Japanese Videogame Market Declines Further

Thanks to 1UP for its note discussing a report on the state of the Japanese videogame market in 2003, as tallied by the CESA (Computer Entertainment Software Association) trade body. The result was an "11% decline in total hardware and software sales in Japan, to 446 billion yen ($4.1 billion), in the past year", and apparently: "2003's sales figure represents a slide of approximately 40% since 1997, when the Japanese games market last peaked at the height of the PlayStation's popularity." The news story author goes on to suggest: "CESA's report blames a significant loss of audience for the continual decline of the Japanese games market, partially thanks to the increasing complexity of big-ticket games. The upcoming debut of new handheld platforms from Nintendo and Sony represent the industry's next chance to bounce back and regain their audience in Japan." What's the difference between the Japanese experience and the relatively buoyant Western gaming market?

Comments

Saturation

[Svenheim]

In my opinion, this is obviously due to saturation of the market. The japanese gets a lot of games, a lot more than we get in the west, and they always have. If you look at the market as a whole, there are also far more consoles and games sold per person than in the US or Europe. Even tho the market in Japan is declining, it's still much bigger than the US or European market when you take the population into account. Nintendo is worried about this, and they are partially trying to rectify this with the Nintendo DS: A handheld that does things differently than the traditional consoles or handhelds. It also be exiting to see what they're new console, ambitiously named "Revolution" will add to the gaming experience. Sony's solution just seems to be "same formula, better hardware." We'll see if that will work in the long run, maybe the japanese decline is indeed a sign that gamers want something completely different.

Games Damnit

[jdubois79]

In my experience....

Actually, I find the biggest problem to be not a lack of audience (Every child that I teach owns at least one system. More common are 2 or three systems). There just aren't any drop dead amazing games out right now for the big contenders (GameCube and PS2). And there really hasn't been for a while.

I always ask my kids what they're playing, and the answer is always Kirby AirRide or Mario Party. Both of which came out over a year ago. One few kids who are playing recent games (mostly all TV show based) say that the games were fun, but too short, too little to do, etc.

The biggest/best game I saw come out here lately was Ninja Gaiden. Unfortunately at 7000 yen when it first came out, in addition to NO ONE owning an Xbox (I'm the only person I know with one), I can't imagine the sales were very good. Onimusha 3 was a huge hit. But then again, that was also last year.