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Japanese games market keeps falling

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Naoki Maeda

Posted: Jun 29 2004, 18:40

日本式

Group: Members
Posts: 790
Member No.: 12
Joined: 8-May 03

From www.upwire.com

QUOTE

According to the latest report from the Consumer Entertainment Software Association, the Japanese games market has suffered an overall decline of 40% since 1997.

Often thought to be the spiritual home of videogaming, not to mention the actual home of gaming giants Nintendo, Sony, Sega and the like, Japan doesn't seem to have the thriving games market it was once famous for. A new annual report from the CESA claims that the Japanese market suffered a drop of 11% in combined software and hardware sales last year, meaning a total decline of 40% since the heady days of the PlayStation back in 1997. The overall value of the market settled at around 446 billion Yen - just over a third of that made in the American market over the same time frame.

Hardware sales suffered the most, falling 16.7% - only the Game Boy Advance kept steady sales, while sales of the PS2 have been gradually dwindling since its launch way back in 2000. The GameCube shows some degree of change with a 3% upturn in sales over the first few months of 2004, but on the whole, it seems the games market in Japan isn't what it was 7 years ago. Compared to relative increases in the European and American markets, industry analysts are at a loss to explain the plummeting figures.

With Microsoft seemingly admitting defeat in the far East (one has to wonder whether it'll be worthwhile even launching the Xbox 2 in Japan given the ice cold response its predecessor received), things might look gloomy on the horizon, but the arrival of the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP this year may well finally give Japanese gamers a reason to splash their Yen. And with the PS3 and GameCube Revolution almost within touching distance, you'd be a hard-nosed cynic to suggest that the poor run of form would continue.

Interesting story. Looks like Japan is in need of new videogaming trends since thats what basically keeps it alive there. They tend to wear out very quickly as well since the Japanese seem to want new things whereas elsewhere in Europe & the US, things tend to be fine. Oh dear for Microsoft as well lol :P.

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