Gamer's World | Videogame Winners and Losers in a Wild Year

2024 was another wild year for gamers. Here are some of the videogame highlights in Japan, through the lens of my perspective as Chief Editor of the news site IGN Japan.

The year began with one of the more surprising success stories: Palworld. Launched by relatively small publisher/developer Pocketpair via Steam Early Access, Xbox Game Preview and Game Pass, it sold over a million copies in its first eight hours. Within a week, it had sold 8 million, numbers which it has smashed over and over since then.

Described by many as "Pokémon with guns," this action-adventure/survival game featured a lineup of monsters that were widely accused of plagiarising Pikachu and pals. Pocketpair eventually drew the ire of The Pokémon Company and Nintendo. They sued it on patent infringement grounds on the eve of the game's PlayStation 5 release announcement in September.

*Palworld was a massive surprise hit in January.*

Still, the Palworld game tapped a richly meme-worthy seam as it explored the dark underbelly of the monster-taming world so innocently portrayed in Pokémon. Pocketpair is acclimatizing to its sudden success as it continues to update the game. Meanwhile, its fan base isn't going anywhere.

'Like a Dragon'

Also in January, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was the latest game in the series once known as Yakuza to receive a global release. One million units shipped in its first week. That made it the fastest-selling game in the series to date, according to publisher Sega.

It was also the first Like a Dragon game to take place outside of Japan. The previous game's protagonist Ichiban Kasuga and returning hero Kazuma Kiryu teamed up for action in Hawaii. This would become one of the most fondly received Japanese games of 2024 among IGN's global editors. Personally, I loved the game's fresh new setting, emotional story and clever mix of action and RPG gameplay.

Rough Year for Companies

The Western market continued to be plagued by layoffs and restructuring in 2024, and Japan was not immune. It's a lot harder for Japanese companies to lay off staff or close down an entire studio. However, for some local studios with overseas owners, it was a rough year.

*Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks was dumped by Microsoft in May, but acquired by Krafton in August*.

In May, it was announced that Tango Gameworks would be closed by its owner Microsoft, which acquired the Japanese studio as part of its $7.5 billion USD purchase of Zenimax in 2021. The sudden closure seemed especially cruel given the recent success of the studio's 2023 critical hit Hi-Fi Rush. However, the story had a happy ending, when Tango was later acquired over the summer by Korean giant Krafton.

Ouka Studios was less fortunate. The day after the release of its new game Visions of Mana, the Japanese studio's Chinese owner NetEase announced on August 30 that it would lay off all but a skeleton staff and later close the studio entirely. This news came among rumors that giants NetEase and Tencent would be scaling back their many investments in Japan as they refocus on games from other markets.

Final Fantasy for Square Enix?

Meanwhile, the homegrown giants had their struggles as well. Bandai Namco and Square Enix each canceled multiple games as they rethought their release strategies. It was particularly rough for Square Enix, which released Final Fantasy VII Rebirth in February. The game was extremely well made and received critical praise. It also looked like it was expensive to make, stuffed with dozens of hours' worth of story missions, optional quests and mini-games.

The second game in a trilogy based on 1997's beloved Final Fantasy VII, rebirth was in a tricky place. 2020's FFVII Remake had already sated the nostalgia of many series fans, which made a second outing a harder sell. Moreover, the new game was exclusive to PlayStation 5, a system that hasn't yet sold as many units as the PS4.

Clearly, the market for Rebirth was limited. Although Square Enix hasn't shared official sales figures, it has admitted the game did not reach expectations. Citing this and other issues, the gaming giant announced it would stop releasing games exclusively on any one platform going forward. Instead, it will pursue a multiformat release strategy and later announce a release date for Rebirth on PC.

*Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was met with critical acclaim but "disappointing" sales.*

Personally, I felt this was a wise move, as Japanese RPGs in general are an evergreen yet niche genre in the global market. Therefore, releasing games on as many platforms as possible is the only way to reach more players. I also would love to see the Final Fantasy series scale back and deliver games with a smaller scope that takes less time to play and cost less to make. In turn, that would lower sales expectations to something more realistic.

The 'When' Question for Nintendo Switch

Rumors of Nintendo's successor to its smash-hit Switch console abounded throughout 2024. Back in January, I was among the many who assumed the new machine would come out in 2024. However, the house of Mario made no official announcements about the hardware at all, beyond saying that it will do so before the financial year ends in March 2025.

The past few weeks have seen leaks from manufacturers of protective cases that hint at a similar but slightly larger form factor. Rumors of a January 2025 announcement are rife – but I'll believe it when I see it.

At the very least, Nintendo did confirm that its next console will play games from the current Switch system. It will also support its current online membership service. All of that will help entice the 146 million Switch owners to make the leap to its new platform. And with Nintendo's recent excellent software track record, I'm excited to see what will surely be a killer lineup of games around launch.

PlayStation Inflation

PlayStation had a strange year in Japan. Game consoles usually get cheaper over time. However, after four years on sale, the price of the PS5 went up for a third time. This time, to an eye-watering ¥79,980 JPY ($500 USD) for the disc version – 60% higher than when it was first released in 2020. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 Pro was released in November with a price tag of ¥119,980 ($760). That's an incredible amount for a game console. (For comparison, the most expensive version of the Switch costs ¥37,980 ($240), and has outsold PS5 in Japan by over five to one.)

PS5 console sales dipped 60% after the price increase, and it has essentially become a luxury item in Japan now. PlayStation is run out of in the US these days. And while the platform goes from strength to strength in the West, it will take a lot for it to rebound in the land of its birth.

Monster Hunter Wilds

One game that might help next year is Monster Hunter Wilds. Set for release in February 2025, the new Monster Hunter will come out on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC,. Of these three, PS5 still has the advantage in Japan. Xbox has always struggled here, and while the PC gaming market is growing fast, a new gaming PC is much more costly than even the post-price-hike PS5.

The Monster Hunter series is massive in Japan. And many gamers will likely be tempted to pay the premium to play it on PS5.

Wilds will also make a major impact globally. In 2024 we saw it dominate at events like Gamescom in Cologne, where it got its first playable demo in August, and Tokyo Game Show, where Japanese fans lined up for hours to get their hands on it in September.

Tokyo Game Show 2024

TGS itself had a strong year, with 274,739 visitors across four days. That's its highest number since the pandemic, and close to 2018's record of 298,690 attendees.

While Monster Hunter Wilds was surely the biggest game of the show, legendary Metal Gear Solid developer Hideo Kojima also made a rare appearance with a stage appearance to promote his upcoming game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Meanwhile, games from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake to yet another newly announced Like a Dragon spinoff made headlines.

I always enjoy Tokyo Game Show, with its great spread of games and its cosplay-drenched matsuri vibe. It was great to see the event firing on all cylinders now that the pandemic restrictions are behind us.

Catching Up With the Yearend Awards

And now here we are at the end of the year. For us at IGN Japan and many other game media, this is a time for reflection, rankings and catching up on the games we missed. It's always a busy period for us.

It kicks off in style with The Game Awards, an online showcase that is the closest gaming has to the Oscars. For 2024, the much-coveted Game of the Year category featured six nominees, four of which were made in Japan. The winner, Sony's Astro Bot, was a reminder that Japanese developers make the best action games in the world.

For our own yearend awards, IGN Japan picked Silent Hill 2 as our game of the year. A remake of the 2001 classic of the same name, this psychological horror game received a 10/10 score on IGN Japan when it was released in October. Our writer Koji Fukuyama hails it as "a masterpiece that should serve as a benchmark for future installments in the Silent Hill series".

You can see our full Top 10 here and our category awards here.

So yes, another wild year for games in and from Japan. Thanks for sticking with my column for the past 12 months. Here's to more madness in 2025!

Author: Daniel Robson

Daniel Robson is the chief editor of videogame news site IGN Japan. Read his series Gamer's World on JAPAN Forward, and find him on X (formerly Twitter).