Metaverse market size Japan FY 2021-2027

The metaverse market in Japan was estimated at 285.1 billion Japanese yen in fiscal year 2023. It was expected that the market, which in this case excludes services that exclusively focus on video games, will reach a value of more than two trillion yen by fiscal year 2027.

The metaverse concept

The concept of the metaverse has garnered increasing attention in recent years, not least because Facebook announced in October 2021 that it would change its company name to Meta Platforms to emphasize its commitment to this immersive technology. Although there are varying definitions, the word is frequently used today to refer to virtual spaces in which people interact with each other in the form of avatars, often facilitated by devices such as head-mounted displays (HMDs) for extended reality (XR) and 360-degree videos. Since the metaverse can act as an enhanced form of social media that brings people together and enables companies to connect more deeply with their customers, it may create valuable economic effects, such as boosting sales via e-commerce.

The metaverse and Japanese content producers

It is expected that the growth of the metaverse market will be impacted to a significant degree by the adoption of dedicated hardware and the ability of content creators to attract users. In the case of Japan, several gaming companies are actively pursuing metaverse projects, such as Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and GREE. Many others engage in related technologies, such as blockchain-utilized services, which enable the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in virtual economies. Aside from game developers, there are companies from a number of different industries, such as music, streaming, and tourism, that provide content to metaverse platforms.