Steam japanese alike?

Japan prefers physical copies actually.

But steam also blocks a lot of stuff from Japanese ISPs too.

Japanese gamers still have a lot of good arcades aswell so there is a good arcade scene.

Regardless what Japan says about itself they are still very xenophobic. People might say other wise but reality is that laws and taxes for foreign services and goods are quite bad. Also, add to it that buying PC is considered luxury item, due high initial price and high taxes, you get very small community, small market, and not enough influence to change things for better.

PC games aren't really popular in Japan. People generally prefer arcade games or consoles (Sony and Nintendo are Japanese companies).

they mostly play mobile game now, like "puzzle and dragon"

http://tabitter.net/how-it-sucks-to-be-a-pc-gamer-in-japan/
Also, from what I hear the Otaku scene massively overwhelms anything else there and PC's are usually only for workplaces. So it's a combination of declining interest and PC devs shooting themselves in the foot.

It's all about Mobile gaming atm

http://playism.jp/

For what i know from.... studies... some japanse DO have PC and like to use them for porn games / VN type and all :p (know that from alchemy meister wich i found pretty great in its gameplay, hadd to do some modification on regional seettings and stuff to make it work..)

Thief is $49.99 while U.S. is $29.99, but for this game, Square Enix deleted Japanese language and selling “Japanese Language Pack” as DLC for $19.99. This DLC only appears if you are connecting from Japan.

Region locked games are one thing, but that's a new level of greedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyMeWCt8C6U#t=11m

there are so many misconceptions and hasty generalization about japanese gamers but im not here to address it lol only the PC part. First and foremost yes, steam in japan is relatively small compared to other countries, but according to my friend, who is an indie japanese developer, there is a huge growth of japanese gamers from 2014 and 2015. I think one of the primary reasons why there is growth in numbers is there is also growth in Japanese language games Most japanese doesn't speak english or any other languages besides japanese. And it also helps that some japanese publishers started unblocking their games(made in Japan) in Japan.

Another thing PC gaming is big now and still growing but not the kind of gaming you think. Mostly in online and browser games although big PC games like LOL and Overwatch PC (both are localized in japanese) has a growing community and presence around here. still Mobile and portable gaming are still the giants in japanese gaming industry.

Lastly i think most japanese steam players, like me, started to create a steam account is due to interest in non japanese games especially coop and multiplayer ones ( i joined steam due to free left 4 dead 2, years ago).

The price issue is not really an issue unless you start comparing it to other countrie's prices, if you compare the steam price to other system(PSN, eshop) you can see that the pricing and price schemes are more or less the same.

I'm not saying this is true to all japanese gamers and a good description to the japanese gaming industry but this is based on what i observed, what i heard from my game developer friends, from my friends, articles on the internet and my personal opinion as a japanese gamer

I don't know about Japanese games (the ones available on Steam seem to be successful, generally), but one of the main reasons Chinese publishers/developers may avoid Steam is that once a game is released on Steam, it will likely be cracked and pirated-most of the DRM for modern single-player Chinese games are very strict (for the non-Steam local releases) as a countermeasure to domestic video game piracy (the Chinese single-player video game market is still reeling from rampant piracy from years back and there aren't many single-player game developers that survived+many companies moved toward free-to-play mobile or MMO bullcrap instead). It's an unfortunate situation, since I'd love to see more Chinese games on Steam. :(

the indie PC games comunity in Japan is big and really creative. also nobody posted dis?

also - in japan, an arcade is available in loads of areas - I loved visiting loads of them when I was there - soooo many arcade machines :)

i dont know, you should ask PalmDeset about this...

Long story short, Japanese people consider PCs mostly as work tools, and play either on consoles (mostly PlayStations), mobile, and arcades.
Most Japanese games are even IP-blocked in Japan, due to licensing issues (perhaps Sony knows something that we don't?).

i think nippon is doing right with not globalising everything...

food is another good example, they prefer local ingredients instead of standardised food like McD and BK has...

Seeing as more and more Japanese games are coming to Steam I'd say it's doing okay there...

Japanese seems to prefer consoles ...
Be it classical like PS or Xbox.... or handheld like ps Vita...
And those mostly use a physical copies of the games.

I guess they still use steam... but PC are insanely expensive there compared to consoles....

Tho that is just me speculating.

Japanese have grown up with console games so they habitually tend to stick to consoles when they come to buy the games by themselves.
And games have been supposed to have anime styles in Japan, which is changing slowly by importing stuffs from outside Japan though.
Anime games are already abundant in the market. They don't have to really go outside to get them.

Hey there! I'm living in Japan and can probably say something about the situation. Console games are clearly dominating the market. If you go to any "TV games" store, you'll be hit by walls of console game hardcopies for all generations of devices.

As a PC games buff I was quite disappointed by this, because finding computer game hardcopies in Japan is quite a pain in the ass. Most stores don't have a single shelf for PC, and if some of them do, the selection is tiny and more often than not quite a bit outdated. Localized international games are ridiculously overpriced. Even fewer shops have import goods for those who prefer to (or have to) play in English language.

Having said that, and having a glimpse at those stats: http://steamspy.com/country/JP I'd say Steam is actually THE player for PC gamers in Japan! Simply because alternatives are barely existent.