Games in Japan – And How to Target the Market

Tomoko Miya, Marketing Manager, Flamebait Games & Kasra Tahmasebi, Programmer

The Japanese games market is the third largest single market in the world with a yearly revenue of 115 billion DKK. However, only 15% is related to games that are developed outside of the country.

Why is this the case, and what does it tell us about Japanese gaming culture? What do Japanese consumers generally think about foreign games – and how can you as a Scandinavian game developer best target this market?

Tomoko Miya currently works as the Marketing Manager at Flamebait Games is specialised in marketing and identification of games for the Asian markets – primarily Japan. She has successfully handled these tasks for several Nordic game studios entering the Japanese market, such as Flamebait Games, Northplay and Other Tales Interactive.

Kasra Tahmasebi is a programmer and has developed awarded games such as Planet Life and Conduct This! at Northplay whose titles have been performing very well in the Nintendo e-shop in Japan.

Kasra will share his experiences from working in a Danish game studio that successfully has entered the Japanese market.