Japanese games market shrinks 24% in first half of 2009

by Andrew Yoon { Jul 8th 2009 at 6:30AM }

2008 was a terrific year for Japanese gaming which saw the release of games like Monster Hunter Portable and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It's no surprise that the lack of similar blockbusters, coupled with a global recession, would cause such a dramatic fall for the Japanese game market so far in 2009. The first half of the year covered 218 billion yen of business (about $2.3 billion USD), a 24% drop from the same period last year.

New bestsellers for the Japanese audience include Mario & Luigi RPG 3 for DS, which topped the charts for the first half of the year with 650,000 units. Certainly, that's not a figure to scoff at, but 2008's first half featured four million-selling games. For whatever reason, Japanese gamers haven't latched onto new games, with Monster Hunter Portable and Wii Fit continuing to represent the bestselling games this year.

Andriasang predicts the second half of the year will look much better for the territory, as games like Dragon Quest IX (DS), Monster Hunter 3 (Wii), and Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) are bound to spur software and hardware sales.

[Image Source: revengingangel on Flickr]

Tags: japan, market, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 8th 2009 8:01AM

Japanese society is getting older, and there isn't enough young blood to replace the older gamers. Plus the economic slowdown is really hitting them hard, I believe. Another lost decade may be on the horizon.

However, the most important factor is that there are simply too many games, too many me-too games, too much of everything. They've long hit saturation point and it is only now that gamers are realising what we're sadly witnessing: terminal decline. It's inflation in the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe 2006-9, just replace the word 'inflation' with 'video game.'

Nobody wants to play another boorish Zelda, Tekken, or any other tired franchise the ancient Japanese companies continue to churn out. The people are apathetic, a state much worse than boredom. Nobody cares anymore and this indifference will destroy the Japanese gaming industry. And without Japan gaming is an irrlevent sideshow, and that's the saddest aspect to all of this.

Tiago @ Jul 8th 2009 8:09AM

So many big words to say what is basically tripe...

"Nobody wants to play another boorish Zelda"
I have never played a Zelda game, but I bet a lot of people would not agree with you.

"It's inflation in the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe 2006-9, just replace the word 'inflation' with 'video game.'"
So, what you wanted to say was: "It's video-game in the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe 2006-9"? Oo

And i was going to paste a bunch more quotes, but heck, you've taken more of my time than what that post is worth.
Feel free to grab your "The end is nigh" sign and wave it around a bit.

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 8th 2009 8:23AM

"It's video-game in the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe 2006-9"?

That doesn't make sense, bruh. Have a read up on those two situations, read up on how inflation can depreciate the value of existing products, read up on the Japanese gaming decline, then come back and apologise to me for typing something so stupid.

I was going to make a semi-serious rebuttal but then I took a gander at your post history. You play World of Warcraft. This is a blog on video games. Your opinion is irrelevant here.

tc @ Jul 8th 2009 8:36AM

Let me take a try with Bowser:

Anyways, the saturation point you mention for the videogame market is much like the situation for the entertainment industry has been for some time now. In the future, TV, movies, and music will be so prevalent that every program/channel is going to have one viewer- that's how much content is going to be around. In the same way, there have been way too many games to count that have come out this year alone, and that's just a progression of media-based industries. I think in the future we're going to hear more of "have you played this game yet", while games like Zelda are still going to be produced to maintain familiarity with previously successful titles.

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 8th 2009 9:21AM

Some of the TV shows I work on have less than 500 viewers. It's really sad when you think about it.

Tiago @ Jul 8th 2009 10:09AM

I'll bite, I guess...

So, you're comparing monetary ultra-inflation to the fact that so many games are being created that they end up devaluing as a whole.

Money is a representation of wealth. If there is X money that represents Y wealth, if you print double that ammount of money with no increase of wealth (like what happened in those examples you mention) each unit of money is now worth half the wealth it represented before. Do this a bunch of times and money now is worth a fraction of what it once did. So, there is a fixed pool of wealth and each bill represents a fraction of that wealth, the more bills, the smaller the fractions. Fairly simple.

Now you're telling me the same thing works for games? If I create a new game, every previous game is now worth a bit less?
You can argue that the money people are willing to spend on games is a fixed ammount and if there are more games people will still buy the same ammount of games and as such will end up buying a smaller percentage of the available titles. The public ends up dispersed over a larger number of games.
Don't know if this was what you were going for, but it's the way I see your argument making a slight bit of sense.
That argument still does nothing to explain how the game market decreased as a whole. And it also has little to do with that inflation examples you mentioned.

Occam's Razor, probably the market is down because there have been less blockbusters this year.

sam @ Jul 8th 2009 10:15AM

Japanese gamers didn't rate Zelda in the first place - they never have. It's a big seller in the West only.

But I'll tell you why this argument is bullshit. It's not because Zelda/Tekken/insert-other-series-with-20-sequels aren't getting tired, maybe they are, let's leave that aside. Nor because your demographic statement isn't evidenced (sure the Japanese population is getting older, but who says the number of game players is decreasing?).

It's because this cataclysmic change to the gaming landscape would have had to occur since *last year*. Just not happening. That kind of thinking could explain a long-term decline but it has nothing whatever to say about a 24% drop in one year.

So leaving aside the obviously-wrong parts of the post, I agree the economy might explain some of it, but I really think most of it is covered in Joystiq's original post: no big games this year.

The other thing I'd like to see is a comparison between 2007 and 2009, 2006 and 2009, etc. When the determining factor (game releases) is so bumpy, comparing just one year's results is no use for making any kind of long-term comparison that isn't just about which particular games came out in which period. From this single set of data, we can't tell whether 2009 is a bad first half or 2008 was a really good one.

Mr Khan @ Jul 8th 2009 11:22AM

Bowser's actually right. In their last financial report, Nintendo called it "gamer drift" that there are more people giving up gaming in Japan than taking it up. Part of the reason why "lapsed gamers" fit into Nintendo's new scheme like they do.

But the point is that yes, for whatever reason, apathy is setting in in Japan.

Tiago @ Jul 8th 2009 11:52AM

Like sam said, one financial report does not a trend make.

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 8th 2009 12:17PM

See, the Most Respected King Khan agrees. I'm right!

Jason Statham (Aka Vegeta) @ Jul 8th 2009 12:58PM

"And without Japan gaming is an irrlevent sideshow, and that's the saddest aspect to all of this. "

Yeah...no. This may have been true 10 years ago, but now western developers can hold their own if Japan's gaming market dies.

Josh @ Jul 9th 2009 1:09AM

Bowser, I often don't agree with you, but this time I do.

You're right about Japanese society getting older and all that, but as you say, the most important fator is the games themselves. There really are too many and too much of the same.

Regarding the sameness issue, you're right, the new Zelda, the new Tekken, etc. are all basically the same games as the previous ones. People get tired of sameness, and then they stop caring. Even when new and inventive stuff comes out, it takes a lot of work to build up the interest when you haven't cared about anything else over the past few months.

The thinking/feeling of that is sort of like this: Games have bored me so much lately, every experience I've had in them I've had so many times over already. I can't keep doing this and keeping interest in it... So why should I care about something that bores me? I become apathetic about games.
Then something more original comes along, but before I can play it, I still find myself skeptical and critical, thinking that I've done it all before, that I've seen it all. And anyway, after that game, what else is there to play? Just more of the same... so why bother...

Honestly, the reason I agree with you, Bowser, is because what I just said is how I feel now. I think that's also the way lots of people (at least in Japan?) are beginning to feel, as well.

"And without Japan gaming is an irrlevent sideshow, and that's the saddest aspect to all of this."

I agree, but that's just my personal preference for Japanese games (which are, on the whole, a completely differenet species of video game than Western games).

JRM @ Jul 8th 2009 8:04AM

It's true. It has been pretty quiet, video game wise, throughout the spring. and it feels worse with the long dragon quest DS delay. There has been even less TV commercials than before.

Personally, I think consumers are just waiting until summer vacation starts (In Japan, it begins around july 20th or so).

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 8th 2009 9:59AM

This isn't surprising. Look at the leaders for the first half of last year(between March and September): Mario Kart Wii (1,744,387 units), Monster Hunter Port. (1,602,386), Pokemon Platinum (1,481,725), Dragon Quest V (1,152,229) and Wii Fit (845,238). What games have come out this year that can compete with those numbers from last year?