Tokyo Game Show kicks off, AAA blockbusters usher in the 10,000-yen era

The dedicated "GTA6" zone set up at the Sony Interactive Entertainment booth (Chiba City, September 17)

Long queues formed as soon as the Sony booth opened, with people rushing to collect experience vouchers for *Grand Theft Auto 6* (GTA6). The queue tickets for September 17 were all distributed in about 15 minutes. GTA6 is a symbol of skyrocketing development costs...

On September 17, the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2026, the world's largest game exhibition, opened at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City. Various software manufacturers have launched additional content such as expanded side plots, competing to create "addictive" games that keep players engaged for long periods.

In large-scale "AAA" games known for high quality, it is not uncommon for development costs to reach 100 billion yen. There are even games that are claimed to cost 300 billion yen. In addition, games priced at over 10,000 yen have emerged, and the purchase threshold is increasingly rising.

Long queues formed as soon as the booth of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (SIE) opened, with people scrambling to collect experience vouchers for *Grand Theft Auto 6* (GTA6), an action game from US developer Rockstar Games. The queue tickets for September 17 were all issued within about 15 minutes.

GTA6 is a symbol of soaring development costs. Analysts say the investment has exceeded 1 billion US dollars (about 150 billion yen). Some estimates put the figure as high as 2 billion US dollars. In comparison, the total development and marketing cost of GTA5 was about 26.4 billion yen at the exchange rate at the time of its release.

About 15 years ago, AAA games were reportedly completed in 2 to 3 years of development, but in recent years, the cycle has extended to 5 to 7 years. This is reflected in the rising labor costs and the cost of development engines. The huge game maps and full voice acting for all characters are also among the reasons for the longer development cycle.

After the previous installment *GTA5* was released in 2013, new in-game "missions" and vehicles have been continuously added to the game.

The standard edition of GTA6 is priced at 9,800 yen. The "Ultimate Edition" with extra perks is expected to be priced at 12,280 yen, while GTA5 was priced at 7,770 yen at the time of its launch.

For *Ace Combat 8: Wings of Heavens* which Bandai Namco Entertainment will release on October 2, the standard edition is priced at 9,790 yen and the Deluxe Edition at 11,990 yen, an increase of about 1,500 yen compared to the standard edition of the previous installment.

Game companies are continuously passing on costs to consumers. Souichiro Fukuda, senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory, explained: "The number of software priced at around 10,000 yen is increasing. By offering exclusive additional content with a sense of specialness, we have won the understanding of fans."

All companies will adopt flexible pricing strategies. After the initial purchase boom at launch, they will launch promotional campaigns at appropriate times to generate profits through long-term sales. From 2028 onwards, new PlayStation titles will be sold exclusively via download, and this trend is expected to further strengthen.

According to the *Famitsu Game White Paper 2026*, the average unit price of physical game software in Japan in 2025 was 7,528 yen, a 21% increase from 2024. Kihiko Lin, representative of the Famitsu Group, stated: "The rise in development costs and labor costs is still ongoing, and the trend of raising the base price of new games is likely to continue in the future."

According to the *Famitsu Game White Paper*, the global game content market reached 32.1 trillion yen in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%, while the domestic market in Japan also expanded to 2.5 trillion yen, up 8%. However, the games that achieve huge success are mainly concentrated in large enterprises that can continuously develop large-scale titles.

In 2025, there were only about 8 games worldwide that sold more than 10 million copies. Among them, 3 are original Japanese games, namely *Mario Kart World*, *Pokémon Legends: Z-A* and *Monster Hunter Wilds*.

A survey released by the Children's Research Institute of the Hakuhodo Foundation for Education in Japan in March 2026 shows that the average monthly pocket money for junior high school students is 3,234 yen, 16% higher than the survey in 2023. But children cannot buy new games without saving their pocket money for several months.

According to the *Game Industry Report 2026 Preview* released by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) of Japan, the number of domestic game users in Japan reached 56.39 million in 2025, an increase of 3% from 2024, but the overall figure has fluctuated in recent years.

As of June 2026, the monthly active users of Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation Network (PSN) stood at 125 million. In comparison, the game platform Roblox has as many as 144 million daily active users, far exceeding that of PSN.

If software prices continue to rise, more children may turn to free games on Roblox, which may lead to the loss of user groups in the future.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account Nikkei Chinese Net (ID: rijingzhongwenwang), written by Taiki Tsukane, authorized for release by 36Kr.