Why the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) features Japanese games on Steam. Person in charge talks about overseas PR development of indie games [CEDEC 2024]

On August 23, 2024, at the game developer conference "CEDEC 2024", a session "Ask JETRO personnel about overseas PR for indie games - Initiatives and results using 'GDC2024 x JETRO Steam'" as an example was held. It was done.

In this session, we will discuss the overview and effects of the special feature "GDC2024 - MADE IN JAPAN GAMES MARKET -" which was released on Steam by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in March 2024, and how Japanese games are viewed. At the same time, PR methods for overseas were introduced.
There were two speakers:

• Mr. Akihiko Hata, representative employee of Ippesha
• JETRO Digital Marketing Department Manager Naofumi Makino

JETRO's efforts in the gaming field

This session mainly proceeded with Mr. Hata posing questions and JETRO's Mr. Makino answering them. To begin with, JETRO is a government agency under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and is an organization that promotes overseas business. In the game field, we support the overseas expansion of Japanese games, including indie games, as part of our support for mid-sized and small-to-medium-sized businesses to expand overseas.

JETRO's main initiatives in the game field include supporting B2B matching between overseas publishers and Japanese developers and other businesses. Specifically, we are developing ``Japan Street'', an online catalog site (B2B matching platform) exclusively for overseas publishers invited by JETRO. If Japanese developers register content on the site, there is a possibility that they will receive inquiries from overseas publishers.


Japan Street is a platform that handles all Japanese products, not just games, but content such as anime, miscellaneous goods, and food, and currently has over 7,000 registered businesses. It is said that 1000 titles will be exhibited in the content field, of which 100 to 200 will be games.

JETRO also actively exhibits at overseas game exhibitions, including the "Game Developers Conference" (GDC) held in San Francisco, USA every March, and encourages overseas publishers to register with Japan Street. Currently, there are said to be 600 to 700 registered overseas publishers across the content field.

They are also promoting Japan Street by actively exhibiting at events that are highly compatible with games, such as Comic Con held in cities in emerging countries such as Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, and Abu Dhabi. Mr. Makino explained that the role of JETRO, a government agency, is to support business not only with important markets such as the United States and China, but also with various countries.

"GDC2024 - MADE IN JAPAN GAMES MARKET -" developed on Steam

As mentioned at the beginning, JETRO collaborated with GDC to develop the special feature "GDC2024 - MADE IN JAPAN GAMES MARKET -" on Steam in March 2024 to disseminate Japanese games to the world. 43 Japanese game companies, mainly indies, participated, and approximately 100 titles were featured in this special feature.

According to Makino, JETRO originally invited overseas publishers interested in Japanese game IP to the Tokyo Game Show and conducted B2B matching with Japanese publishers and developers. However, the rise of the global online platform Steam has made it possible for Japanese publishers/developers to expand overseas on their own.
As a result, the traditional B2B scheme, in which overseas publishers license Japanese games and sell them locally, is no longer mainstream.

Therefore, in order to promote Japanese games more than ever before, Mr. Makino thought of using Steam. In fact, many countries around the world are supporting their own game industries, with organizations and industry groups like JETRO holding regional promotional events on Steam.

Mr. Makino himself also visits game exhibitions in various countries and asks staff at overseas publishers if they are interested in Japanese games, but he says, ``My roots are in Japanese games.'' He says he feels there are many answers.

In light of this situation, we decided to hold a Japan-specific event on Steam, thinking that a promotion that puts ``Japan'' and ``Made in Japan'' at the forefront might resonate with overseas game fans and publishers. We also wanted to provide some support to Japanese companies that are faced with the challenge of how to promote their titles among the tens of thousands of game titles sold on Steam. Please note that in order to be featured on Steam, it is necessary to publish your plan at least three months in advance. However, according to Makino, three months is not enough time, so it is better to prepare for six months or more.

The response from Valve, which operates Steam, was said to be extremely kind and positive. Mr. Makino says that it is necessary to consider the policy of the project and how to launch it, as the stance is not that ``just pay the fee'', but ``we will promote it if it will benefit game fans.'' was.

The topics discussed ranged from various points related to this special feature. When asked how he encouraged Japanese indie game developers to participate in this special feature, Mr. Makino responded by notifying each related organization and by encouraging Japanese indie game developers to participate in the ``BitSummit Let's Summit'' held in July 2023. They responded that they appealed by exhibiting at events such as "Go!!".



We will exhibit a booth at GDC 2024. Although the event is for game developers, they decided to exhibit this time as well based on their past exhibiting experience

Online promotion will be held in conjunction with GDC 2024. Apparently there was a reaction on SNS etc.

Sending out press releases overseas

Makino said that during his conversations with staff from overseas publishers at GDC 2024, he felt that ``the role of publishers has changed, but its importance has not.'' Specifically, they realized once again that localization is essential for expanding overseas, and that it is not enough to just localize the language, especially in regions such as the Middle East.

In addition, sales will naturally increase if you promote each region. However, promotion for each region is easier if you collaborate with local publishers. He also pointed out that the traditional buyer/seller relationship is changing to a partnership between publishers.

As a result of this special feature, it was said that it received over 4 million impressions. In a post-event survey of participating companies, a number of respondents said ``the number of wishlist registrations has increased,'' and actual sales appear to have increased, so they believe that there was some effect.

On the other hand, although this special feature was posted on the Steam top page, that was because it received a lot of impressions, and it did not receive support from Valve. Mr. Makino expressed his enthusiasm, saying that he would like to prepare well next time based on the various things he learned this time.

Future initiatives

JETRO's future efforts in the game field were also introduced. An online business meeting using Japan Street will be held from October to November 2024. Approximately 20 major foreign publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Tencent Japan, are scheduled to participate, and the call for participation from Japanese companies will begin in September.

In October 2024, we plan to exhibit at the Thailand Game Show. We will exhibit trial versions of games made by Japanese companies distributed on Steam.
In February 2025, Steam will feature a special feature on Japanese games. We will also start recruiting Japanese companies to participate in September. Exhibition titles are not limited to new works, but existing works and early access works are also OK.

We also plan to exhibit at GDC 2025, which will be held in March 2025, and are considering exhibiting not only games but also peripheral technologies next time.

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