Going Tremendous Saiyan! Gaming and the rise of anime

Over the final half decade, anime, a cultural juggernaut inside Japan for greater than half a century, has exploded in reputation around the globe. A phenomenal, hand-drawn type of animation encompassing a wealthy and various historical past and custom, anime has grow to be an essential supply of Japanese cultural affect and financial exports. 

The international breakout – streaming within the pandemic

Between 2020-2023, the worldwide anime market grew by over 38% to exceed JPY3.3 trillion (c. USD23 billion), and this progress continues to speed up. A key driving pressure behind this has been the worldwide market, which now exceeds the Japanese home market. It is estimated there are over 800 million followers worldwide and the sector as a complete is projected to succeed in USD60.1 billion by 2030. 

The success and broad userbase of streamers like Netflix and Amazon helped unlock this reputation as anime reveals have been found by Western audiences and have become international hits through the COVID-19 pandemic. Netflix says 50% of its customers globally now watch anime. According to the Japanese authorities, the export worth of Japan’s content material business (together with gaming, publishing, movie, TV and anime) is larger than its metal, petrochemicals and semiconductor sectors. The Japanese authorities needs to increase the worth of content material exports from JPY5.8 trillion in 2023 to over JPY20 trillion by 2033, with a good portion of that progress set to return from the worldwide enlargement of anime. European markets, particularly, are driving the subsequent wave of anime adoption, with the highest ten progress international locations together with the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Finland, all of whom skilled 20-35% progress charges in anime viewership in 2024.

Gaming and anime – a transmedia cheat code?

The international anime alternative within the coming years is large, notably the place anime intersects with the video video games business and Western audiences. Anime is very well-liked amongst youthful generations, together with Gen Z and Gen Alpha (and even some youthful millennials!), the previous being more and more useful demographics throughout all types of media, notably video video games. The video games business is already plagued by profitable anime and anime impressed collaborations – contemplate the breakthrough achievements of Genshin Impact and the Honkai collection from MiHoYo, the Persona collection and Metaphor: ReFantazio from SEGA and Atlus, and naturally the ever well-liked, Pokémon collection. Many staples of the anime pantheon have had official sport adaptions breakthrough within the West, together with Dragon Ball Z and One Piece. 

The reputation of anime can also be evident on UGC platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, the place the userbases are dominated by the anime-enamoured Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Recent evaluation of the highest 50 video games within the official Roblox chart discovered that 22% had an anime theme. As not too long ago as July 2025, a teenage Roblox UGC developer is reported to have bought their title, Blue Rock: Rivals, a fan made unofficial sport paying tribute to well-liked anime collection, for USD3 million simply months after launch – anime fandom was a big a part of the sport’s success.

Transmedia is after all one of many core enterprise fashions right here. Transmedia attracts customers in from all instructions and affords an ever-growing variety of entry factors to have interaction with our most beloved IPs. It permits us to deepen our connections with these universes throughout a number of touchpoints, media and sensory experiences, encompassing studying, watching, gaming, creating, cosplay, merchandise and (maybe most significantly) belonging to a group. The worth proposition is materials because the mannequin turns into self-sustaining. In the context of anime and gaming, for instance, the considering goes that anime drives curiosity in video games (together with from non-gamers), whereas video games deliver new audiences to anime and each drive engagement throughout merchandising, occasions and different media.

Capturing the worth – challenges for content material homeowners

Despite the runaway reputation of anime globally, and in sharp distinction to gaming (the opposite linchpin of the Japanese content material business) Japanese content material creators and homeowners haven’t traditionally captured a lot of the worth from anime. Whereas round 90% of video video games gross sales are captured by Japanese firms, the equal in anime is commonly lower than 10%, in line with the Japanese authorities. Merchandisers, digital streamers and worldwide distributors all take their lower. 

Illegal downloads and piracy are additionally large issues for anime – underlined by the very fact Crunchyroll, the main anime distribution platform acquired by Sony for USD1.2 billion in 2021, began life as the most well-liked anime piracy web site. Anime has additionally historically been eye wateringly costly to create – by some estimates a single 30-minute episode will run a 100-person studio as much as two months of manufacturing time at a price ticket of USD140,000. Naruto, one of many largest anime collection, ran for 220 episodes. This is a sector that’s primed for the disruption already endured and being endured by music, movie, gaming and plenty of different artistic industries by the hands of digital distribution and AI. Getting the technique proper in response to each of those catalysts might be essential.

A core problem might be capturing extra of the worth chain, together with distribution, and making certain extra transmedia community advantages circulate again to the content material homeowners. For lots of the largest Japanese gamers, meaning a point of vertical integration by the acquisition of distributors whereas additionally participating strategically with thirdparty streaming platforms in key markets. Sony has acquired Crunchyroll on the distribution facet and has taken elevated stakes in FromSoftware and Bandai Namco in a bid to safe entry to anime, gaming and different IP-rich content material. It is the same story for the opposite main anime main, Toho. The 2024 acquisition of GKIDS, the Oscar nominated US anime distributor, positions Toho properly in negotiations with streaming majors like Netflix, Disney, Amazon and others. Those streamers nonetheless have a job to play, nonetheless, as demonstrated by Netflix carrying the again catalogue of Studio Ghibli – a genre-defining anime home whom Toho helps with international distribution. 

Mindful of the community results of transmedia, content material homeowners are more and more eager to safe distribution preparations throughout a number of channels to maximise visibility and engagement with their IP. For instance, Toho has signalled a transfer away from the normal technique of granting international grasp licences which provide restricted persevering with income and management over how a lot anime and merchandise is bought internationally, in favour of managing particular offers with native companions by way of its personal devoted worldwide workforce. Their latest Oscar successful success with Godzilla Minus One, made and distributed by Toho immediately, appears to validate this strategy of better management.

The instant future – an M&A drive and what to do about AI?

With worldwide markets a key driver of progress in coming years (particularly Europe and North America) and the key gamers in Japan seeking to train extra management over their IP on this international enlargement, deal exercise in coming years appears probably. Many have already publicly introduced budgets to gas international enlargement throughout content material creation, distribution, and transmedia methods (together with growing video video games and merchandise based mostly on well-liked anime IP). Financial buyers and personal fairness are additionally more and more within the international anime phenomenon as underlined by USD1.7 billion acquisition of Infocom by US based mostly fund, Blackstone, in 2024 – the most important PE deal in Japan that yr.

The proliferation of AI additionally presents each alternatives and challenges for the longer term. The use of AI in content material creation has apparent potential to create efficiencies and cut back manufacturing prices. However, in lots of key markets together with the US, EU and UK, AI generated content material is both not protected by copyright or critical doubts exist over copyright subsistence, creating points for content material homeowners in relation to implementing their rights towards infringers. Creators and followers might also have principled objections to the usage of AI to create a style of content material that has at all times been famed for its magnificence and artistry. These points can create disproportionate results for industries like animation and video games the place automation instruments have been used to help content material creation for a very long time earlier than generative AI grew to become mainstream. Content homeowners are due to this fact grappling with setting up AI insurance policies, and controlling and monitoring the usage of AI by contractors.

At the identical time, AI additionally offers better potential for third events to create infringing supplies. This is mirrored within the controversial “Ghiblification” pattern earlier in 2025, the place social media customers deployed AI picture era instruments to supply and submit pictures in “Ghibli style”. This gave rise to fierce backlash in Japan, the place this exercise was seen to undermine a useful and distinctive artwork kind. The imitation of types offers rise to sophisticated questions as as to whether artwork types as such are protected by IP rights, and whether or not copyright exceptions (eg for parody) might apply. This is once more a difficulty that disproportionately impacts industries like animation and video games the place artwork types are a key artistic asset. The use of artistic works for AI coaching additionally stays topic to intensive disputes and litigation, and new policymaking, around the globe. Anime content material homeowners might want to make strategic choices within the coming years over find out how to implement their rights and have interaction with policymakers within the face of those developments.