Japanese games are kicking ass on PC so far this year

GamesJapanese games are kicking ass on PC so far this yearWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

A panda watches video on a smartphone

At the start of January we predicted 2024would be a strong year for Japanese games, but we weren’t quite ready for the very first month of the year to knock our socks off.

There’s never been a Japanese indie game like Palworld—in just two weeks in January the early access survival gamesold 12 million copies, smashing records near-daily. According to Steamspy’s estimated data, it’s already the second best-selling Japanese game in Steam history, behind only Elden Ring. The next most successful Japanese indie I could find, meanwhile, is 2013 digital board game100% Orange Juice, with an estimated 1-2 million owners. It’s also a style of game I simply haven’t seen a Japanese developer tackle before—no surprise the indie studiostruggled to find a developer who had experience making shooters.

Palworld alone made January a historic month for Japanese PC games, but then the hits kept on coming.

We loved Tekken 8, awarding itan 89% scoreand calling it “truly the next generation of fighters, a bombastic showdown that you should absolutely witness.” While its launch didn’t attract quite as many players as Street Fighter 6, it outperformed Mortal Kombat 1 and has been hailed as an improvement on Tekken 7, which has remained popular since 2017.

Sega’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth came out on the same day as Tekken 8, January 25, and sold more than a million copies in a week, which Sega says is the best ever for the series. That’s particularly impressive given how many Like a Dragon games the publisher pumps out: including spin-offs and remakes, this is the fifth since 2020. Players clearly aren’t sick of them, and Infinite Wealth seems like it might represent a true breakthrough to a wider audience. Sega reported in December 2023 that the last “main” game had sold 1.8 million copies after nearly three full years, and Infinite Wealth seems primed to beat that figure in a few months, if not weeks.

Aside from the sales figures, though, Infinite Wealth is a rare beast of a game. As we highlighted in our reviewit’s absolutelyhuge, and includes two minigames that could be games in their own right. There’sDondoko Island, a management/building sim that lets you run an island resort, decorate it, and hang with the NPCs who come to visit. There’s alsoSujimon, a creature taming layer to combat that lets you recruit the freaks and weirdos you fight on the streets of Hawaii and then evolve them into stronger fighters. Yes, there were actuallytwoPokémon-alikes on PC in January!

The calendar has barely tipped over into February, and look at the top sellers in the US right now:

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

(Image credit: Steam)

Steam top sellers Feb 2 2024

That’s five Japanese games in the top 15 bestsellers. Has that happened before, ever? Probably! I could see some timely sales vaulting a bunch of Capcom orFromSoftwaregames to the top of the list. But this disparate selection of games is something else. I didn’t even know a Jujutsu Kaisen fighting game was coming out yesterday, and the user reviews are mixed, but the anime series is so red-hot I could see this one selling on wish fulfillment alone.

On February 1, Persona 3 Reload launched on Steam, the same day it launched on consoles—worldwide. For comparison’s sake, back in 2017 Persona 5 took 201 days to launch worldwide after its Japanese debut. It took another 2,026 days—five and a half years!—for it to finally arrive on PC, which we weren’t convinced would ever happen. A day-one Persona release is yet more proof thatthe console wars are over, and PC won.

Even mobile gacha spin-off Granblue Fantasy: Relink seems to be a hit on PC. Maybe thanks to its online-co-op, it launched to a peak player count of 85,334 so far, according to Steamdb, double Persona 3 Reload’s 42,112. To some degree it’s a big deal the game came out at all—it was first announced back in 2016 and wassupposed to be out in 2018with PlatinumGames making it, but that apparently didn’t pan out, and it took the mobile game studio another four years to finish development itself.

It’s hard to imagine the rest of the year keeping up this just-over-four-weeks-streak of bangers for Japanese developers. But looking ahead to just the next few months, there are certainly big hits to come. Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2, due March 22, is one of the most-wishlisted games on Steam (#60, specifically). Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater is expected this year.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes finally arrives in April, promising a spiritual successor to the Suikoden JRPG series that apparently a whole lot of people wanted (it was Kickstarted in 2020, and remains the third-biggest videogame Kickstarter ever). The same people may be even more excited to see HD remasters of Suikoden I & II arriving sometime this year, ticking off yet another back catalog classic for PC.

I’m not going to get my hopes up for an Armored Core 6 expansion, but I will immediately inhale it if it arrives. And while I’m not a Final Fantasy 14 player, I know at least three of my colleagues will disappear for several monthsas soon as Dawntrail arrives this summer. I’ll do my best to convince them to put their time where it really belongs—into blasting hundreds of thousands of bugs inEarth Defense Force 6.

PRODUCTSPalworldLike a Dragon: Infinite WealthElden RingTekken 8Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred HeroesPersona 3 Reload

PRODUCTS

More about gamesWatching an all-romances speedrun of the legendarily janky Fallout: New Vegas is a delightActivision will send you alarmingly detailed data for every single Call of Duty match you’ve played in the last 4 years if you ask, and players are using it to figure out their mysterious SBMM rankingsLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►

More about games

Watching an all-romances speedrun of the legendarily janky Fallout: New Vegas is a delightActivision will send you alarmingly detailed data for every single Call of Duty match you’ve played in the last 4 years if you ask, and players are using it to figure out their mysterious SBMM rankings

null

Watching an all-romances speedrun of the legendarily janky Fallout: New Vegas is a delight

black ops 6 season 1

Activision will send you alarmingly detailed data for every single Call of Duty match you’ve played in the last 4 years if you ask, and players are using it to figure out their mysterious SBMM rankings

LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►

Latest

Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12

Wordle today being played on a phone

Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12

See more latest►

Most Popular

This bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines

18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025

The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4

2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me

Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals