Bookmark this post. Because, if you ever need proof that Japan loves role-playing games, you'll have this to refer to.
CESA, the group that organizes the Tokyo Game Show, polls visitors year after year about their gaming preferences. And since 1997, TGS attendees listed role-playing games as their favorite genres.
CESA began organizing the Tokyo Game Show in 1996 and polling in 1997, meaning that every single year there's been a poll at TGS, attendees have listed RPGs as their genre of choice.
It wasn't always this way. During that late 1970s and the early 1980s, Japan's favorite genre was shooting games like Space Invaders. All that changed in 1986 when role-playing game Dragon Quest was released. The next year Final Fantasy hit stores.
There were challengers to the dominance of role-playing games, such as the rise of fighting games during the 1990s. But for several decades now, role-playing games continue to rule.
Wonder what the top choice would be in the West. First-person shooters?
東京ゲームショウ来場者調査報告書 [CESA via 情報コピペnews] [Pic]