Saving japanese market

[Oyvoyvoyv]

memory2zack said:
@Oyvoyvoyv: The reason it boomed is Nintendo tapping the casual market with the DS. The hardcore market has been decreasing YoY. Nintendo profited a lot from that , but the big japanese publishers lost sales in Japan. At least that´s what I think so. They should focus on handhelds and especially the PSP for Japan, that´s where all the core japanese gamers are right now.

 

 Yeah, that's correct. I left this entire part out of my analysis.

But that the market has changed doesn't mean it's shrinking. As a matter of fact, this change out to be a good thing for Japanese developers.

 

- The DS (and presumably the PsP) is far easier to develop for, takes less man-hours, and is cheaper overall. When these games sell more in Japan (I'll make a note about this in a sec), there's really no reason to keep making Japan oriented console games.

Note:  (handhelds vs consoles relationship was 55.5% vs 44.5% in Japan 08). Considering there were released over twice as many games on consoles, and that the average development price is bigger, there's no point in making the console games. UNLESS, these games also sell well in Americas/Japan. That leads us to the next paragraph.

- I'm not saying Japanese developers should go consoles only. I'm saying they have to choose.

Question 1.

Make a Japan oriented game, or a more western oriented game?

 

Question 2 A (Chose Japan oriented game)

Make for DS or PsP?

 

Question 2 B (Chose western oriented game)

Make for DS, PsP, Wii, Ps3 or X360.

 

Note to 2B: There ought to be less Ps3 and X360 games still, as they cost more to develop for, and even the western oriented games will need the Japan sales.

 

Of course, if it is a well established franchise, this doesn't count.

 

Bottom note: Thou shalt not make Japan oriented console games, and at least not Ps3 or X360 ones.

 

And Amniretz, why would I do it with consoles? We all know what the answer will be there. I actually proved something that most people think differently about (myself included before the post). I see no reason at all to waste 10 minutes doing the same for consoles only.

 

Hey, why not handhelds only? That would prove a major increase!

See, that wouldn't prove anything. What you want to do is ignore the major part of the Japanese industry. If developers do that, they will be in trouble.