Game live streaming in the Japanese context

Initial findings

Bibliographic Data

ID7150994
AuthorsM R Johnson (0000-0003-4622-650X, The University of Sydney, corresponding author), James Baguley (0009-0002-4477-4991, The University of Sydney)
Year2025
Volume31
Issue5
Pages1709-1723
Publication date2025-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueConvergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-8565 • E-ISSN: 1748-7382
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13548565251354860
OpenAlexW4411593836
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited58

Game live streaming has become a major component of global game culture. Through interview data with Japanese game live streamers, this paper offers a first consideration of Japanese-language game streaming and its associated cultural norms, expectations, and streamer perspectives. We firstly show that Japanese game streamers mostly stream anonymously, and interrogate this preference and situate it within wider contexts of Japanese internet culture, gaming culture, and societal stigmas. Secondly we show Japanese game streamers do not only appeal to native Japanese speakers, but draw in viewers from both English-language and Chinese-language backgrounds. We examine this in the context of the widespread cultural perception outside Japan of Japanese ‘otherness’, demonstrating instead that Japanese game streamers are well integrated with global flows of game streaming. We therefore present a picture of a linguistic-cultural game streaming context that is in many ways familiar, yet also highly distinctive

Archaeology · Live Streaming · Multimedia · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · History · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Multimedia Communication and Technology

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