At major gaming gatherings like Summer Game Fest and the Game Developers Conference, evening events for networking and business often abound. However, my first Tokyo Game Show experience this year came with a heads-up that large-scale after-show parties were a relatively new and less common affair, suggesting a lighter social schedule. Yet, it seemed everyone I spoke with was headed to one particular event: Shochiku’s sushi party.
Before this invitation to Japan, Shochiku was entirely off my radar. This 130-year-old company, despite being a significant player in various sectors of Japan’s entertainment industry, is a relatively new face in the gaming world. Starting as a kabuki company over a century ago, Shochiku has skillfully navigated shifts in cultural trends, technological advancements, and evolving entertainment tastes. Given this history, their venture into video games feels like a natural and enthusiastic next step.
Founded in 1895 to manage kabuki theaters in Kyoto, Shochiku eventually broadened its scope to include other theatrical forms. By 1920, they entered film production, establishing themselves as one of Japan’s oldest film companies. Over the decades, they pioneered numerous technologies and styles in Japanese cinema, including releasing the country’s first ‘talkie’ in the 1930s. Later, they became a distributor for popular theatrical anime such as ‘Cardcaptor Sakura,’ ‘Ghost in the Shell,’ ‘Mobile Suit Gundam,’ and ‘Full Metal Alchemist’ films.
Despite this illustrious past, Shochiku’s engagement with gaming is quite recent. Their initial foray into the industry, just last year, involved publishing and financing smaller games primarily in Japan and wider Asia, including titles like ‘MiSide,’ ‘BrokenLore,’ ‘Return from Core,’ ‘Backpack Battles,’ and upcoming releases ‘Sonzai’ and ‘Eternal Palace Sakura.’ This year, however, Shochiku has significantly amplified its efforts. In March, they launched a $100,000 game accelerator program specifically targeting middleware, infrastructure, and other technologies designed to enhance game development, rather than funding games directly.
Out of 200 submissions, Shochiku selected two companies to receive $50,000 in funding: Blacknut Cloud Gaming and AI motion tools company Ememe Co. At Shochiku’s Demo Day in Tokyo, held just before Tokyo Game Show 2025, various startups presented their projects to an audience of developers, investors, and publishers. Pitches ranged from game trend analytics and experience personalization to 3D model generation and focus apps with customizable avatars. Many of these projects heavily featured generative AI, a technology seemingly on the rise in Japanese game development.
Blacknut and Ememe, though vastly different, both showcased their innovations. Blacknut, a cloud gaming subscription service, is carving a niche among casual gamers—those who play weekly rather than daily, are less concerned with the latest news or framerates, but are consistently engaged. Blacknut reaches these players via PC, mobile, smart TVs, and telecom services globally. While it might not garner the same headlines as services like Xbox Game Pass, Blacknut is quietly enabling thousands to enjoy games in an accessible way.
Ememe, on the other hand, is dedicated to developer tools, offering a generative AI solution that promises to drastically reduce the time and cost of 3D animation. Their ‘text-to-motion’ tool automatically animates 3D characters, removing the need for manual adjustments. CEO Yuka Kojima demonstrated this by simply typing ‘go down the stairs,’ which instantly animated a 3D character performing the action. This tool supports a wide range of movements and is currently available as a Unity plugin, with Unreal Engine support in development.
While companies investing in game technology isn’t groundbreaking news, Shochiku stands out as part of a larger, emerging trend in Japan: non-gaming companies stepping up to fund the next generation of games and tech. Globally, the games industry has seen a significant retreat of investment money, particularly from major Chinese and Western players, leading to widespread layoffs, canceled projects, and studio closures. Many AAA projects are shelved before even being announced, and indie developers face immense struggles to secure funding. The broader global games industry currently paints a bleak picture, with developers at events earlier this year focused primarily on survival amid a severe funding drought.
Remarkably, Japan’s game development scene appears to be largely insulated from this turmoil. This resilience is partly due to stringent labor laws that encourage conservative investment and talent retention, coupled with the success of mobile gaming in funding the market. Moreover, in recent years, companies like manga publisher Shueisha, Shochiku, and even the Japanese government through initiatives like So-Fu, are actively supporting indie development and the necessary technology. Funding indie projects is often less expensive than AAA titles, and audiences are increasingly seeking fresh, unique experiences. While Japan has always had indie developers, interest has surged recently, extending beyond the acclaimed BitSummit event, which just celebrated its 13th anniversary.
This doesn’t mean Japan is entirely immune to global economic pressures, nor that its indie scene is booming without challenges. Tokyo Game Show this year still featured many AAA games already showcased elsewhere, along with free-to-play, gacha, and live-service titles that have been around for years. Truly new, dazzling games were scarce, though they captivated significant attention when present. The indie hall, while bustling, also dedicated considerable space to merchandise and services. Furthermore, a recent survey indicates that 51% of Japanese game makers are using generative AI, a figure that seems high compared to global industry surveys and raises concerns about its potential impact on jobs, the environment, and output quality. This widespread adoption, however, might explain why so many pitches at Shochiku’s Demo Day were focused on generative AI.
Beyond funding, Shochiku is committed to forging connections between startups and major investors. I had the unique opportunity to join Shochiku, Ememe, and Blacknut on a trip to visit Sony Ventures and SEGA. There, I witnessed the startups pitch for funding, partnership, and support, a direct result of Shochiku’s introductions. The long-term outcomes of these potential collaborations from Shochiku’s Demo Day remain to be seen, but the initiative to connect investors, developers, startups, publishers, and service providers certainly made an impression at Tokyo Game Show. Shochiku’s Demo Day and its subsequent sushi-focused networking event were widely discussed and exceptionally well-attended, a rare occurrence at a convention typically dominated by smaller, more exclusive gatherings.
The past few years of industry conventions have often felt profoundly disheartening, marked by mass layoffs, canceled projects, and studio closures—fallout from irresponsible overinvestment and the subsequent downturn post-COVID-19. Each year, I’m asked when things might improve globally, and I still don’t have a clear answer. Yet, there’s a glimmer of hope to be found in companies like Shochiku—a kabuki and film company with no traditional ties to gaming and seemingly no ‘reason’ to take such a risk—daring to dive into the vast, uncertain blue ocean of video games. They’re looking at the future and deciding now is a perfectly good time for a swim.