| zero129 said: "The Japanese PC games market doubled in size from 2018 to 2021. Japan's PC gaming market has roughly doubled in three years, growing to nearly $896 million US between 2018 and 2021. The user base of active PC gamers has increased by 5 million from 2015 to 2021, with 4.5 million of those playing exclusively on PC—up more than 100% from 2015's 2.2 million PC-exclusive Japanese gamers." You can read the rest of the article here: https://www.pcgamer.com/japanese-pc-gaming-has-had-incredible-growth-in-the-last-few-years/ That 4.5 million gamers are only ones that play exclusively on PC and doesnt include the ones that also play on PC+Console. Thats pretty big as i always thought PC was very niche in japan. I guess its no wonder PC's are getting so much Japanese games the last few years as of right now the is more gamers who play exclusively on Pc than PS5 and XBSeries consoles combined. And they say this number is only going to grow cause of a number of factors such "growing acceptance of foreign and indie games available cheaply on PC, much greater availability of Japan-made games on PC, and availability of popular Smartphone games at launch on PC" . I can maybe see even Steamdeck doing very well in japan. Valve even has their own Japanese mascot now and he/she is damn cute!
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I have to be honest, I can guarantee u Steam Deck (at least this version) won't do well in Japan. Too big, too expensive. The main reason why handhelds especially Nintendo do so well in Japan is bcuz most gamers are kids, cheap, small. Even the Switch is considered big in handheld mode, parents aren't buying something double the price of the Switch and from a brand that isn't widely known in Japan. Mobile prevails the casual market, Nintendo dominates the middle. So is the hardcore gamer or adults buying it? No cuz they got PC or PS. The reason for rise in PC gamers in the first place is bcuz of FPS games and streamers playing them. The thing is, PC players hate pad players, Steam Deck is a controller. This means the market for the Deck is extremely niche in Japan, even more than the West. I don't even know if Steam Deck is compatible with FPS games, it doesn't even have Valorant one of the bigger titles there. People don't understand this and thinks Steam Deck is a huge opportunity in Japan just bcuz it's a handheld. They forgot what Bill Gates said with the OG Xbox and its big controller.
Maybe it would do Xbox level being extremely optimistic, and it it does, that should be considered a humongous success. But realistically, it would do less than 100k.
