The PC gaming market in Japan has grown by 2.5 times over the course of the last 6 years, according to a new report.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Games Business Show, game analyst Dr. Serkan Toto explained that PC gaming accounted for around 12.5% of the overall video game market in Japan in 2025, compared with just 5% in 2019, representing growth by 2.5 times. While the segment has not experienced the explosive expansion seen in Japan’s mobile gaming market during the 2010s, its expansion has nevertheless made PC a significantly more important platform.
Toto identified several factors behind the shift. The COVID-19 pandemic played a major role, while the difficulty of obtaining a PlayStation 5 during that period encouraged some Japanese players seeking high-fidelity gaming experiences to purchase gaming PCs instead. The popularity of PUBG also helped introduce more players to PC gaming.
Another important change has been the Japanese industry’s changing attitude toward PC. According to Toto, major companies including Capcom and Sega previously viewed PC as a relatively unimportant platform in Japan. That perception has changed considerably, with Japanese publishers increasingly releasing their games on PC and recognizing it as an important sales and distribution channel. Additionally, Japanese companies have expanded onto PC partly to reach Western audiences, but that strategy has simultaneously increased the availability of PC games for Japanese consumers.
The overall Japanese market remains heavily weighted toward smartphones, however. Toto estimated that Japan’s games market is worth around 17 billion US Dollars, with approximately 12 billion US Dollars coming from mobile games and around 3.5 billion US Dollars from console gaming, of which the Nintendo Switch and its successor hold the majority share. PC’s 12.5% share represents a substantial and growing segment. He also noted that PC is now a “respected game platform” in Japan, which is a major change from its position several years ago.
