Competition is heating up in the Japanese market for remote control claw machine games after playing the popular arcade game on smartphones quickly caught on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the online form of the game was first introduced around 2011, game companies, including Sega and Taito, have expanded their offering of prizes to lure more players.
Players can control the claw on their smartphones and PCs while watching the machine, typically placed in warehouses, via cameras. Prizes they win are later delivered to their homes.
Major IT service firm DMM.com entered the online crane game market in 2022 and now operates around 500 machines placed in a warehouse in Saitama Prefecture 24 hours a day, offering around 1,500 kinds of prizes such as popular anime figures.
DMM.com, like some other competitors, offers "assistance" if a player fails to win any prize after a certain number of attempts. A warehouse staff moves the position of a prize to make it easier to grab.
It has also been trying to attract more adult players by offering various food items from across the country as gifts.
Taito, which started its online claw machine business in 2017, has around 3,000 different prizes and produces claw machines dedicated to its online service.
Sega entered the market in 2022 and currently has 300 claw machines operating for online players.
The estimated size of the market is currently around ¥20 billion to ¥30 billion, according to an industry source. The claw machine arcade in Japan is a ¥200 billion market.
There are 23 member companies in the Japan Online Crane Game Business Association, established in 2021.