No.3224
Analog (Non-Digital) Games Market in Japan - Board Games & Card Games: Key Research Findings 2022
Trading Card Games Market Leads Continuous Growth of Analog Board Games & Card Games Market
Yano Research Institute (the President, Takashi Mizukoshi) has conducted a survey on the domestic analog (non-digital) games market (of board games and card games in particular), and found out the market trends of major 3 categories (regular/classic games, Eurogames, and trading card games), the trends of market players, and future outlook.
Market Overview
Size of the analog (non-digital) game market (as a total of the regular/classic games market, the Eurogames market, and the trading card games market) for FY2021 grew by 46.8% on year-on-year basis to 90,840 million yen, based on the domestic shipment volume at manufacturers. While the markets of regular/classic games and Eurogames shrank, the trading card games market has grown by 59.0% from the previous fiscal year. The popularity of the trading card games led to significant growth of the entire market.
Noteworthy Topics
Growth of Trading Card Games Market Propelled by Popular-Again “Pokémon Cards”
The “Pokémon Card Game”, a trading card game based on the “Pokémon” video game series, is popular again since around 2018. Resurgence of the fever attributes to the release on affordable "Starter Deck *" in August 2018 (500 yen excluding tax) and the mobile game "Pokémon Go" that attracted a wide range of players. The situation has soared the value of trading cards that are frequently used in the match up against other players, while increasing popularity of cards as collectibles due to limitations in playing face-to-face during the pandemic. Moreover, a promotional campaign with best-known Pokémon YouTubers contributed to the boom.
In addition, the revision of gaming rule that banned the use of old trading cards from September 2018 in official competitions contributed to the expansion of new players.
* Starter Deck is a set of cards that contains a random assortment of cards to “start” the game right away.
Future Outlook
The market size of analog games (as a total of the regular/classic games market, Eurogames market, and trading card games market) for FY2022 is projected to grow by 26.6% on year-on-year basis to 115 billion yen.
Considering the continued popularity of the Pokémon Card Game in the trading card games market in FY2022, with a series of new card game titles being released and the entry of competitors from other industries, the market is expected to expand continually.
Research Outline
2.Research Object： Businesses related to analog (non-digital) games, industry associations, etc.
3.Research Methogology： Face-to-face interviews by our expert researchers (including online interviews), survey via telephone and email, questionnaire, and literature research.
What is the Analog (Non-Digital) Game Market?
In this research, an expression "analog (non-digital) games" is used to refer to board games and card games that are electricity-free, to distinguish them from “digital games” using electricity, such as video games, mobile games (smartphone games), and online games.
Of the 11 categories of the analog games (as listed below), this research targets to (1) regular/classic games (board games/ card games), (3) Eurogames (board games/ card games), and (4) trading card games.
11 Categories of Analog Games
(1) Regular/classic games (board games/ card games), (2) regular/classic games (other games), (3) Eurogames (board games/ card games), (4) trading card games, (5) jigsaw puzzles, (6) 3-D puzzles, (7) pencil puzzles, (8) other puzzles, (9) tabletop role-playing games [TRPG], (10) murder mystery games, (11) other simulation games
＜Products and Services in the Market＞
Regular/classic games, Eurogames, trading card games
Published Report
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