Video games
The franchises and houses of Asian gaming
From 1978’s Space Invaders to Honor of Kings, from the Akihabara arcade to the Seoul PC bang: the sagas that shaped the medium, and the Japanese, Chinese and Korean studios that build them.
34 entries
JapanFromSoftware (フロム・ソフトウェア)The studio that created an entire genre by refusing to explain anything to the player.ChinamiHoYo / HoYoverse (米哈游)Three Shanghai students, an otaku motto and the first Chinese game to conquer Japan.JapanSony Interactive Entertainment / PlayStationBorn of a falling-out with Nintendo, the console that swung gaming towards the CD and the adult player.JapanAnimal CrossingNintendo's life and community simulation series.JapanAtlus (アトラス)The studio of niche RPGs turned global, from Shin Megami Tensei to Persona.JapanBandai NamcoThe Japanese entertainment, video game and toy group.JapanCapcomThe Japanese publisher of Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.JapanDragon Quest (ドラゴンクエスト)Japan's national RPG, whose launches were long scheduled on a weekend day.JapanElden Ring (エルデンリング)The open world without a treasure map, co-written with George R. R. Martin.JapanFinal FantasyThe great Japanese RPG series published by Square Enix.JapanGame Freak (ゲームフリーク)A fanzine turned studio, and six years of work to give birth to Pokémon.ChinaGenshin ImpactThe open-world gacha phenomenon from Chinese studio HoYoverse.ChinaHonor of Kings (王者荣耀)The world's highest-grossing game, played by a hundred million Chinese a day.JapanKonamiThe Japanese publisher of Metal Gear, Castlevania and Pro Evolution Soccer.KoreaKrafton (크래프톤)The publisher of PUBG, the game that invented the battle royale as a mass genre.JapanMetal Gear (メタルギア)Stealth as a genre, born from a console too weak to display enough enemies.JapanMonster Hunter (モンスターハンター)The co-op hunt that sold handheld consoles to the whole of Japan.KoreaNCSoft (엔씨소프트)Lineage, the MMORPG that made Korean PC bangs a national institution.ChinaNetEase Games (网易游戏)China's second publisher, long the compulsory gateway for Western games into China.KoreaNexon (넥슨)The inventor of free-to-play with microtransactions, five years before the West thought of it.JapanNintendoFrom 1889 hanafuda cards to a global video game empire.JapanPersona (ペルソナ)The RPG where you fight demons at night and revise for exams during the day.JapanPokemonThe highest-grossing media franchise in the world.JapanResident Evil (バイオハザード)Survival horror, invented by a mansion, fixed camera angles and never enough ammunition.JapanSegaThe Japanese console maker and publisher, long a rival of Nintendo.JapanSonic the Hedgehog (ソニック)The blue hedgehog built to beat Mario, and who nearly did.JapanSpace InvadersTaito's arcade game that launched the golden age of arcades.JapanSquare Enix (スクウェア・エニックス)The merger of the two houses that invented the Japanese RPG, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.JapanStreet Fighter (ストリートファイター)The game that invented modern versus fighting and filled arcades worldwide.JapanSuper MarioNintendo's platform series centered on the plumber Mario.JapanTekkenBandai Namco's 3D fighting game series.ChinaTencent (video games)The Chinese giant, the world's largest video game publisher by revenue.JapanThe Legend of ZeldaThe great adventure saga created by Shigeru Miyamoto.JapanYakuza / Like a Dragon (龍が如く)An underworld melodrama in a Tokyo district rebuilt street by street, between two karaoke sessions.