First Read: Japan Internet/Game Sector "Global investor marketing feedback" Zhai

Research evidence excerpt

First Read: Japan Internet/Game Sector "Global investor marketing feedback" Zhai

Global Research

29 June 2026ab

First Read

EquitiesJapan Internet/Game Sector

Global investor marketing feedback Japan

Entertainment

Yijia Zhai

Game sector used as funding short Analyst

We spent three weeks on the road, visiting investors in Asia, Europe and the US and yijia.zhai@ubs.com

below are our main takeaways. Interest in the sector remains low, with most of the +81-3-5208 6203

investors using the game sector as a net short. We even newly received requests from Yanyi Song

investors from the tech sector, to search for safe funding short ideas from the game Associate Analyst

sector. While some investors agree that the game sector multiple is low compared to its yanyi.song@ubs.com

historical range, they are only trying to get updates on the sector to prepare for a +81-3-5208 6199

potential future rebound in the sector while having no intention to put money in any

time soon. For some of the long term generalists that have to invest in the game sector

to diversify their portfolios, names with cheaper valuations are receiving more interest

than the high quality names, which is opposed to our historical experience.

“Cheap names” receiving more interests

In our conversations with the fast moneys, there is almost no “consensus Long” in the

game sector now, with many investors used to be in Konami also trying to leave the

name as the company’s biggest catalyst, the football world cup, is already here. Popular

funding shorts include Bandai Namco, Capcom, while Nintendo is the most popular

“alpha short”.

Among western long term investors, Nintendo is still the most asked name, but focus of

the discussion is skewed to whether the company’s business model will face structural