Ruler said:
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Europe wasn't saturated like Japan though, plus the population of Europe is 740 million vs. 120 million in Japan, and much more diverse. So relatively they are in a similar proportion of sales for what they are. It is just Europe is inclining because of more console games being released there since Sony joined the picture in the 5th Generation, and Japan has been declining because their homogenous country is just getting older and has less time for their favorite console genre: long JRPG's that need to be played in long sittings. That is why mobile games and bite-sized handheld games are interesting to them. They can play Monster Hunter for 30 minutes and feel like they made progress (do a quest and get some loot.) The same can be said for the likes of Yo-Kai watch, or Puzzle and Dragons. The Japanese gaming market is just more casual than it has been historically due to issues of time more than anything else. Releasing a huge story-based RPG like FFVII or FFXV probably won't help. Releasing something like Dragon Quest, which is more bite-sized and can be consumed in smaller portions would help. I think if Sony, Nintendo, or any other manufacturer wants the Japanese market again, they need to release similar games that are on handheld and mobile, but also give these games larger production values than said handheld/mobile games, so that they have the best of both worlds. They also need to improve the portability of home-platforms, as Japanese gamers are very mobile and move around a lot while they are playing. So more streaming/sharing games between consoles and handheld devices or phones is also a huge plus. Hence why Nintendo is likely going with NX being a fusion platform, and Sony had emphasized Vita's streaming of PS4 games.
