A few notes from me, in my opinion:
Why is the JRPG market decreasing? It's too stale. Ever look at the "amazing variation" in RPGs from Japan lately? Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the other 5-10 series share too much in common. Because of the lack of evolution of the genre. Even though I love JRPGs, lets face it: the difference between Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy 10 were graphical updates, and very little else. The same can be said from Dragon Quest 3 to Dragon Quest 8. The Japanese-style game is just too much the same for those outside the hardcore JRPG niche to really enjoy alot.
The WRPG market is vastly different - it's spearheaded by a plethora of incredibly varied titles over the years: Fallout. Ultima. Elder Scrolls. Baldurs Gate. Betrayl at. and recent hit new IPs such as Planetscape Torment, Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, and others that are insanely good, and vary much stronger over the years.
All of this is spearheaded by the most popular RPG to date (not FFVII) - World of Warcraft. And guess what? It's not just fat nerdy Americans playing WoW. It's fat, nerdy Chinese, Koreans and Europeans too!
The RPG market is changing, and faring much stronger toward the much-improved Western style of RPG gaming. It's more diverse, even if it is more action-oriented. The style of RPGs has evolved strongly from the dice-rolling D&D style RPG, and gathered many other styles into what is a Western RPG, kind of like the ball from Katamari Damacy.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
