I noticed there are very few elves in recent games, comics, books or pretty much any medias aside from Baldurs gate 3. This is the only media people can find when asked about elf content and this has been going on for more than ten years at least, the other example for games is morrowind which is 25 years old.

On the other hand in Japanese medias we can see plenty of manga and anime with elves playing a big role and it seems more are coming, IDK for Japanese games though. How come the elves are being forgotten in western media but thriving in Japanese ones?

My guess: Fear of being accused of copying Tolkien, feeling too much like Dungeons & Dragons, or approaching any similarity at all to Rowling.

That might explain why elves are prolific in queer works, actually. I don’t at the moment have it in me to delve into what I mean, but Baldur’s Gate 3 touches on that area. Critical Role does, too. “Our elves are different” is easier to say if they’re overtly queer, even if examples have been accumulating through the past 20+ years.

As for Japan, you might notice that European (by which I’m including the UK) settings, character types, and old folklore are currently popular in Japanese media. Mangaka have been traveling for research for some years now, picking up stories that weren’t mainstream and felt fantastical.

Elves are first descriped in Nordic mythology if im correct  or Germanic religion