4) This is also actively supported by the Japanese government.
For Parco, they say they view gaming as part of Japanese culture.
Here, the aim is using their physical retail locations in Japan to promote domestic and foreign games to players in the "real world" - which I find quite odd. //end
3) Japanese brick-and-mortar retailer Parco established "Parco Games" in 2025.
Why now?
One major driver is the belief that the IPs that Toei, Sanrio and Shueisha are sitting on are more popular abroad than ever and that these IPs can be further monetized via gaming.
2) Sanrio established "Sanrio Digital" in 2006 to bring Hello Kitty et al. into gaming and online - but with limited success, so it seems they want to give it another go.
Before Toei and Sanrio, manga publisher Shueisha established SHUEISHA GAMES Inc. in 2022.
1) Over on Elon's site, I just saw these 2 posts back-to-back on my timeline (see below).
Very interesting to see 2 Japanese brands announcing a gaming business on the same day.
Consumer brands getting into gaming has become a mini trend in Japan.
Saudi Arabia's Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC) increased its stake in Capcom from 5.03% (revealed last month) to now 6.04%,
This was disclosed in a report to regulators today here in Japan (where the stock market just closed for Monday).
After the US yesterday, now Japanese gaming stocks get hammered (Wednesday 1:30pm local time, trading continues):
- Nintendo -12.3% (earnings yesterday)
- Capcom -9.1%
- Konami -7.7%
- Koei Tecmo -6.3%
- Sony -4.2%
- Kadokawa (From parent) -3.9%
- Square Enix -3.4%
- Bandai Namco -3.4%
- Sega -1.6%
After my post on Japan, now here is game stock performance in the West for the whole of 2025:
Unity +80.2%
Take-Two +39.9%
Roblox +37.7%
CD Projekt +24.6%
Ubisoft -49.9%
Embracer spun off Coffee Stain in 2025 + EA was bought out, so I left those out.
Microsoft: +15.5%.
This huge plus is purely activist-driven.
Major Japanese video game company stock moves in 2025 (today was the last trading day in Tokyo):
Konami +47.26%
Square Enix +38.70%
Sony +26.20%
Nintendo +16.81%
Bandai Namco +12.33%
Capcom +8.31%
Koei Tecmo +4.21%
Sega -20.55%
I contributed 3 predictions for the global game industry in 2026 with GamesIndustry.biz:
www.gamesindustry.biz/gta-6-delaye...
The activist's stake now reached 16.48%.
(Enix founder Fukushima is still top at 19.28%.)
My video again on this topic: youtube.com/watch?v=DAPm...
Singapore activist investor 3D Investment Partners increased its stake in Square Enix.
They now own a whopping 15.40% + are the No. 2 shareholder, while Enix founder Yasuhiro Fukushima is at 19.28%.
Here is a video I made on the topic a while ago:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAPm...
What an amazing live stream it was!
Special thanks to @serkantoto.bsky.social @yosp-jp.bsky.social @kepler-interactive.bsky.social @sandfallgames.bsky.social
#Minimap #MinimapGOTY #GameofTheYear
minimap.net/magazine/Min...
I should
Oh my god, a somewhat neutral-positive (?) opinion about Ubisoft?
I shot another video in which I am trying to highlight where I believe Ubisoft’s potential and value still lies, despite its extremely difficult standing in the industry right now.
YT: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVv...
In San Francisco for #GDC2025 and just spotted the soon-to-open Nintendo store. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Excited to share I will be in San Francisco for GCD 2025 this month.
Let me know if you'd like to meet in person!
#GDC2025
