According to research published by Human Media on April 9 (reported by GameBiz), Japan’s domestic content market reached a record high in 2025, valued at approximately 15.86 trillion yen (over $99.7 billion USD). This is a 4% increase from the previous year, making 2025 the sixth consecutive year of growth since 2020.
Looking at individual industries, online content (such as video and music streaming) and online advertising saw the biggest growth, with their joint value exceeding half of the domestic market. Japan’s console game market (physical software), which declined in 2024, saw a return to an upward trend, accounting for 17% of the content market.
A January report from Kadokawa Game Linkage estimated that the domestic console game market (software and hardware) grew 138.8% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 418.13 billion yen. Since these figures are based on physical game sales and hardware sales (excluding digital sales, DLC and in-game purchases), the actual market value was likely larger.
The growth of the console market is, of course, attributed to the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, which sold 3.784 million units in Japan between its June launch and the end of 2025, while the original Switch sold an additional 1.52 million units. The best-selling physical games in Japan were Mario Kart World at 2.668 million units and Pokémon Legends: Z-A, a 2.534 million units.
Are Japan’s console and mobile game markets shrinking in favor of PC games? Developers discuss
