TERRITORY REPORT: JAPAN 30 MCV 15/10/10
East Side Story
Japan has always been an important pillar of the global games industry but how is the market coping with ongoing decline? James Batchelor investigates…
[FACTFILE]
Population: 127,420,000 Currency: Japanese Yen GDP: (Per Capita) $33,478 Capital City: Tokyo Language: Japanese Key Retailers: Animate, Big Camera, Chamereon Club, Daiei, GEO, Ito Yokado, Nojima, Tsutaya, Yamada Denki, Yodobashi Camera
WWW.MCVUK.COM
MARKET OVERVIEW
JAPAN’S gaming market saw a 6.9 per cent decline to 542.64 billion yen in 2009. Hardware sales took the biggest hit, slipping by 13.6 per cent year-on- year to 216.49 billion yen, while software revenues dipped by 1.8 per cent to 326.16 billion yen. Despite these weak figures for the
year as a whole, the market did see a surge in the second half that not only achieved positive year-on-year growth but also rescued Japan from a disappointing first half. This recovery was attributed to the software market, which grew by 17.3 per cent year-on- year between July and December. The trend of handhelds outselling
consoles continued last year, with the DS established as the biggest selling
platform, followed closely by the PSP. These were further boosted by the launches of the DSi XL and the PSPgo, with the former pulling in 470,000 units in its first six weeks on sale.
just under 30m. Key sales drivers included Dragon Quest IX, Pocket Monster Heart Gold/Soul Silver, and the year’s most successful non-sequel Tomodachi Collection.
13.6% 1.8% HW drop 08/09 The four iterations of Nintendo’s
dual screen phenomenon (DS, DS Lite, DSi, and DSi XL) combined to sell 4,025,000 units last year – a figure almost matching the previous year’s level of 4.03m. This brought the handheld’s Japanese installed base to
SW drop 08/09 In terms of consoles, the PS3 saw
the most improvement, increasing sales by a whopping 74.2 per cent to 1.727m units. This was mostly due to the launch of the PS3 Slim, and a further 500,000 units sold around the December launch of Final Fantasy XIII.
Meanwhile, Wii unit sales fell year-on-
year, largely due to the lack of strong titles during the first six months of 2009. This decline was lessened by a healthy range of titles in the second half, including the million-selling Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, Monster Hunter 3, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Despite this console setback,
Nintendo maintains its position as the firm with the biggest software market share in Japan. The company is the only platform holder in the Top 5, with a market share accounting for just under a quarter of Japanese software sales at 23.9 per cent. However, this in itself is a decline compared to 2008, when Nintendo accounted for 28.9 per cent of the market.
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