South Korean game companies are ramping up efforts to capture the Japanese market, which is the world’s third largest. Major developers are not only releasing new titles tailored to local tastes but also gearing up for Japan’s biggest gaming event, the Tokyo Game Show, at the end of September 2025.

According to the game industry on Sunday, NHN Corp. officially launched both the mobile and PC versions of its collectible role-playing game (RPG) “Abyssdia” in Japan in August. Featuring cute girl characters, the game made a successful debut by taking the top spot in Japan’s App Store free game chart on release day.

That same month, Dreamage Co. rolled out “Oz Re:write,” a fantasy mobile RPG featuring 42 fairy-tale-inspired heroes, in Japan first.

Com2uS Corp. is also due to release “STARSEED: Asnia Trigger,” a collectible RPG with anime-style girl characters, on Thursday. The game stands out as it is fully localized, complete with dubbing by popular Japanese voice actors, a world-building-approach, and storytelling designed to resonate with Japanese gamers.

At the Tokyo Game Show, one of the world’s two largest gaming exhibitions, major Korean developers will set up booths and directly engage with Japanese players.

Nexon Co., Com2uS, and Smilegate have chosen to attend Tokyo Game Show instead of Gamescom held in Germany in 2025.

The event will be held in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, from September 25th to 28th. NCSoft plans to showcase a demo booth for its upcoming anime action RPG, “Limit Zero Breakers,” which is scheduled for global release in 2026. Netmarble Corp. will highlight two new titles, “The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin,” which is based on the popular Japanese anime and collectible RPG “Mongil: Star Dive.”

Nexon will not only run a booth for “The First Descendant” but will unveil new IP collaboration content launching this year as well, while Smilegate will promote its new anime-style collectible RPG “Chaos Zero Nightmare.” For its part, Com2uS will unveil “Crescent Inferno,” a turn-based RPG based on the Japanese anime “Tougen Anki,” for the first time.

The reason Korean developers are focusing on Japan lies in the “Goddess of Victory: Nikke” success story. According to Sensor Tower, Shift Up Corp.’s anime-style shooting RPG Nikke, which was launched in Japan in 2022, topped $1 billion in cumulative global mobile revenue as of February 2025 - with Japan accounting for 54 percent of that figure.

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