Why a Tokyo Store Is Desperate for Old Gaming PCs
If you live in Tokyo and have an aging gaming rig gathering dust, one Akihabara retailer really wants to take it off your hands. Tech shop Sofmap has publicly announced that it is actively buying almost any kind of PC, from powerful gaming desktops to everyday laptops, and even non gaming systems.
In a recent post on X, the store said that used gaming PCs are seriously out of stock right now. A photo attached to the post showed only a small number of machines sitting on nearly empty shelves. To fix that, Sofmap is asking customers who upgrade to a new PC to sell their old system back to the store.
What makes this even more interesting for local PC gamers is that Sofmap claims it is paying pretty high prices for these used rigs. That is not something you hear every day from retailers, especially when it comes to older hardware that has usually dropped a lot in value.
A follow up message from the store invited people to send direct messages if they were thinking about selling a gaming PC. Sofmap is even working on a quick estimate system so potential sellers can get a rough quote easily before bringing their machines in.
All of this suggests there is strong demand for used gaming PCs in Japan right now. When a shop is willing to pay more than usual for second hand rigs, it usually means those systems are selling just as quickly on the other side of the counter.
The Global Memory Crunch and Why Hardware Is Hard to Find
This situation is happening during what has been described as a major memory crisis in the PC hardware world. Prices for memory related components such as RAM and SSDs as well as GPUs that rely on a lot of memory have been under serious pressure.
When memory becomes more expensive or difficult to source, the cost and availability of complete gaming PCs take a hit too. It becomes harder for retailers and system builders to keep enough prebuilt machines in stock at attractive prices. That is one reason someone like Sofmap might be leaning more heavily on the used market. If new hardware is expensive, slow to arrive, or available only in limited quantities, buying back older systems can help fill the gap.
For gamers, this can cut both ways. On one hand, new rigs might cost more or be tougher to find. On the other hand, your older gaming PC can suddenly be worth more on the second hand market than you would expect in more normal times.
Instead of sitting unused under a desk, that previous generation build might now be valuable to a retailer who can refurbish it and sell it to someone else looking for an affordable way into PC gaming.
The Strange but Growing World of PC Gaming in Japan
Japan is a special case in the PC gaming world. The country has a long history with consoles and handheld devices, and for many years PC gaming was a much smaller part of the entertainment landscape compared to regions like North America or Europe.
Interestingly, there are actually around three million fewer PC gamers in Japan today than there were a decade ago. Despite that drop in player numbers, the PC gaming market there has grown dramatically in terms of money spent.
Between 2018 and 2021 alone, the size of the Japanese PC gaming market doubled. A big reason for that was the Covid period, when many people spent more time at home and were willing to invest in better hardware and more games. That growth did not completely disappear once life started to normalize. The data suggests that although there are fewer individual PC gamers, the ones who remain are spending more than ever.
This creates an unusual situation. You have a smaller but more dedicated and higher spending PC audience. Many of those players are happy to buy powerful rigs, high refresh rate gaming monitors, and other premium gear. At the same time, hardware makers have traditionally treated Japan as a lower volume destination. Fewer units get shipped into the country compared to some other major markets.
So when global supply gets tight, as it has with the memory crunch, Japan can feel that squeeze even more. Limited shipments combined with an enthusiastic group of buyers is a recipe for bare shelves and high demand for anything that can run games well, including used PCs.
Over the last decade there have also been cultural shifts that made PC gaming more appealing in Japan. The success of certain games, especially titles like Dark Souls, helped push more Japanese players toward PC as a serious platform. Steam and other digital storefronts expanded their presence, and even reached out directly to Japanese developers to bring more local titles to the PC audience.
All of these factors helped reintroduce PC gaming as something worth investing in. When that new interest meets limited hardware supply, it becomes clearer why a store like Sofmap is suddenly willing to pay generously for second hand rigs.
What This Means for PC Gamers and Hardware Hunters
For gamers living in Japan, this situation could mean your old gaming PC is more valuable than you think. If you have upgraded recently and your older system still runs modern games at reasonable settings, a retailer might pay a solid price for it, especially in a market hungry for any kind of decent gaming hardware.
However, it is worth keeping expectations realistic. The high prices that Sofmap can offer are very much tied to the unique combination of factors in Japan: tight supply, a growing high value market, and a retailer located in one of the most famous tech and gaming districts in the world. If you try to sell your aging clunker at a random local shop elsewhere in the world, you might not see anything close to the same level of interest or pricing.
Still, the story is a good reminder of how dynamic the PC hardware world can be. Used gaming rigs are no longer just leftovers. In the right conditions they can become an essential part of the market, bridging the gap between high prices on new gear and the growing demand from players who want to join or stay in the PC gaming ecosystem.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-pcs/um-as-a-favor-if-you-buy-a-new-one-please-sell-your-gaming-pc-to-our-company-says-tokyo-based-computer-store-as-it-offers-pretty-high-prices/
