Japan is an essential participant in the video game history book. Without Japanese video game developers, well, things would have died with the Atari. So many classic games and series come from that country, and many continue to this day. However, in our current age of multi-million-dollar AAA blockbusters dominating the industry with loot boxes, loot drops, and military ordinance, you don't see many Japanese devs populating that space.

Considering how long Japan sat atop the industry, why are there only a few exceptions to that ? Here are a few reasons, most of them conjecture on my part.