming at the expense of realizing PlayStation's full potential as a platform.

Finally, I think we need to be more clear-cut when talking about the "PC" gaming market, because PC gets used as a blanket term. Really, it's the Windows (Microsoft) gaming market and the platforms thereof being Steam (Valve), EGS (Epic), GOG (CDP), Riot, Battle.NET (WOW, etc.) and other similar stores. But for some reason certain people want to avoid referring to the OS in particular that holds that PC gaming market together. Either because they're ignorant to the fact, or they want to downplay Microsoft's monopoly in the PC OS space out of fear it could complicate "other" actions going forward (like future gaming publisher acquisitions).

No, I didn't miss any point. You hate to see Sony releasing their games in other platforms because of tribalism and try to paint it as if they are going to get doomed because of it.

But the reality for the long term is that unlike the Nintendo games, their AAA titles are so fucking expensive, every generation more and more, so in the long term will need to publish them in more places to keep them profitable if they don't want to turn them into a financial suicide.

They see that the console market didn't almost grew in recent decades, and PC offers them a market somewhat similar in size of the console (all consoles, not only their own one) where they have to pay 20-30% of the revenue of the games but in exchange they don't have to worry about the costs of hardware loses, retail copies, managing their own store, etc.

And their recent push is being successful, in 5 years they became a top 10 publisher in Steam history with a few games and their PC revenue highly increases every year. While non of their console metrics gets negatively affected by it, but instead keeps growing in all areas.

And PS isn't losing customers: they have now the biggest active userbase they ever had, and around half of the PS5 sales are to first time PS customers.

 

[Boswollox]

Pc gaming is dead? How is this possible? I was assured it was dead.

It's tripled in Japan while Xbox and playstation market share has dropped?!? How can this be possible!? Playstation is a Japanese company!


It's almost like the people who said it were dead were dead wrong. Imagine that.

 

[Systemshock2023]

Pc gaming is dead? How is this possible? I was assured it was dead.

It's tripled in Japan while Xbox and playstation market share has dropped?!? How can this be possible!? Playstation is a Japanese company!


It's almost like the people who said it were dead were dead wrong. Imagine that.

PC gaming is suffering from the slowest death since 1980 give or take. News outlets are keen on killing PC gaming because PC gaming has no owner. With console platforms they can shill and get some money in return.

I find hilarious when people say that these days PC gaming is dying. Guess they didn't game in the mid 00s on PC.