Airsoft, also known as softair, enjoys great popularity worldwide. While the dynamic team sport also attracts more players of all ages every year in Germany, the sport is still in its infancy in this country - if you compare the German airsoft scene with that of Eastern Europe, for example Poland or the Czech Republic. Airsoft, however, has its origins in Japan, where it was invented back in the 1970s. The "inventor" is considered to be photographer Ichiro Nagata, himself an avid shooter, who had the idea of building model guns that could shoot real bullets but not kill or injure. These "rifles" were trademarked as soft air rifles to meet the needs of shooting enthusiasts while complying with Japan's strict gun laws. The name "Soft Air" referred to the compressed Freon silicone oil mixture (later replaced by a propane-silicone oil mixture known as "Green Gas") used as the propellant gas, which was much weaker than the CO2 used in real air guns (pellet and air guns). The plastic pellets in these "soft air guns," originally designed for target shooting, could also be fired at people without causing injury due to their low muzzle energy. After Tokyo Marui introduced its revolutionary electric motor-gear box design, which uses rechargeable batteries to provide sustained rapid fire, soft air guns became popular for casual wargames, which the Japanese call survival games ("Sabaibaru gemu").

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, airsoft guns became widespread in the UK through a company called LS. The weapons were sold in parts and had to be assembled before they could be fired. They then became available in the rest of Europe and North America and quickly gained popularity worldwide. Since the mid-1980s, airsoft has evolved into a purely recreational sport practiced by all age groups. Airsoft replicas are manufactured all over the world, with most of them being produced in East Asia. Airsoft weapons are now also used by government units for training purposes.