The Japanese video game market is one of the biggest and most mature video game markets worldwide. Japanese companies have played an important role in shaping the global video game industry at least since the 1980s, when the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) helped to revive an ailing U.S. gaming market. In 1989, the introduction of the Game Boy revolutionized the handheld sector. Since then, both home and handheld consoles have enjoyed a high popularity among Japanese consumers. The
, which in this case consists of hardware and packaged software sales, was estimated at 377.4 billion Japanese yen in 2022. The total value of the video game market is much higher, however, as
The rivalry between console makers
The console market was driven by changing rivalries over the decades, which furthered competition and the innovation of new products. While the early 1990s were marked by the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo, the entry of Sony in the mid-1990s and Microsoft in the early 2000s established today's competition in the global home console market. In the past decade, the Japanese home console market was split between Sony's PlayStation 4 (2014), Microsoft's Xbox One (2014), and Nintendo's Switch (2017), while the handheld market was split between the PlayStation Vita (2011), the Nintendo 3DS (2011), the Nintendo 2DS (2016), the Nintendo Switch, and the Nintendo Switch Lite (2019). In November 2020, Sony and Microsoft ushered in the current generation of home consoles with the release of the
PlayStation 5 and
Xbox Series X. In the form of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S, downgraded but more affordable versions were released as well. While the competition is more evenly distributed in other countries,
Nintendo and Sony clearly dominate their home market.
The Nintendo Switch is the leading console in Japan
Despite the
spread of smartphones and fears that mobile gaming would cannibalize the console market, both handheld and home console gaming continue to be popular pastimes in Japan. Nintendo remains active in both areas with the Switch, which can be regarded as a hybrid between a home and a handheld console, as well as the Switch Lite, which can only be used as a handheld console, but is able to run the same games as the Switch. These two consoles were joined by the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, an upgraded version of the basic model, in October 2021. In addition, Valve released the Steam Deck in Japan in August 2022, which increased the competition in the handheld market. As the Nintendo Switch has the largest hardware base among the current consoles, games for the Switch repeatedly dominate the annual ranking of
best-selling video games for consoles.
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