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Imagine this, everyone. An 11-year-old
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boy, still in elementary school, steps
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onto the Asian Games stage and wins an
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esports gold medal. Hearing this, many
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of you are probably thinking right away
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. League of Legends, PUBG, Naraka, or
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at the very least, some MOBA or Battle
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Royale title. But no, the game this boy
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used to win the gold medal is Puyo Puyo
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Champions, a puzzle game. And what
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makes this story even more interesting
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is that the 11-year-old champion is
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Yuki Kurihara, competing under the
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handle "Yuki," representing Japan at
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the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games. Yuki
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defeated Korean player Kang Dong-shin
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with a score of 12 in the final. After
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beating a Thai player 11 in the
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semifinals, he became the youngest gold
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medalist in the history of the Asian
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Games. But wait, the story here isn't
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just about an 11-year-old boy; it's
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about the game he plays. Because if you
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ask 10 Vietnamese gamers about Puyo
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Puyo, nine of them will probably ask, "
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What game is that?" Meanwhile, in Japan
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, Puyo Puyo has existed for over 30
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years and even has a professional
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competitive circuit. So why is that?
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Why do Japanese people play games that
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are so different from what Vietnamese
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gamers imagine? Why aren't PUBG, League
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of Legends, or the popular PvP titles
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in Asia always the center of the
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Japanese market? And most importantly,
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what games are the Japanese actually
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playing? Today, let's join The Gioi
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Game Viet to enter a very different
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gaming world: the world of Japanese
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games. Seeing Puyo Puyo for the first
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time, it's easy to think, "Is this for
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kids?" Round, colorful Puyo pieces and
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cute anime characters, but once you
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enter competition, everything changes.
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Players must calculate how to stack
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Puyo to create chains, clear blocks
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from the board, and continuously send
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garbage Puyo to their opponent's side.
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A Puyo Puyo pro doesn't just need
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reflexes; they have to plan a series of
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moves in advance. And this is precisely
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what is so interesting about Japanese
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games. A game that seems extremely
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simple can still possess incredible
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competitive depth. Puyo has its own
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professional tournament system in Japan
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and has been included in the official
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esports circuit. So, don't look at Puyo
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Puyo's cute appearance and think this
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game is just for kids. Because the 11-
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year-old boy sitting in front of the
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screen just brought home an Asian gold
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medal for Japan. Does Japan really not
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play PUBG or League of Legends? This is
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where it's easiest to get the wrong
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idea. Looking from Vietnam, you might
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feel that Asian gamers usually revolve
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around titles like PUBG, League of
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Legends, Valorant, Free Fire, Arena of
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Valor, and Naraka. So why does Japan
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seem so different? The answer is that
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Japanese people still play those games.
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In fact, PC gaming in Japan is growing
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very rapidly. According to Cesa, in
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2024, Japan had about 54.75 million
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gamers, including 42.78 million mobile,
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29.51 million console, and 14.52
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million PC players. Notably, the
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Japanese PC market has surged
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significantly over the past few years.
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PC gaming revenue rose from about 132.1
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billion yen in 2021 to 300 billion yen
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in 2025, an increase of about 134%.
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International games like Counter-Strike
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2, Apex Legends, and PUBG all have a
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significant presence on Japan's Steam.
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So saying the Japanese don't play PUBG
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or PvP games is incorrect. The issue is
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that the Japanese market has too many
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coexisting game branches, and that is
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the real difference. Japan doesn't just
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have games; they have an entire gaming
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culture. In Vietnam, when you mention
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online games, you think of ranking up,
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PvP battles, guilds, warzones, and
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topping the charts, but in Japan, the
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gaming ecosystem is much broader. You
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have Pokémon, Mario, Animal Crossing,
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Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Monster
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Hunter, Puyo Puyo, Monster Strike,
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Puzzle&Dragons, Fate/Grand Order, Uma
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Musume, and of course Apex, PUBG, CS2,
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Street Fighter, Tekken, and many other
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international games. In other words,
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Japanese gamers aren't lacking choices;
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they just aren't confined to the few
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genres we usually see dominating in
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Southeast Asia. The Japanese are very
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much into IP. This is perhaps the most
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important point for understanding the
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Japanese market. A Vietnamese gamer
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might ask if the gameplay is fun, if
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the combat is satisfying, or if the
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graphics are beautiful. But in Japan,
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sometimes the first question is: what
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IP does this game belong to? Because
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Japan has one extremely powerful thing:
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IP culture. A character appears in a
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manga, then gets an anime, a console
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game, then a mobile game, figures,
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merchandise, and collaborations. And
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just like that, a character can live on
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through many generations of players.
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That’s why Pokémon, Dragon Quest,
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Final Fantasy, and Dragon Ball have
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such great power, and Japanese mobile
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games leverage this incredibly well.
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Sensor Tower reports that in the first
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half of 2024, the four highest-grossing
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mobile games in Japan were all domestic
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titles, with Monster Strike in the lead
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. Specifically, Monster Strike has
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surpassed $ 11 billion in global
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revenue and has over 50 million users
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in Japan, according to Sensor Tower.
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This is what surprises Vietnamese
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gamers. A title can be extremely famous
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in Japan, but almost unknown once it
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leaves the country. And that brings us
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to Gacha. If you want to understand why
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the Japanese game market can sustain
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titles for decades, look at Gacha.
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Monster Strike, Puzzle&Dragons, Fate/
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Grand Order, and Uma Musume are all
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names strongly tied to Japanese mobile
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game culture. Among them, Monster
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Strike is a prime example. The game
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launched in 2013 but still remains one
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of Japan’s top-grossing mobile games
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today. And here is the interesting part
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. Japanese games don't necessarily need
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hyper-realistic 3D graphics, hundreds
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of kilometers of open maps, or epic
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combat. Sometimes, all it takes is a
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strong IP, engaging characters, a deep
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story, addictive gameplay, and of
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course, a compelling gacha system to
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keep players for years. Anime and games
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in Japan are almost two halves of the
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same world. This is also why anime
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games in Japan are so powerful.
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According to Sensor Tower, in the first
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seven months of 2024, Japan contributed
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about 49%of the revenue for the top 50
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highest-grossing 3D anime mobile games
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globally—nearly half. And what’s
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more interesting is that the Japanese
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don't just play domestic games; Genshin
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Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone
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Zero, and Wuthering Waves all have a
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place in Japan. Sensor Tower also notes
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that many foreign-developed anime games
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are growing well in this market. This
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shows that the Japanese are not closing
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their doors to foreign games; they
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still play them. But for a game to
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succeed in Japan, it must understand
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their IP, characters, art style, and
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gaming culture. So, does Japan only
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like solo games? Not exactly; that’s
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a very easy stereotype to fall into.
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The Japanese play solo games, mobile
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games, and console games, but they also
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play PvP. Apex still has a huge
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community, PUBG still has players, CS2
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is growing, Street Fighter and Tekken
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have long-standing competitive scenes,
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and even PC gaming is growing very fast
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. So the difference isn't that Japan
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likes solo while Asia likes PvP. More
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accurately, Japan has such a diverse
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game market that PvP is just one piece
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of the big picture. In Vietnam, if a
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game doesn't have a strong PvP
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community, it's easily seen as having
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few players. But in Japan, a puzzle
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game can thrive, a character-raising
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game can thrive, and a turn-based game
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can thrive. An anime Gacha game can
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thrive, a console game selling millions
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of copies can thrive, and a PvP game
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can also thrive just fine. They all
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coexist. That is what makes the
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Japanese market different. Let’s look
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back at 11-year-old Yuki Kurihara, an
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elementary student who won the Asian
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championship with Puyo Puyo. If we look
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at it from Vietnam, we might easily
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wonder, "Why this game?" But if you
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look at it from Japan, the win is
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completely logical. Because Puyo Puyo
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is not an unknown game. It is a brand
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that has existed since the early 1990s.
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It has a community, tournaments, pro
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players, history, and most importantly,
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a generation of Japanese who grew up
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with it. When that generation had
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children, those new kids kept playing
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it too. And one day, one of those kids
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stepped onto the Asian stage, 11 years
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old with a gold medal. So if you ask
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whether the Japanese play games? The
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answer is definitely yes, and they play
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a lot. Japan has about 54.75 million
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gamers, where mobile, console, and PC
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all have very large communities. If you
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judge the Japanese gaming world by the
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standards of PUBG, League of Legends,
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or Arena of Valor, you're only seeing a
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tiny fraction, because behind it all
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lies Pokémon, Mario, Animal Crossing,
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Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Monster
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Hunter, Puyo Puyo, Monster Strike, Fate
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, Uma Musume, and a whole empire of
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anime mobile, console, arcade, and
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gacha games. Perhaps the most
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interesting thing isn't why the
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Japanese don't play the games we play,
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but why they can turn games we think
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are small into an entire culture. An 11
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-year-old boy just gave us the answer
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with an Asian Games gold medal. And who
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knows, what you think is just a kids '
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game today could be tomorrow's esports.
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This is Vietnam Gaming World. If you
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want to keep exploring which games are
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making the most money in Japan, which
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ones are the most played, and why
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seemingly outdated titles can survive
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for over 10 years, be sure to leave a
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comment. See you guys in the next video
