By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sales - Iwata: Thoughts on Japanese market

alfredofroylan on 05 February 2009

Something is really bad.

"Perhaps, the Japanese market is the least robust market in the world today with regard to home console systems," said Iwata, who gave a Q & A briefing following Nintendo's third quarter financial results. "If the U.S. sold two or three times as much as Japan, it would be tolerable," Iwata added. "Yet, I feel that something is wrong when the U.S. is selling ten times as much as Japan on a weekly basis." "So, I do not believe Nintendo should be content with the current situation in the Japanese market and believe that we have other methods to confront this." He noted that the release of Animal Crossing: City Folk and Wii Music during the previous quarter failed to "revitalize the Wii market in Japan," despite healthy sales for both titles. "While Wii had very strong momentum in the overseas markets, the Wii market in Japan (during the year-end sales season) showed a slow start, did not show sharp trajectory in sales, and ended up moving back to the sales level of non-sales-season level quickly," said Iwata. Iwata blamed Japan's diminished home console sales partly on Japanese consumers having busier lifestyles and moving towards portable forms of entertainment. "In these times, we need to provide the Japanese market with entertainment that only a home console can realize," he said.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22187 Well I guess everybody is waiting for the game that'll rise the console market from the bottom on Japan. Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest X are no brainers but I guess even big fishes like Street Fighter IV or Resident Evil 5'll do little to increase console sales on japan.



Around the Network
Esmoreit on 05 February 2009

The reason Iwata states here is not the fault of the systems, or what they offer but a social trend. The same we are seeing for some time now: Japan is a portable market. People there are always busy, always on the move. You do not change that with a game, you have to drastically change Japanese lifestyle.
A game won't do that. The Japanese have to learn a more European/American way of working. It's ok to be sick at home a few days. 8 Weeks of vacation a year is not going to discrupt your work. 8 hours of work a day is more then enough...

That sort of thing



The Doctor will see you now  Promoting Lesbianism -->

                              

Demotruk on 05 February 2009
Esmoreit said:
The reason Iwata states here is not the fault of the systems, or what they offer but a social trend. The same we are seeing for some time now: Japan is a portable market. People there are always busy, always on the move. You do not change that with a game, you have to drastically change Japanese lifestyle.
A game won't do that. The Japanese have to learn a more European/American way of working. It's ok to be sick at home a few days. 8 Weeks of vacation a year is not going to discrupt your work. 8 hours of work a day is more then enough...

That sort of thing

 

True, and that's not just a cultural thing. I think it has alot to do with how the Japanese economy has been managed since the early nineties, and after the lost decade, then a boom based on an international housing bubble, they're starting to feel the effects of it again. (Japanese people have been forced to work harder to compensate)



A game I'm developing with some friends:

www.xnagg.com/zombieasteroids/publish.htm

It is largely a technical exercise but feedback is appreciated.

dib8rman on 05 February 2009

Damn the Japanese for having social lives darn them!



I'm Unamerica and you can too.

The Official Huge Monster Hunter Thread: 



The Hunt Begins 4/20/2010 =D

dark_gh0st_b0y on 05 February 2009

and still, all games are released first in Japan and some are even exclusive, i don't get this at all!



don't mind my username, that was more than 10 years ago, I'm a different person now, amazing how people change ^_^

Around the Network
Louie on 05 February 2009
Esmoreit said:
The reason Iwata states here is not the fault of the systems, or what they offer but a social trend. The same we are seeing for some time now: Japan is a portable market. People there are always busy, always on the move. You do not change that with a game, you have to drastically change Japanese lifestyle.
A game won't do that. The Japanese have to learn a more European/American way of working. It's ok to be sick at home a few days. 8 Weeks of vacation a year is not going to discrupt your work. 8 hours of work a day is more then enough...

That sort of thing

 

I dissagree with that statement (the first part, hehe ) as I am currently collecting data for an editorial about that.

Shortly put the Japanese market always saw 2 consoles selling extremely well while the others only sold mediocre at best. Why? Because the market isn't big enough for more than two big selling consoles. Currently we have 3 of them, though: DS, PSP and Wii but I'd say the software available is the deciding factor here not that the consoles are handhelds.

Back in 2006, when the Japanese market was booming we had 1 console (DS) selling 8 million units instead of two consoles selling 4 million units each. I think that's the maximum the Japanese market can handle.

In 2006 more than 16 million people bought a videogaming system, the average is 8-12 million a year so far. Now the market is in a phase of "getting back to normal". The problem is it can't grow much further. The US and especially Europe can, though.



dib8rman on 05 February 2009

@Luie

You understand that your saying the Japanese market hasn't increased or decreased since whenever you started your research till whenever you end it.

Hmm, it would make sense for the Wii to compete with the PSP then?



I'm Unamerica and you can too.

The Official Huge Monster Hunter Thread: 



The Hunt Begins 4/20/2010 =D

Louie on 05 February 2009
dib8rman said:
@Luie

You understand that your saying the Japanese market hasn't increased or decreased since whenever you started your research till whenever you end it.

Hmm, it would make sense for the Wii to compete with the PSP then?

 

First sentence: No, that's not what I'm saying. I said the market grew extremely big during 2006-2007 and is now getting back to the previous average.

 

Second sentence: Well, to some extend yes. Each PSP game a developer puts effort and money into can't be released on either Wii or DS. So basically those three consoles are competing for developer resources. The problem is that the market isn't big enough to have 3 consoles selling extremely well (more than 4 million units a year) so developers have to spread their resources over the three consoles.

The thing is just: We have 3 extremely hyped consoles now (maybe the Wii to a lesser extend) but as there are not that many people in Japan (the American market is roughly 3 times as big) all three consoles see good but not huge sales.



shams on 05 February 2009

"Iwata blamed Japan's diminished home console sales partly on Japanese consumers having busier lifestyles and moving towards portable forms of entertainment. "In these times, we need to provide the Japanese market with entertainment that only a home console can realize," he said."

Yes, this is exactly what I have been saying/thinking. Its going to be a tough one to crack - they might need a major price cut/bundle to kick-start this.



Gesta Non Verba

Nocturnal is helping companies get cheaper game ratings in Australia:

Game Assessment website

Wii code: 2263 4706 2910 1099

Rhonin the wizard on 05 February 2009

I think Nintendo will try very hard to boost Wii sales in Japan.

- bundles

- colors

- price cut(last resort)

They already have planned a strong lineup of games:

15/01/2009 - NPC Mario Power Tennis

05/02/2009 - Another Code R

19/02/2009 - NPC Metroid Prime

03/2009 - NPC Pikmin 2

Spring - Wii Sports Resort

Plus 14 more games that have been announced and there may be other games that we know nothing about.