Report Shows Japanese Youth Prefer Consoles, Open to Esports and Streaming

Credit: Niko Partners

A new 60-page report from research firm Niko Partners, offers some interesting data on the attitudes of Japan’s consumers age  6-18 and their parents when it comes to gaming. Niko Partners collects data on gaming and esports for Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

In its new report, Niko Partners found that 46% of Japanese gamers aged 16-18 and 67% of parents of Japanese youth aged 6-18 believe that it is parents who should be in charge of what their children play, and that a majority of those parents have a favorable view of the leisure activity.

Niko Partners also found that  most young players consume content on console (72%), followed by mobile (64%) and then PC (15%). Parents tend to favor consoles due to increased visibility and control over gaming content.   

Young players consume an average of eight (8) hours per week on mobile, compared to 6.5 hours on PC and console.     

Japanese youth are more receptive than adults when it comes to foreign game titles, esports, game live streaming, and VTubers. Nearly 46% of Japanese youth are drawn into esports and competitive games, compared to 12% of overall Japanese gamers,according to the research.  

Premium games (paid) play a large role in Japan, primarily because of consoles, and are the most popular individual purchase made by youth gamers. Parents of young players generally accept video games as an acceptable form of entertainment and are more likely to be gamers themselves, the report notes. 

Finally, the report finds that both parents and youth believe that control over a child’s game time should be managed by each family/parents, rather than by the government or game companies, with 70% of parents and 46% youth agreeing.   

The report is based on data collected from surveys of more than 300 parents of youth gamers aged 6-18 and more than 90 gamers aged 16-18. Niko Partners also conducted interviews with parents, teachers, and industry experts in the region. 

More details about the new report can be found here.