BitSummit 2026 showed Japanese indies pursuing a new multimedia model, backed by major entertainment firms | Opinion

A few weeks before thirteenth BitSummit opened its doors in Kyoto, a major announcement sent waves through the Japanese games industry: entertainment conglomerate TOEI unveiled grand ambitions for a brand-new gaming subsidiary. In Western media circles, the announcement sparked confusion. This is one of the biggest entertainment companies in Japan, known for producing internationally famous anime like One Piece and Dragon Ball. It’s one of the biggest entertainment companies in Japan in terms of success and the IPs they control.

Yet the company was utilizing none of these recognizable characters, instead turning their attention towards indie games and funding original IP. What was overlooked in this confusion was that it’s far from the first major Japanese entertainment company to dip its toes into indie games publishing.

Both One Piece and Dragon Ball were established in the pages of Shonen Jump magazine, published by Shueisha. Shueisha established a games arm in 2022 and has chiefly focused on original IP. Aniplex, a Sony subsidiary known for anime and music production, has doubled down on original IP in gaming, from indie titles and visual novels to the critically-acclaimed Hundred Line.

Over the last five years, almost every major entertainment and consumer-facing media company in Japan has made moves into gaming, and almost every company within that world has set their sights not on licensing out their IP but on funding the ideas of talented solo developers and small teams. Even department store chain PARCO Games has made moves in this direction, attempting to take lessons learned from working with companies like Nintendo and Kojima Productions on art exhibitions and stores, and utilizing their nationwide retail presence to promote and sell exclusive merchandise based on original indie projects it funds and publishes.

“Major entertainment companies have set their sights on funding the ideas of talented solo developers and small teams”

TOEI’s announcement was merely the latest in a series of ongoing changes, particularly in the world of indie games. BitSummit in 2026 was ground zero for what could be one of the most consequential shifts in Japanese gaming in decades.

BitSummit first began as a behind-closed-doors business event for indie developers and creatives from both inside and outside of Japan, to discuss the potential for the country’s at-the-time nearly-nonexistent indie games scene to grow and find a domestic and global audience. The event has since grown to become one of the biggest indie-focused public showcases in the world. Shifting from the brutally-hot Japanese summer back to May for the first time since pre-COVID, this 14th iteration of the event featured over 200 titles and welcomed over 68,000 people through its doors over three days.

Attendees include not only the Japanese gaming public, but the core trendsetters setting the tone for the trajectory of the industry. The players who will scour through upcoming releases, and stick by and support them no matter how long the wait, because of the efforts taken by developers who share their passion. Audiences seeking the next big thing. The event has a name recognition that means every major Japanese media outlet will be in attendance, making it perfect for gaining coverage and attracting buzz and momentum to achieve success.

Previously there was an awareness of the potential, originality and talent of the Japanese industry, but it lacked the financial, marketing and presence necessary to break through, a point acknowledged by co-founder of the event John Davis all the way back in 2023. The arrival of companies like TOEI Games, Shueisha, Aniplex, PARCO Games and others at the event in recent years is a notable shift in BitSummit’s complexion, and an indicator of how the industry is changing.

One of Japan’s biggest indie success stories of the past decade is Exit 8, the short horror title from KODAKA Creates, the success of which has made it a poster child for the industry’s support systems. The developer made their start with a title supported by the Indie Game Incubator programme, which guides new creatives on how to create games and connect to publishers. While that game never got funding, Kodaka shifted priorities to create Exit 8 based on these lessons, finding success through viral reach on social media and YouTube.

PLAYISM signed on as publisher and the game sold millions of copies, before being adapted into a major feature film that earned over 5 billion yen in Japan. That made it one of the top 10 highest-grossing films in Japan in 2025, and its US release earned $2.8 million in its first two weeks.

“The Japanese entertainment landscape historically is one built on the power of IP, not a single piece of media”

It’s a success story that takes advantage of a particularly-Japanese approach to IP multimedia management. The Japanese entertainment landscape historically is one built on the power of IP, not a single piece of media. A popular manga is not just a manga – it will spawn a hit anime and maybe live-action adaptation, sometimes simultaneously or within the same year, along with pop-up stores with merchandising for core fans and oshikatsu (who support a particular character or actor). An IP’s ability to become more than just the initial product is key to success, an approach that’s still rare in the West. No big franchise, no matter the target demographic, ignores this in Japan. It’s more than adaptation: it’s about presence, and creating longevity and new paths to success.

The games investment from these legacy companies in Japan is being made in the hope of cultivating a new frontier for IP creation, especially against a backdrop of the country’s growing cultural soft power on the global stage. The value of Japanese media exports hit 4.7 trillion yen in 2023, a 12.3% increase year-on-year. Today, anime earns more internationally than it does domestically. Gaming has a global presence. Success in games is a worthy path to profit, but making money across multiple mediums, all while owning the IP, is the real prize – especially if it can make a dent globally, whether in its original form or through adaptations and spin-offs.

The potential for additional revenue streams through things like merchandising and IP licensing means that game sales aren’t the sole route to success, which reduces the risk of the initial investment. Sometimes, new mediums bring new ways to explore themes and ideas proposed by the original, too. Gnosia, Petit Depotto’s indie visual novel published by PLAYISM, was adapted into an anime in October 2025, and is now a stage play. Urban Myth Dissolution Center, published by Shueisha Games, has novel and manga adaptations and even a collaboration with escape room creator SCRAP.

Visiting the booths of these publishers at BitSummit 2026, you see these strategies in action. At the PARCO Games booth, already-released and upcoming titles each had a line of merchandising created in partnership with fashion and creative brands already established within their department stores. Notably, it was all created not only to appeal to fans of games, but as fashion statements suitable for all. Blue Backpack’s The Berlin Apartment had t-shirts that referenced the acclaimed adventure title, but told a story of their own. The hand-drawn sketches of Finding Polka were available on keychains, alongside an exhibition of pages upon pages of artwork, and that game is still months away.

The event has a laissez-faire approach to developers of any size selling merchandise at their booth, an attitude which has roots going back to the early days of hobby game development in the 1980s at grassroots fan convention Comiket. One of the selected indies for Bitsummit was less a game and more of a hobbyist digital pet experiment named Thumbylina: a virtual companion on a screen, and miniature game console the size of a fingernail being sold for 5000yen each by its creator. To love a project is to support it financially, even if it’s just with a nominal purchase – a mark of respect that’s a foundational reason why Japan is home to some of the biggest artist fairs in the world, and has a multimedia idea-driven path to success.

Games have mostly operated independent of these trends even in Japan, but the sheer growth of the sector in recent years has made it impossible to ignore. These companies may not be seeking to become the next Capcom or Nintendo, but they are seeking to use growing interest in games as a way to take advantage of global soft power of Japanese entertainment and find new ways to have a hand in the next big IP. The indie scene is a perfect conduit for this, since games can be funded for comparatively modest budgets but have the potential to grow. It’s Cool Japan, channeled into an indie gaming revolution.

Even the Japanese government recognizes this potential. The IP360 fund, while not exclusively limited to indie games – it also funds movies, TV shows and other projects – is a new government grant being issued to Japanese creatives to cover production costs and promotion of their work. Notably, however, the explicit intent is not merely to fund a single game or movie or product, but a new IP with cross-media potential. The goal is to grow Japanese overseas exports of media from the 2023 value to 20 trillion yen, a 4x increase, by 2033. Media mix is essential to grow not just games, but Japanese entertainment in its own virtuous cycle.

“This year’s show floor showed Japanese indies entering a new chapter, in which they aren’t limited to one single path to profit”

This year’s BitSummit felt distinct from previous iterations by virtue of their sheer presence at the event. When the event began, the indie landscape in the country was near non-existent, and the hope was that it could help bring those few creatives together and build something, anything, that could rival the West. Now, there is a new vision, and the West is no longer the model. This year’s show floor showed Japanese indies entering a new chapter, in which they aren’t limited to one single path to profit, and are part of a push to make Japanese entertainment an exporter to rival the United States in terms of economic and cultural soft power.

It’s a very different approach to what independent gaming can be. Japan’s indie scene is growing by looking beyond the conventions of Western development and publishing, rather than replicating it. It’s seeking not only to tailor its output to the habits of the domestic market, but also to create something unique that can intrigue and engage a global audience looking for something new. It remains in its early stages, but the foundation of a growing indie-focused showcase, and the companies willing to invest in them, should not be underestimated.