For decades, The Japanese industry was a pioneer in the world of video games, offering iconic titles that have left an indelible mark on pop culture. However, despite all his achievements, the attention of Japanese developers has always focused more on the console than the PC platformbeing a panorama that begins to change.
Recently We are seeing a marked change in this trendwith various studies maneuvering to present their new or classic PC games, achieving more than significant results. The last example is Square Enix’s new business strategy, a key part of which is winning over PC gamers.
In the new strategy of your medium-term business plan, Square Enix emphasizes the importance of diversifying sources of income by strengthening customer touch points, which simply means that The company wants to expand its sales by reaching more people in different places.
Interestingly, one of the lines reflects the approach the company wants to give PC gamers: “Continue initiatives aimed at attracting PC users who represent a growing market.” Term “Growing Market” is particularly relevant here, as it reflects the overall assessment PC player base from not only Square Enix, but also many Japanese studios and game companies.
Capcom, Atlus, Sega, Sony and more made similar efforts in games on pcand so far it’s all been worth it today actually Capcom has celebrated the sale of 100 million copies of the Monster Hunter seriesin which special attention was involved Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Risethe best-selling games in the entire Capcom library, which came out on PC.
Capcom indicates that p Get up and its extension Tan, “promotes extended platform support and long-term digital sales of these titles worldwide”and the PC is quietly a massive factor here. Not only did Rise get a better PC port than World, but also it kept up with console content, as World often did.
Meanwhile, Sony has just announced that Helldivers 2 is its fastest selling game, surpassing the previous record of God of War Ragnarok. There are obvious differences between single-player games like Ragnarok and mission-based games like Helldivers 2, but there’s another big difference between the two: most players in Helldivers 2 are on PC.
Why Japan?
Part of the reason it might seem so localized is to Japanese companies Japan is a major player in the video game industry, but PC has historically been a minor platform in the region.
In recent years, Japanese PC gaming has seen explosive growth which made it clear that there is an appetite for these games on this platform and also appeared alongside a the rise of social networking sites in Japan such as vtubing in cross-platform hits on PC and mobile devices which helped attract players.
Atlus (via Sega) led the games Person on computer after predictable success a port of Persona 4 Goldenlately Persona 3 reboot. Let’s not forget about it Palworld is also a Japanese successalbeit in a unique location. Granblue Fantasy Relink is another standout from this year’s releases, at one point almost having more Steam players than Persona 3 reboot in Like a dragon: endless wealth combined.
Back to Square Enixit seems the publisher is slowly catching up with this trend, now literally trying “win over PC users”. The timeline is a bit odd given the PC user base Square already has with Final Fantasy 14, but at least it’s here now.
