SEGA Store Opening Signals a Booming Market Trend in China

Geek culture is big money in China!

The world's first official SEGA store opened in Shanghai on May 1st, 2025. This opening, while part of Sega’s own business strategy, also signals a recent larger commercial trend in China that has seen thousands of stores dedicated to Japanese pop culture merchandise emerge all over the country.

The Sega Store…

This new store sort of replaces the temporary pop-up shop that opened in the city back in January 2025, and remained open until the end of March.

Lots of merch for different Sega IPs is present, including for Yakuza/Like a Dragon.
This is particularly surprising since Yakuza games are generally "hidden" in China, with online sellers even using alternative titles and pictures in their listings on Taobao and other platforms (I'm not sure if the games are formally banned in the country).

The Sega store in Shanghai is actually located in a building (ZX) that houses many other similar stores focused on Japanese pop culture, broadly.

Here's the official announcement from Sega for the store, and a video from the previous temporary pop-up shop:

Cashing In on Geek Culture

The market for ACGN culture (“Anime, Comics, Games, Novels”) merchandise has been booming in China in recent years, with many different stores opening across all over the country.
Not only dedicated stores however: IP collaborations with F&B brands, different services and products have become a constant and ongoing accelerated trend.

The ChinaJoy account on Twitter often shares good insights about the gaming market and scene in China, and this tidbit in particular (pictured above) caught my attention. It's one of those “realities” you really need to be in China to understand and perceive it as it is (even if the data is very informative, of course).

While most gaming spending is digital and/or through e-commerce, a physical presence helps with branding, and to increase awareness. In particular to consumers who otherwise wouldn't necessarily be interested in the industry beyond the more casual offerings on mobile.

Notice we're not necessarily talking about core gaming stores here, but ACGN-related. Meaning, stores that sell products (merch, bibelots, games, consumables, etc) related to gaming, anime, comics and so on - with a distinct emphasis on Japanese-focused ones, but also from popular Chinese IPs.

Different stores and IP collaborations in Shenzhen

Virtually every modern medium-large sized shopping mall in main Chinese cities has stores that cater to these demographics and consumers. Just a few years ago in China, these products would mostly be found in more underground and marginalized commercial spaces that most people besides dedicated fans were not aware of. Now, these stores can be found in the main walking ways of busy commercial spaces, right next to your Starbucks or popular clothing brands.

In simple terms, "geek-culture" presence in mainstream spaces in China is increasingly visible, more so perhaps than in most other markets around the world (Japan being an obvious exception).

Why Is This Trend Now Emerging?

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation, and highly debatable.
In my opinion, it is fundamentally a natural and organic consequence of China's accelerated opening up to the world, information and content wise - historically speaking.

This is a very layered and nuanced topic.
By "opening up" I'm not talking about China exporting. I mean people in China increasingly having access to information, entertainment content and related goods since the use of smartphones (and the internet) became generalized, broadly speaking. This, in spite of all the censorship yes. The capitalist/"open" market model in China allowed this to happen, and demand from consumers naturally followed suit and continues to do so.

It did so, to the point that it became commercially undeniable and too widespread - gaming is more popular and diverse than ever now, with mobile, PC and consoles all having large, growing and sustainable positions in the Chinese market.
Now in particular, with middle and upper-class nostalgia-fueled millenials and rabid Gen-Z that are drastically more exposed to international entertainment trends, demand is enough to create this visible retail market that has escaped from obscure spots and niche online communities of yesterday (please understand I’m specifically thinking about the Chinese context here).

Different stores and IP collaborations in Shenzhen

Notice that this is happening, to some degree, regardless of regulations/censorship on specific content/IPs. I would argue that a lot (not all) regulations are often a reaction to market movements and demand, more than the other way around. Meaning, the growth in commercial geek-culture, gaming (and related) in China is what often alerts authorities to check themselves, and not a consequence of regulations molding the market and what people have access to. Broadly.

Having said that, Chinese authorities are clearly showing positive signs towards these trends and culture: more support to gaming companies, more public recognition (via formal channels), a “unspoken” loosening up of barriers that would otherwise prevent public exposure to a lot of these kinds of content and entertainment, but even support in academia, with more university majors related to the creative arts and game development being recognized and formally certified.

Even big retail brands like Miniso now make a considerable part of their revenue from pop-culture merchandise