Japanese companies that are part of the mobile game industry are going bankrupt at a pace not seen in over a decade, according to a new report from Teikoku Databank.

The report found that 10 mobile game developers filed for bankruptcy between January and July 2026 alone. That number already far surpasses the three bankruptcies recorded across all of 2025. If this pace continues, 2026 is on track to become the worst year on record for the industry, passing the previous high of 12 bankruptcies set in 2015.

The findings follow a bankruptcy case that drew public attention just weeks earlier. At the end of July, Tokyo based developer Ambition announced that its long running title, Bungo Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost, would end service with only one day’s notice. The game had been in operation for nine years. Ambition also said it would not refund players for unused in-game currency or paid items, a decision that led to strong criticism from the game’s community. It was later confirmed that the company had filed for bankruptcy around the same time as the shutdown announcement.

According to Teikoku Databank, even games built on popular, well known franchises and backed by large marketing budgets are struggling to become lasting hits. The report points to a few key reasons behind the trend. Mobile games are now expected to include more advanced features, such as 3D graphics and full voice acting, which has driven up production standards. At the same time, Japan is facing an ongoing shortage of game development talent. Together, these factors have pushed initial development costs for some titles into the hundreds of millions of yen.

The challenges do not end after launch. Keeping a mobile game running requires a steady stream of new content, which adds further cost and becomes harder to justify as a game’s player base shrinks over time. The report also points to growing competition from high budget titles developed in China and South Korea. Many developers in Japan have said that matching the scale and production quality of these games is difficult under the current state of the domestic industry.

With bankruptcy numbers already close to matching a decade old record just seven months into the year, Teikoku Databank’s data suggests that the pressures facing Japan’s mobile game developers, from rising costs to shrinking audiences and overseas competition, are only intensifying. These wider industry pressures were also on display when Marvelous ended its six-year partnership with Tencent and canceled a Story of Seasons mobile title in development since 2019.