Japanese Gaming Brands to Watch This Year

Japan is home to a whole host of successful businesses and brands that have gained traction on the global stage, and its domestic gaming industry is especially potent.

With that in mind, here is a look at the home-grown brands that will continue to shake up the market in 2021 and beyond.

Image Source: Pixabay

Capcom

One of the best-known Japanese gaming brands worldwide, the coming 12 months are set to be special for Capcom.

First and foremost, its Resident Evil franchise is getting a full blown sequel in the form of the first-person focused Resident Evil: The Village, a successor to the seventh instalment and a change from the prior 2 third person remakes of much older games. Targeting a launch across console generations, early gameplay suggests this horror title will be especially stunning on the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Secondly, it will continue to expand its branding through other franchise pushes, as well as tie-ins with other platforms and operators, such as the slots that bear its IPs on Casumo (カスモ).

FromSoftware

While Capcom has been a mainstay of the gaming industry for decades, arguably the developer that has had the biggest impact in the past 10 years is FromSoftware. In particular its Dark Souls series has inspired countless imitators, as well as in-house spiritual follow-ons.

For the past four years it has been working on Elden Ring, a dark fantasy game which has an open world developed in partnership with author George R. R. Martin. Industry insiders and fans alike are eager to find out more about this project and it seems certain that additional information will be made public, perhaps up to and including a 2021 release date, if all goes to plan.

Meanwhile the remake of its PS3 classic Demon’s Souls, handled by a third party, continues to be the gold standard for the PS5. If stock levels can stabilize, this brand can do big things.

Nintendo

Dominant in terms of both hardware and software, Nintendo has enjoyed renewed success since the launch of the Switch console and is poised to gather additional momentum this year.

Perhaps most exciting of all is the impending arrival of a port of Super Mario 3D World, which also comes bundled with an all-new add-on known as Bowser’s Fury.

Next, for those with an interest in indie games, the arrival of Hollow Knight: Silksong will be big news. The original Hollow Knight was a major digital release back in 2017 and the Switch made light work of its 2D visuals, while sales were strong.

Finally, the sequel to Breath of the Wild, the Zelda title that helped to put the Switch on the map, is predicted to arrive at some point this year, which would almost certainly cause console sales to skyrocket once again.

Bandai Namco

In terms of raw commercial power, few other gaming brands can top Bandai Namco. As well as acting as distributor for recent blockbusters such as Cyberpunk 2077, it is also responsible for stewarding literally hundreds of other franchises and releases. This includes everything from episodic horror games like the Dark Pictures franchise, to family-friendly casual gaming titles like Paw Patrol and Transformers: Battlegrounds.

2021 will see a number of new arrivals under its banner, including Digimon Survive, Scarlet Nexus and the aforementioned Elden Ring, which it will be publishing for FromSoftware, as it has done for many of its previous launches.

With the current global disruption look set to continue this year, gaming will be a fallback pastime for billions of people, and these Japanese brands are set to ride the wave of increased consumer interest.