Japanese players overwhelmingly favoured domestic game series last year, new survey suggests
None of the 20 most popular series named by those surveyed were made in the West
A new survey asking Japanese players about their favourite video games they played last year featured no Western entries in the top 20.
The survey was commissioned earlier this year by Japanese game company HIKE Co and carried out independently by its research arm Sarugaku Agency.
The results, which have been reported on Automaton, found that when 1,000 participants of varying ages and levels of game experience were asked about their favourite games they played last year, the vast majority of those most frequently mentioned were Japanese IPs.
In fact, in the entire top 20 of series mentioned, only the number 20 spot was a series not developed in Japan – the Chinese-developed Genshin Impact. The first Western game to appear in the list is Fortnite at number 21.
Topping the list is the Final Fantasy series – presumably due to the release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – followed closely by The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario, while Splatoon demonstrates its continued popularity in Japan with a number 6 slot.
The full top 20 from those surveyed is as follows:
- Final Fantasy
- The Legend of Zelda
- Super Mario
- Dragon Quest
- Pokémon
- Splatoon
- Elden Ring
- Like a Dragon
- Momotaro Densetsu
- Animal Crossing
- Persona
- Resident Evil
- Monster Hunter
- Street Fighter
- Unicorn Overlord
- Armored Core
- Powerful Pro Baseball
- Shiren the Wanderer
- NieR
- Genshin Impact
Elsewhere in the survey, PC gaming has shown growth in popularity compared to previous years, especially among ‘core’ players who play a lot of video games.
When asked which hardware players preferred to use when playing their games, the Nintendo Switch won out among casual players (41.2%), moderate players (32.7%) and ‘core’ players (23.6%).
While PS4 was second place among casual and moderate players and PS5 was second for ‘core’ players, however, PC came extremely close to Sony‘s consoles in all three categories of player.
Among ‘core’ Japanese players, 19% of respondents said PC was their format of choice, compared to 16.9% last year and 17 the year before.
The survey also found that around half of casual players said they tended to focus on playing through one game at a time, while moderate and ‘core’ players said they preferred to jump between multiple games.
