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How did an underground-passage game made by one person sell 3 million copies? The Exit 8, from a 470-yen game to a Cannes film
A white underground passage, a salaryman walking toward you, and one rule: if something’s wrong, turn back. How did this game, made by one person and priced at 470 yen, sell 3 million copies, get made into a film and reach Cannes?
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You can play games at home, so why haven’t Japan’s game centers disappeared? The turnaround story of arcades revived by crane games
Over ten years, nearly half of Japan’s game centers closed, yet their revenue has climbed back above pre-pandemic levels. What drove the rebound was not more thrilling video games, but crane games that cost 100 yen a play.
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Why did the athletes at the Tokyo Olympics march in to video game music? How Japanese game scores made it into the world’s concert halls
When the Tokyo Olympics opened in 2021, the first music to play as the athletes entered was from Dragon Quest. How did melodies that once came out of a home video game console end up in concert halls from Tokyo to London, Paris and Los Angeles?
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How did a 170-person meetup become a 68,000-strong game festival? Why Kyoto became the home of Japanese indie games
Tokyo has more game companies than anywhere else in Japan, yet the country’s biggest indie game festival is held in Kyoto. The answer lies in a playing-card shop, a few foreigners, and a city small enough that everyone seems to know each other.
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Mobile Games Are So Convenient. Why Are Japanese Players Still Paying 50,000 Yen for a Switch 2? It Starts With Nintendo Nearly Losing to Smartphones
Ten years ago, Nintendo was losing money year after year, and outsiders urged it to put Mario on smartphones. Today, a Switch 2 costing 50,000 yen sold nearly 950,000 units in Japan in a single week. What happened in between?
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How a Manga Magazine’s Prize Card Sold for 2.5 Billion Yen: The Collecting Economy Behind Pokémon Cards
In 1998, a Japanese children’s manga magazine gave a card to the winners of an illustration contest. Twenty-eight years later, one of those cards sold for 2.5 billion yen.