Japanese Games Market Takes Massive Hit

[Logan Westbrook]

Japanese Games Market Takes Massive Hit

Gaming sales in Japan have seen a massive drop compared with last year.

A 25% decline in year on year sales is nothing to be sneezed at, but that is what the Japanese games market has found itself facing. Market research company Enterbrain released figures this week that showed that software sales had declined by 22% and hardware sales had declined by 28%, averaging out to a 25% decline over all.

One explanation put forward for this plunge is that the start of 2008 saw the release of some very high profile games like Smash Brothers, a factor that 2009 lacked, although it's hard to imagine a handful of games accounting for such a huge portion of the market.

Is it possible that the novelty of the Wii has started to wear off? The console has seen a dip in sales [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89278-Wii-Sales-Fall-in-Japan] this year, and without its massive popularity shoring up the market a decline was inevitable. The big question though, is this the end of the decline, or is there more to come?

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5307185/japanese-games-market-down-a-whopping-25]


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[L.B. Jeffries]

Wow. Do those stats include downloads for online services and second-hand sales?

 

[Credge]

One explanation put forward for this plunge is that the start of 2008 saw the release of some very high profile games like Smash Brothers, a factor that 2009 lacked, although it's hard to imagine a handful of games accounting for such a huge portion of the market.

It's a combination of that and world events.

It's not really a "THIS IS THE ONLY REASON" sort of deal. It's a combination of a lack of major Japanese titles being released and more Western titles from Japan are being released.

That is to say, there haven't been too many games that the Japanese like that have been released this year yet while there have been a decent number of games that Western audiences like that have been released this year.

Also, people aren't spending money this year like they did last year.

 

[New Troll]

Most the people who wantd the next gen systems have already purchased them, so of course system and peripheral sales will go down, though that is a huge drop. As for games, it does feel like every year the amount of quality (must have) games does indead go down. Still, there would have to be something else to factor for such a plummet. Perhaps the worsening economy causing people to limit thier amount of purchases.

 

[Standby]

At the end of the day, the public can buy only so many wii's, it's inevitable that the growth would slow eventually.

 

[Frizzle]

Maybe it's because they already bought everything. Or maybe, juuuust maybe, they're tired of sex themed video games? Probably not the latter, but I can hope.

 

[Cousin_IT]

I dont find it that hard to believe the lack of a few big title games can have that much effect on game & hardware sale. Its how it seems to be everywhere else anyway.

 

[SomeBritishDude]

I think we may be coming to the end of the Wiis rain of power. People bitched about it while it lasted, but if you take nintendo of the equation we'll see a major hit in the games industry. This may actually mean MORE casual games if the Wii starts to loose interest, they'll want to make money fast.

At least loss of interest in the Wii is bound to be a least one of the factors. The other one is obviously the economic crysis, and the last one is compared to last year and the one before that, 2009 is looking terrible for games. Just look at E3. Nearly all the really AAA titles arn't coming out until 2010, maybe later.

 

[KDR_11k]

The Japanese home console market has been in a decline for a while, you may recall talk from LAST GENERATION about the impending videogame crash. Meanwhile sales of portables are still high suggesting that the Japanese simply prefer having a system they can play on the commute instead of the limited time they have left with their sleep-commute-work schedule.

One explanation put forward for this plunge is that the start of 2008 saw the release of some very high profile games like Smash Brothers, a factor that 2009 lacked, although it's hard to imagine a handful of games accounting for such a huge portion of the market.

Is it possible that the novelty of the Wii has started to wear off?

Argument from personal incredulity and begging the question... You find it unbelievable that the games are to blame and thus put forward another claim which implies that the Wii only sold on novelty value.

 

[A Pious Cultist]

First rape games get banned in Japan and then a few months later we hear Japanese game sales have dropped 25%...

Coincidence? I think not!

 

[Doug]

One explanation put forward for this plunge is that the start of 2008 saw the release of some very high profile games like Smash Brothers, a factor that 2009 lacked, although it's hard to imagine a handful of games accounting for such a huge portion of the market.

It's a combination of that and world events.

It's not really a "THIS IS THE ONLY REASON" sort of deal. It's a combination of a lack of major Japanese titles being released and more Western titles from Japan are being released.

That is to say, there haven't been too many games that the Japanese like that have been released this year yet while there have been a decent number of games that Western audiences like that have been released this year.

Also, people aren't spending money this year like they did last year.

This AND the fact that Nintendo haven't really gotten alot of good games out on the system aside from their own range, and their's only so many times you can sell Zelda, Mario, Smash Brothers to people. If they'd actually encouraged the shovelware to drop dead and tried to get people interested in a more 'hardcore' experience (for lack of a better word) the customers might actually see gaming as a full time entertainment media rather than the fisher price take it out occasionally toy it is now.

 

[yeah_so_no]

...The Japanese economy has also TANKED. And tanked HARD--the downturn is hitting Japan extremely hard because it is an export-based economy, and things are considered worse than they were during the Lost Decade [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decade_(Japan)], and trust me when I say, every day the newspapers are full of how bad things are. Major companies that had been turning massive profits like Toyota have been laying off like mad, unemployment rates are rising, there is no faith in the government to fix things right now (the LDP is losing influence fast and is currently scandal-ridden, and not just because of the drunk guy everyone saw on youtube) and people are hording their money.

You can't discount the fact that people are not to spend money on anything they consider frivolous when they're worried about not having a job (some even worry about staying in the country; nikkei Brazilians who came to work in car factories and who lost their jobs are having the government trying to bribe them to go home to Brazil and never come back to Japan, because there's no work for them), and it is NOT just the game market that is suffering.

And I daresay people are still buying games--maybe just not new ones. You can buy used games almost anywhere in Japan, including some bookstores.

So between no good new titles, used game stores everyone, and the TANKING ECONOMY AND MASSIVE LAYOFFS IN EVERY SECTOR, I daresay there are a lot of reasons why the game market's not doing so hot right now.

 

[katsabas]

Well, considering the fact that the last year's sales were over the top, I'd say that since almost everyone as a wii, there is no reason for them to rise again. Even so, if the sales figures of the wii have dropped this hard, I would be nothing but sad. This is what you get when a console has crappy 3rd party titles in the same time that the economy is taking a dive.

 

[NeutralDrow]

...The Japanese economy has also TANKED. And tanked HARD--the downturn is hitting Japan extremely hard because it is an export-based economy, and things are considered worse than they were during the Lost Decade [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decade_(Japan)], and trust me when I say, every day the newspapers are full of how bad things are. Major companies that had been turning massive profits like Toyota have been laying off like mad, unemployment rates are rising, there is no faith in the government to fix things right now (the LDP is losing influence fast and is currently scandal-ridden, and not just because of the drunk guy everyone saw on youtube) and people are hording their money.

You can't discount the fact that people are not to spend money on anything they consider frivolous when they're worried about not having a job (some even worry about staying in the country; nikkei Brazilians who came to work in car factories and who lost their jobs are having the government trying to bribe them to go home to Brazil and never come back to Japan, because there's no work for them), and it is NOT just the game market that is suffering.

And I daresay people are still buying games--maybe just not new ones. You can buy used games almost anywhere in Japan, including some bookstores.

So between no good new titles, used game stores everyone, and the TANKING ECONOMY AND MASSIVE LAYOFFS IN EVERY SECTOR, I daresay there are a lot of reasons why the game market's not doing so hot right now.

Aww...why'd you have to bring realistic facts into this argument? It's only going to buzzkill all the people who'll blame the Wii for destroying the industry. Surely we wouldn't want to do that, right?

...wait, no never mind. People on these forums will blame the Wii for anything anyway. Go right ahead.

 

[Agent Larkin]

Most people probably own the consoles and accessories by now. It is to be expected then that the sales would go down. The trick is to make up on it through games.

 

[yeah_so_no]

*snip*

Aww...why'd you have to bring realistic facts into this argument? It's only going to buzzkill all the people who'll blame the Wii for destroying the industry. Surely we wouldn't want to do that, right?

...wait, no never mind. People on these forums will blame the Wii for anything anyway. Go right ahead.

Heh, seriously. How dare I not have tunnel vision and look at anything other than teh WII SUX! Stupid facts, who needs those on the internet.

 

[NeutralDrow]

*snip*

Aww...why'd you have to bring realistic facts into this argument? It's only going to buzzkill all the people who'll blame the Wii for destroying the industry. Surely we wouldn't want to do that, right?

...wait, no never mind. People on these forums will blame the Wii for anything anyway. Go right ahead.

Heh, seriously. How dare I not have tunnel vision and look at anything other than teh WII SUX! Stupid facts, who needs those on the internet.

Amen, let's get this party started!

Not only is the Wii responsible for the drop in game sales, Nintendo is also committing mass genocide on Japan's corgi population!

 

[SilentHunter7]

Is it possible that the novelty of the Wii has started to wear off?

Or Nintendo saturated the market. There's only so many people who play games, and I don't think many of them would buy a second Wii just for the hell of it.