December 2009

Japan's Gaming Industry Summary 2009

Japan's Gaming Industry Summary 2009
Next year is few days to go.
Today we have Japan's Gaming Industry Summary 2009.
So how about this year?
Did anything happened...
Dote too early...
Firstly for software, DRAGON QUEST and FINAL FANTASY, both HOT RPG in Japan, had launched in the same year. NDS' DRAGON QUEST 9 shipped 4.15 million, and PS3's FINAL FANTASY XIII shipped 1.8 million. DQ9 hit its highest shipment figure, can rise a bit more.
How about FINAL FANTASY XIII?
Sales drop sequel after sequel, but it's still one of the best seller in Japan. These 2 titles are inevitable for Japan's RPG history, so we mention them first.
Anything else?
Nintendo proved how powerful its games are. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, launched on December 3, had hit 2 million quickly. Wii Sports Resort hit 1.4 million, Wii Fit Plus hit 1 million too. Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver hit 3 million altogether. You can know how powerful the Big N is in Japan.
We don't notice that in everyday life, but when we look into the sales figure, it's really triumphant.
We can't miss the NDS' new title "Tomodachi Collection" also. It still selling steadily every week and hit 2 million already, obviously can reach further sales.
Why is that game HOT?
Core gamer can't understand that. Its target is mainly female, especially those know nothing about gaming. The root of that game is connection with others. Such feature is common in online game, and the Big N introduces it to ordinary people. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Wii Sports Resort, Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver etc. all become HOT because they connect people. DRAGON QUEST 9 hit for the same reason. On the contrary, FF XIII is for single and the sales is not good.
Playing with other gamers is common in online game, but the point is not playing with others, but connection with others huh.
That's right. Online game is too maniac. Games mentioned before have get rid of such maniac feeling and that is Nintendo's unique path to success. This year it become obvious.
Anything else?
Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) launched on Wii is worth notice. PSP's Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G hit 3.6 million, but Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) can't even reach 1 million till now. Many shops started a price cut for the game after the selling date and the image of the brand had been damaged. That series hit on portable console and clearly there is no demand for playing it at home. Moreover, Wii's graphic is not attractive, and it charges a fee for online play really drives users away.
Its price dropped below half after launching for a week.
That's all for software. How about the consoles?
Firstly, there is an image of a downturn for Nintendo.
News talk about that too.
But the fact is, NDS and Wii already sold a lot, "downturn" is not a suitable term to describe. Especially for Japan, the Big N already gain huge popularity so that's just a drop in growth rate.
There is an announcement about NDS hit 28 million and Wii hit 9 million huh.
Japan's population is 120 million, that means one fourth of us have NDS. We need to consider Wii with the number of household. Japan has 4.9 million household and Wii conquer 20% of that.
Of course there are familiy don't play game at all and some household only consist of elders, so 20% is good enough.
Please note that the above figure include the portion of those Asian purchased and shipped out of Japan. Nevertheless, it's still a good result.
So that's not a downturn in sales, but calm down after popularize.
That's right.
How about other consoles?
Price cut effect of PS3 is great. That's true for other countries. With more Japanese-oriented titles, sales of PS3 rise quite a lot. At the end of this year, it hit 4.5 million, nearly half of Wii's sales.
4.5 million, we should thank FF XIII.
I don't know if it can hit further, but at least the brand value is safe.
How about Xbox 360?
Xbox 360 ends this year.
Oh...
In April, there was an announcement of Xbox 360 hit 1 million in Japan. That mainly sold to other Asian countries for illegal customize. Asian pirate software market makes Japan's Xbox 360 sales grow. Nevertheless, the growth rate is low. Nowadays the growth stopped totally. No new games too. Although there are some oversea games, Japanese don't like it and the console never popularize. Most people already forget it.
Only gaming mania know about it...
On the contrary, NDS and PSP are still hot. Although sales is decreasing, that's because they have been popularized.
But PSP is lack of games.
PSP hit because of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. There was no big seller before that. The Big N makes million-seller on its ownm but SCE is impossible to do that. It has to rely on other makers.
Other companies have many games hitting 0.4 million. And there are many games worth notice in the future.
That's how Japanese gaming industry done this year. Nothing big for hardware. On the contrary, 2 hottest RPGs for Japanese launched and sales good. However, minor titles can hardly survive, that's true for Nintendo too. Games which are not famous even can't reach 50 thousand. Maybe we are economically difficult.
That's all.
The gaming industry seems to have many actions next year. Hope that will activate the business.
See you next year.

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FINAL FANTASY XIII's Sales in Japan

FINAL FANTASY XIII's Sales in Japan
Here is the first week sales figure of FINAL FANTASY XIII in Japan.
It counts the 4 days from December 17 to 20, and the sales is 1.52 million. That's the figure from Enterbrain.
SQUARE ENIX had shipped 1.8 million, so not bad for 4 days huh.
The real fight is from now on, but I'm afraid XIII can't sale good.
Why?
FF XIII's first day sales is 1.15 million. That means Friday to Sunday it only sold 0.35 million. Saturday and Sunday were holiday and the result is not good. This is unusual.
Take an average, it's sales is only 0.12 million per day.
So we can't expect further sales. Of course we've got Christmas and New Year after that first week and the figure should be better, such effect is limitary. As we mentioned in "FINAL FANTASY XIII Launched in Japan", XIII seems to be impossible to hit 2 million.
FINAL FANTASY XII sold 2.4 million, so XIII is really not good enough.
PS3 is not popular, and XIII itself gain a low reputation.
We had talked about that in "FINAL FANTASY XIII Review Without Spoiler".
That's how XIII sales like. In Japan, games sell mostly around the selling date, then won't sell too much. XIII is a typical example.
Anyway that's just 4 days, let's look forward to further sales.

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