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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

Japanese Videogame Market Declines Further 58

Posted by simoniker from the further-down-the-spiral dept.
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?
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Japanese Videogame Market Declines Further More

Japanese Videogame Market Declines Further

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  • Hentai (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    What's the difference between the Japanese experience and the relatively buoyant Western gaming market?

    American geeks would rather spend their hard-earned money slaughtering hideous monsters rather than sitting back and watching said monsters ravage nubile young women.

    • YUO STOAL MY FRIST POST (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Qwaniton ( 166432 ) on Monday June 28, 2004 @07:19PM (#9556309)

      Good troll, you'd win my mod points, but it also brings up a good point about culture. The demographics are simply different.

      Gaming in America simply doesn't take the same cultural role as it does in Japan. Gaming here is largely casual. While I woed the death of the "hardcore gamer" and the overrun of Joe Schmo with his X-Box into the gaming world, the casual Joe Gamer is by far the largest market. Japan really doesn't have a casual Joe Gamer, thus they don't really release "casual games". Most, if not all, Japanese games are deep, engrossing, and masterpieces in their own right. When they come over here, they get the "hardcore gamer" market, since the average American gaming nerd scoops this stuff up, whether it's a masterpiece or simply mediocre. Plus, there's the fanboy effect.

      However, in Japan, the quality will make or break the game, and their tastes are much more discriminating. It seems that Japanese gamers are simply burning out of the latest round of less-than-wonderful games. Maybe it's a retro thing. Who knows. I suppose Japanese gamers are burned out of the latest fare in gaming.

      This is a problem America will never have, because America is much more casual in this respect. The Japanese gamers are quite serious about it, while American gamers aren't. Thus, the Japanese market is much more vulnerable to losing ground because of sheer mediocrity.

      As an aside, even as a Nintendo fanboy I'm starting to doubt their latest developments, and I'm quite skeptical that the Nintendo DS will save Nintendo. Nintendo has suffered from games built around gimmicks lately, like Luigi's Mansion for the GameCube controller, the E-Reader, the GC-GBA connectivity, and now the "dual-screen" gimmick. It's starting to get old.

      • I wasn't aware Nintendo needed to be "saved." Sure, they haven't neem quite the cash machine they used to be the past few years, but they still make very good profits, have huge franchises that continue to sell in the millions. I wonder why everyone thinks that you _have to_ be number 1 in the console business to survive. Why can't there be 2 or 3 large console manufacturers? Of course they can't all sell equally, but if one sells 50 million and the other two sell 15-20 million each, why have they lost? If

        • Their control of the handheld market is the only thing keeping them alive. They've made horrible decisions with the N64 and GameCube. They're killing themselves!

          I think I'll be in my corner hugging my Super NES and weeping.

          • If you can actually back up with FACTS why they are killing themselves, please tell me. N64 was the 2nd largest console worldwide at the time. Gamecube is still 2nd on the market worldwide, slightly ahead of XBox.

            I am not saying they havent made several bad decisions, they have, but "killing themselves" is such an overstatement. Financially they are a much healthier company than Sony, for example.

            And they still make several million-selling console games every year. As far as I see it, Nintendo's biggest p
            • A couple of words missing, it was supposed to be:

              ...Nintendo's biggest problem on the console side is that several of the 3rd party games don't sell very well on the system.

              • Maybe that's because they keep monkeying around with the controller and marketing themselves as a family oriented company, while families across the world are strapped for cash in the middle of a global recession, while 3rd party games are continuing to fight over the few segments of the market that seem to purchase.

                If nintendo really wants to break a mold, they'll have to start actively advertising to women and girls without patronizing them. I'm not sure its possible (the subject came up at a GDC lecture

          • To the moderators who modded this -1, Troll (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Qwaniton ( 166432 ) on Monday June 28, 2004 @11:06PM (#9557501)

            While I do, on occasion, troll, whether out of boredom or chemical means, this was not meant as a troll. This is too nerdy a subject to troll about.

            Let me elaborate on my previous comment.

            When I suggest Nintendo shot themselves in the foot with the N64, I simply think it could have been so much better. Losing Final Fantasy VII due to their stubbornness on media type was a horrible decision. Likewise, the sound capabilities of the N64 are almost inexcusable[1]; whether this was the fault of the sound hardware or the simple lack of storage space on the cartridge, I don't know. The N64 had framerate and memory issues too--the expansion pack solved some problems, but should not have been needed in the first place. (Don't get me started on Nintendo's add-on gimmickry...)

            The Nintendo 64 could've rocked the PSX's world if it was done right, but sadly it wasn't. We got our kickass first/second party titles (even though I never liked Rare's 3D platformer offerings) but got lackluster third-party support, which plagues Nintendo to this day.

            The GameCube overcame the technical limitations of the N64 but by that time it was too late; Nintendo had firmly wedged itself into its current reputation. The sheer quantity of third-party titles that we had with the SNES is gone. And let's not get started on Rare[2].

            I've always been a Nintendo fanboy--I'll admit that. But lately, Nintendo is starting to wear me out. Once, we were a Nintendo-only house. NES, SNES, N64, GameBoy, you know. Nowadays, we gave a PSX, PS2, and a Dreamcast along with our GameCube. I've been losing my dedication to Nintendo lately, seeing all the Great Games on the PS2 I was missing out on. Now, I've sold out. So shoot me. Or Nintendo.

            [1] And if it wasn't for the Great Games of the N64; i.e. Super Mario 64 (still one of the greatest games of all time), Zelda 5 (the GameCube port kicks ass, by the way), StarFox 64 (one of the greatest games made), Paper Mario (say what you want but I still enjoyed it), GoldenEye (BEST. CONSOLE FPS. EVAR.), Superman 64 (I'm kidding); it would have been completely inexcusable.

            • Likewise, the sound capabilities of the N64 are almost inexcusable[1]; whether this was the fault of the sound hardware or the simple lack of storage space on the cartridge, I don't know.

              I'm confused, I was of the mindset that the N64 had excellent wavetable synthesis, better than the SNES. If the music is terrible, that is the fault of the game maker.

              On the other hand, if you're simply whining about the fact that the N64 didn't use CDDA for music, you've got to face the facts: typical cart size for the

              • I'm confused, I was of the mindset that the N64 had excellent wavetable synthesis, better than the SNES. If the music is terrible, that is the fault of the game maker.

                On the other hand, if you're simply whining about the fact that the N64 didn't use CDDA for music, you've got to face the facts: typical cart size for the N64 was 32MB, and that's hardly enough to hold a whole digital audio soundtrack.

                It does. The N64 wavetable synth owns all. I'm talking about the digital audio effects, voices, etc. I alwa

      • Why is it that you portray Joe Schmo as having an XBox?

        If Joe Schmo is your 'casual' gamer, then he would own a Gamecube.

        The Xbox has the largest amount of software sales per console. So I would say that those are the most 'hardcore' of the console games. Xbox owners also buy more games than PC games.

        So, Joe Schmo with an Xbox turns out to be at least the most dedicated financially to games.

        I am one of those Joe Schmo gamers with an Xbox. And !GASP! I buy/play a lot of sports games. I'm not a 'casua
        • Actually it usually does.

          People who are socially inept find they are usually very game adept. Naturally they will lean towards a genre that has much more depth for it to provide a happiness games ultimately can't give them.

          2 cents..
        • Umm, the XBox is third when it comes to game sales(overall, sales per console, and number of games in top 10[they're number 3 on each]). The PS2 is first and the GCN is 2nd.

          If MS were even close to #1(or even #2), considering they claim to make $10 per game in liscensing fees, and nintendo says they sell 15 games per console, they would not be burning through cash like it's going out of style.

      • Re:YUO STOAL MY FRIST POST (Score:4, Informative)

        by Rayonic ( 462789 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2004 @08:37AM (#9559366) Homepage Journal
        > Japan really doesn't have a casual Joe Gamer, thus they don't really release "casual games".

        This is lunacy. What about all those laid-back dating sims, farming games, and the like. Almost all rehashes, mind you. The actual innovative games (like Pikmin) don't tend to sell well over there.

        > Most, if not all, Japanese games are deep, engrossing, and masterpieces in their own right.

        Oh. My. God. Did you just say that?
    • The US is huge...we obviously have more people. So, maybe it's our population acting as a buffer.

  • Saturation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Svenheim ( 723925 ) on Monday June 28, 2004 @07:15PM (#9556264)
    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.

    • Re:Saturation (Score:3, Interesting)

      by sien ( 35268 )
      Doing the numbers, the Japanese population 127M, the US's 293M. So the population ration is 2.3.

      From the figures given, the Japanese spend 4.1B on games, with 1.27 or 30% on hardware.

      The US spends 7B on software, assuming the same breakdown that means about 10B on software.

      Now, if Japan were as large as the US and the amount spent on games increased similarly they would spend 2.3 * 4.1B or 9.4B on games.

      So actually, both markets are about the same at the moment. However, if Japanese spending is down

    • Rubbish, the Japanese economy has been trashed for a long time.
    • I mean here we have an entire generation that has been relentlessly consuming expensive games that have long since solidified into predictable formula. Maybe they're just not interested anymore, and are spending their time and money (recession) on other things.

      Well, that's just pure speculation, but I can honestly say it's happened to me, at least. I just don't buy games anymore.

    • It also be exiting to see what they're new console, ambitiously named "Revolution" will add to the gaming experience.

      How can Nintendo's next console be called Revolution when Nintendo's current console is the only current console not to have a decent port of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution? The PS2 has the DDRMAX series, the Xbox has the Ultramix series, the GameCube has what? DDR for Game Boy Color?

  • Clearly this is about the Japanese Recession. Japanese have less spending cash, and are hoarding what they have.

    Here in the US, we had fairly mild down-turn which is already reversing itself.

    Japan's Recession(Which basically amounts to stagflation) has been going on for 10 years, and is not turning around.

    Sangloth
    I'd appreciate any comment with a logical basis...it doesn't even have to agree with me.
    • Hmmm. My impression was that the Japanese economy was better now than it has been for a long time. Not that I'm saying that it's good. Just that it seems better than it has been.

      But even if it's been horrid for 10 years, and is still just as bad, why would that make game sales fall *now*? You'd think they'd be staying about the same, wouldn't you.

      • You're right. Living in Japan, I can see that the economy is indeed on the rebound. People are no longer losing their jobs, you don't hear the word "restructuring" whispered in the hallways anymore, and, whether or not the economic upturn is "real", the feeling among Japanese is that things are getting better.

        This is ultimately what affects retail sales. While underlying economic conditions in a country may be good or bad, it's the feelings of consumers that determine their purchasing habits. A countr
    • Clearly this is about the Japanese Recession.

      This might be plausible if Japan were actually in a recession. It is not.

      Japan's Recession(Which basically amounts to stagflation) has been going on for 10 years

      Two big problems with this sentence. First, recession is not "stagflation". That is not what a recession is. A recession is two or more consecutive quarters of negative growth. Japan has had several recessions in the last ten years; the US has had one, but it's not unusual for us to have sever

  • Games Damnit (Score:5, Informative)

    by jdubois79 ( 227349 ) on Monday June 28, 2004 @08:05PM (#9556618)
    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.
  • Clearly this is due to a shortage of tentacle-rape games.

  • Could it be (Score:4, Interesting)

    by foidulus ( 743482 ) * on Monday June 28, 2004 @09:01PM (#9556908)
    that the long-sagging birth rate in Japan has really taken a bite out of game sales? The Japanese birth rate is only about 1.4 or so, compared to the US's 2.06. Thats pretty significant(and has long term implications for the country as a whole). Also note that 21.25% of the American population is under 14, versus only 14% of the Japanese. Now I realize that there are adult gamers, but a large chunk of the video game market is to kids and teens. In both raw numbers and percentages, the US has a much larger market, and the Japanese market is, and has been for a while, falling.
    Sources:
    US Demographics
    Japan Demographics [wikipedia.org]
  • I think Nintendo has the right idea. According to Yasuhiro Minagawa (PR boss of NCL) they plan to, "offer an experience that can be enjoyed by adults, children, or women." I think that sort of thinking will work well in both Japan AND America. Rumor is that they plan to unveil this console, dubbed N5, at E3 2005. I know for sure that all the women I know will enjoy being targeted specifically since they belong neither to the group of adults or children. That's exactly the kind of thinking that will def

  • "Obvious" (Score:4, Interesting)

    by talaphid ( 702911 ) on Monday June 28, 2004 @09:22PM (#9557029) Journal
    My reason for the downturn is that we're at a lowpoint on the console replacement treadmill. Everyone's GOT their Xbox and Halo, PS2 and FFX/X-2, Gamecube and Mario Sunshine(Look, Miyamoto, the problem isn't 3d, the problem is outrageous difficulty/essentially arbitrary success)/Crystal Chronicles... when were each of these systems released?...

    We've also got everyone waiting on their flagship sequel / major sequel for the next gen... no duh sales are down. I'm not going to buy the same TV every year guys, what makes you think I'm going to buy 5 Xboxes when one plays my Halo just fine?

    (Yes, I saw it was a combined total, but go watch the history of video games special - the Xbox's limited success (the success portion) is due to it being the Halo-player)

    • This post is only on-topic to the parent post.

      Super Mario Sunshine was a game that didn't quite hit the expectations of many people; its quality is quite consistantly rated as very low. In fact, many people think of the jump from Super Mario 64 to Super Mario Sunshine to the jump from Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA), minus the revolutionary changes. This is, in fact, because Shigeru Miyamoto did not oversee the design of Super Mario Sunshine. This task was taken over by a student of Miyamoto

  • Japan game market
    Kinda like a dating sim
    A whole lot of curve

    U.S game market
    Kinda like an action game
    Take a hit, move on

    </haiku>
  • The reason, clear and simple, is that - as always - we're a few years behind the Japanese. Video gaming will never go away, but the mass-market penetration boom of a few years ago was bound to end sometime, when people start realizing they're playing the same games they played a decade ago.

    It's happened in Japan, but still pending in America. At least, that's my take on it.

  • EA (Score:1)

    by xgamer04 ( 248962 )
    American gamers buy shitty sports games with updated stats every year. This makes EA a cash cow, along with the systems needed to play the games.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday June 29, 2004 @12:54AM (#9557868)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I think that video gaming has reached a kind of "post-modernism" these days. That basically means that everything than can be done with a screen and a controller has already been done - which leaves very few original ideas left to develop on.

      Wow, talk about pessimistic.

      I'll give you one example of a game that's doing something intersting: Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga on the GBA. Sure, it's a Mario RPG, but it's also a good game. the interesting bit is the controls where each of the two buttons on
  • ... has been going down for quite some time now. The only decent original games that have been released in the last 4-5 years you could probably count on both hands. All the others are re-hashes and re-treads of existing franchises because companies are so entrenched in making money its hard for them to invest money in original ideas and games that defy or invent new gaming conventions, in short they are afraid of losing money and not keeping investors happy about quarterly profits.

    I also think this has
  • Wonder why the game companies still pander to the Japanese market. The only reason the US market isn't more responsive is that they are treated like second rate consumers. But the market here is growing, and there it is declining.

    Mebbe we've become too cooperative...

    Come on - seriously. The PSP and DS released 3-6 Mos earlier in Japan, FFXI released earlier to the point where Jap. players control the economy simply because they had more time. Thank God for Microsoft - did I just say that? Probabally los

  • No great mystery (Score:2, Insightful)

    by RogueyWon ( 735973 )
    I don't see any great mystery here, nor do I see any particularly complicated factors or dark forces at work in the background. It's unlikely to be related to the Japanese recession; as I understand it, the Japanese economy has now very much turned the corner and was actually more severe in 1997, when, according to the article, the market was at its peak.

    I just see this as a natural return to the norm from an absurdly high peak. The market's previous strength reflected a depth of obsession with gaming that

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