Japan does face some of the same challenges as other developers worldwide. Player habits are changing, with PC gaming increasing in popularity, and as technology becomes more advanced making games becomes more expensive. Mr Tsujimoto says generational leaps "push the industry forward", bringing "new opportunities and new complexities". "I don't think it's necessarily the most difficult it's ever been but there are always new challenges whenever technology leaps forward." The games industry is also more competitive than ever - more video games are being released, and players are tending to stick with the same ones for longer periods.

Wherever you looked in Japan in 2008, someone was bent over a tiny PlayStation Portable games console (PSP) – and that someone was probably playing Monster Hunter. From clusters of young people playing on groomed lawns outside universities to suited salarymen on packed trains, the game had friends, family and work colleagues banding together to track and fight gigantic fantasy creatures. You had a good chance of finding a game to join if you pulled out your PSP in any public place. More than 40m Monster Hunter games, by Japanese developer Capcom, were sold between 2004 and 2017, but its success was confined almost entirely to its home country. Everything changed this year, though. When Monster Hunter World came out in January, it become not only the bestselling game in the series, but also the fastest selling game in Capcom's history, selling 6m copies in less than a month.