Morishita Discusses Overseas Expansion and Localization Strategies for Japanese Apps
In September 2025, during the Tokyo Game Show (TGS2025), Meta hosted a special session at its office. Our CEO, Morishita, took the stage for a solo talk. Following a morning panel discussion with PONOS’s Sano, the afternoon program adopted a more open format targeting leading app marketers. Morishita shared insights based on his experience and perspective regarding the strategies and organizational structures necessary for globalizing Japanese apps.

The Stagnation of the Domestic Market and the Imperative for Global Expansion

Morishita first highlighted the current state of the Japanese market. “Rising development costs and the consolidation of top titles are making it difficult for new games to achieve breakthrough success.” As a result, he emphasized, “Business models reliant solely on domestic revenue have become unsustainable, making expansion into overseas markets inevitable.”

He also addressed the psychological barriers many teams face: “The language barrier isn’t the real obstacle. Rather, it’s the fear or perception that ‘it’s too much trouble.’ Once you take that first step, you’ll likely find many hurdles are smaller than they appear.”

Product and Marketing Localization

Morishita stressed that the quality of localization directly impacts profitability. He shared specific points:

・Involve the marketing department from the initial stages and decide early on whether to use a single binary or language-specific builds
・Adapt seasonal events and collaboration projects to local cultures
・Utilize native talent because “only local personnel can truly capture the subtle nuances of fonts and expressions”

He explained that instead of simply repurposing Japanese creative assets, continuous fine-tuning from a local perspective enables significant reductions in CPI and substantial improvements in user experience. The audience nodded in agreement throughout.

Execution Structure and Investment Decisions

Regarding organizational management, Morishita emphasized the importance of evaluating domestic and international businesses under a unified P&L. He warned that evaluating overseas markets in isolation often leads to “suboptimal downsizing or premature withdrawal.”

He also noted, “Marketers don’t just look at dashboards. Their role includes proposing in-app events, building revenue simulations, and supporting business decision-making.” In response to a question about regional differences, he provided concrete examples of how user behavior variations between East Asia and the US, along with structural differences in ARPU, significantly impact overseas revenue.

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Additional Hiring Information

Concluding the session, Morishita revealed that HARS Global is recruiting new team members for areas including marketing consulting and advertising sales. This offers opportunities to engage in KPI design and strategy formulation from a management perspective, providing an environment where individuals seeking to grow alongside the business can experience both a fast pace and abundant learning.

Apply here