While some of the big European and American game companies have expressed skepticism about Web3 gaming, scaled down ambitions or adopted a wait-and-see approach, things are very much different in Japan.
(In that context, Japan is actually similar to South Korea (or Asia in general), but I will focus just on Japan here.)
Last year, I published a primer on blockchain gaming in Japan, and the Web3 game industry in Japan has only grown further since – despite the crypto winter, the various scandals the (global) industry saw and the general tech downturn.
Japan is the world’s third-largest game market and is home to thousands of game companies, so I will specifically look at the publicly traded ones below.
Before I dive deeper, some quick notes:
- “Active in Web 3” in this context means the opening of blockchain-focused subsidiaries, actual development of blockchain games or metaverses, concrete projects such as NFT offerings, partnership deals with Web3 companies etc.
- Those active in Web3 are marked with X, XX or XXX based on the level of activity (of course based on my personal, subjective opinion and with “XXX” indicating more activity than “XX” or “X”)
- The examples given to highlight the level of activity below are of course not exhaustive
The Vast Majority Of Japan’s (Top) Public Video Game Companies Are Active in Web3
Starting with the 8 top-tier Japanese video game studios, we have:
- Square Enix xxx (ex: CEO Yosuke Matsuda’s regular public support for Web3 gaming and the delivery of the Dungeon Siege IP to metaverse Sandbox in 2022)
- Bandai Namco xx (ex: creation of a Gundam metaverse outlined in 2022)
- Sega Sammy xx (ex: NFT project partnership with crypto game studio double-jump.tokyo in 2021)
- Capcom x (ex: Streetfighter II NFT collection rolled out in 2021)
- Konami x (ex: start of recruitment of Web3 development staff in 2022)
- Koei Tecmo
- Nintendo
- Sony
In other words, only Koei Tecmo, Nintendo and Sony in this tier are still passive (although Sony seems to be at least exploring the space at the time of writing).
Within the 8 mid- to low-tier Japanese video game studios, we have:
- Cave xx (ex: start of a dedicated NFT game business in 2023)
- Kadokawa x (ex: creation of an “open-source” IP for use in Web3 projects in 2022)
- Tose (this outsourcing company might work on Web3 games already- but typically doesn’t disclose its clients)
- Imagineer
- Marvelous
- Nihon Falcom
- Nippon Ichi
- Yuke’s
The Vast Majority Of Japan’s (Top) Public Mobile Game Companies Are Active in Web3, Too
For brevity, I am leaving out the (about 20) low-tier candidates on mobile below, so we have the following 14 mid- to top-tier Japanese mobile game companies active in Web3 gaming:
- gumi xxx (ex: founding of early Japanese crypto game startup double jump.tokyo in 2018)
- GREE xx (ex: publishing of smartphone metaverse app Reality in 2022)
- mixi xx (ex: partnership deal with Dapper Labs to launch new blockchain games on Flow announced in 2021)
- Nexon (HQ in Tokyo) xx (ex: creation of blockchain game MapleStory N started in 2022)
- Kayac xx (ex: creation of a Web3 creator network in 2022)
- CyberAgent xx (ex: establishment of blockchain game-focused studio in Japan in 2022)
- Line (part of Z Holdings) xx (ex: launch of an NFT marketplace in Japan in 2022)
- Colopl x (ex: establishment of blockchain game-focused studio in Japan in 2022)
- DeNA x (ex: creation of a sports NFT project in 2022)
- Akatsuki x (ex: establishment of a Web3-focused investment fund in 2022)
- KLab x (ex: co-publishing of blockchain game Captain Tsubasa Rivals in 2023)
- Ateam x (ex: creation of NFT games and metaverse projects started in 2022)
- Bushiroad
- GungHo Online
