2024 review of major Japanese game companies’ performance
As 2024 comes to a close, here is an overview of how some of Japan’s major game companies have performed this year. Please note that these summaries are not comprehensive and mostly focus on each company’s game business.
Sony
Sony’s gaming sector has grown this year, especially between July and September, which saw a 184% increase in profit thanks to revenue from PS Plus, and the strong performance of first-party titles like the award-winning Astro Bot and third-party games such as Black Myth: Wukong and Stellar Blade. Sony also reported improved hardware profitability, with PS5 sales on track to meet annual forecasts. Investor confidence also rose in the latter part of the year, with Sony shares hitting a 25-year high on December 12.
In November, rumors about Sony’s acquisition of Japanese publishing conglomerate Kadokawa had investors, gamers and anime fans all on high alert regarding the huge potential impact this would have on the anime industry, as well as on Kadokawa group game companies like FromSoftware and Spike Chunsoft. Ultimately, a full-on buy-out didn’t happen, but Sony and Kadokawa have entered into a strategic business alliance which will make Sony its biggest shareholder in January. The alliance will allow Kadokawa to broaden the global reach of its valuable IPs through Sony’s established multimedia production and distribution channels, while giving Sony an extra foothold in the anime sector.
Sony rounded off the year with various campaigns to mark the 30th anniversary of the original PlayStation. This included extremely limited PS1-themed versions of PlayStation Portable, PS5 controllers and the recently launched PS5 Pro. The entertainment giant also continued its reign as the strongest patent holder in Japan’s video game and entertainment industry.
Sony has many big third-party games coming to PS5 next year, including Sega’s Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds, and the first-party Ghost of Yotei.
Nintendo
2024 was a busy year for Nintendo. The year was packed with Nintendo Switch first-party releases that both sold well and received critical praise, like the Super Mario RPG remake, Princess Peach: Showtime! and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. They also launched the Nintendo Music app, bringing nostalgic tunes to the ears of Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.
Outside of game releases, Nintendo was also busy expanding its real-life attractions. In October, the brand new Nintendo Museum opened in Kyoto, followed by the Donkey Kong Country area opening at Universal Studios Japan’s Super Nintendo World in November. As for acquisitions, Nintendo became the owner of Shivers Entertainment and fully acquired Xenoblade series developer Monolith Soft.
With the Nintendo Switch’s successor set to be revealed sometime in early 2025, it seems that next year will also be an exciting one for Nintendo.
Bandai Namco
Bandai Namco’s 2024 in games was categorized by some big highs and lows. As a publisher of Elden Ring, Bandai Namco benefited from the runaway success of The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. The announcement of FromSoftware’s survival spin-off Elden Ring Nightreign also bolstered investor confidence in Bandai Namco.
The explosive success of domestic mobile game release Gakuen Idolmaster also contributed significantly to both publisher Bandai Namco’s bottom line and that of its developer QualiArts.
Bandai Namco’s biggest low was the failure of Blue Protocol, the anime-style MMORPG that spent 8 years in development but will ultimately end up having its servers shut down in January 2025 without even making it out of Japan. Possibly as a result, Blue Protocol’s developer and operator Bandai Namco Online is set to be absorbed into Bandai Namco Entertainment next April. However, this is not the last we will see of Blue Protocol, as that the ill-fated MMORPG will be reincarnated by Chinese developer BOKURA under a new name.
Square Enix
In 2024, Square Enix released a mixture of new and old RPG franchises, including Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, Visions of Mana, Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Fantasian Neo Dimension.
In May, however, much coverage of Square Enix focused on their 70% profit drop in the previous fiscal year, cancelled game titles and the launch of their new streamlined development strategy, which will focus on aggressively pursuing multiplatform releases and appealing to PC gamers.
In the mid-part of the year, things picked up for the company, with enduringly popular MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and the July 2 launch of its Dawntrail expansion driving Square Enix’s profit increases.
Another big success for Square Enix in 2024 has been the Dragon Quest III 2D-HD Remake. Following its June announcement, it was consistently one of the top 3 preordered games in Japan. After its November 14 release, it surpassed the 2 million units sold mark in less than a month, with physical copies of the Switch version in particular flying off the shelves.
Sega
In 2024, Sega focused on returning CEO Shuji Utsumi’s new strategy to expand its IP development across multiple media. The company saw a strong performance from Sonic x Shadow Generations, launched as part of the ongoing “Sonic IP transmedia rollout,” which includes Paramount+ series Knuckles, the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, and FTP game Sonic Rumble.
The year has also seen a string of profitable and critically well-received games from Sega’s studios, including Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (plus the franchise’s Amazon Prime series), Shin Megami Tensei V, plus new IPs Unicorn Overlord from Vanillaware and Metaphor: ReFantazio from Atlus.
Looking to the future, Sega is trying out new things like RGG Studio’s Project Century, and are also unearthing more beloved but dormant IP including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Shinobi, to name a few.
Capcom
Capcom released a varied line-up of games in 2024, including the long-awaited sequel Dragon’s Dogma 2 and brand-new IP Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. They also released compilations and remasters like Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, all of which reportedly did well in their respective fandoms.
The company continued to implement updates and extra content for 2023’s Street Fighter 6, which has continued to maintain healthy player numbers. Although some titles, like Dragon’s Dogma 2 and niche tower-defense strategy game Kunitsu-Gami failed to meet sales targets, Capcom has its sights set on their long-term profitability.
Overall, Capcom looks set to maintain its 11-year streak of increasing its profits year-on-year. The much-anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds, releasing in February 2025, is predicted to give Capcom’s fiscal year earnings a further boost.
Pretty sure Capcom said they were satisfied with the sales of Dragon’s Dogma 2 and that it was supposed to be a highlight of a new franchise for them.