Major Tokyo-based magazine publisher Enterbrain has released an update on the status quo of the Japanese console game industry.
According to the owner of Japan’s biggest video game magazine Famitsu, the domestic market in the first half of 2014 reached US$1.685 billion in size, having moved sideways when compared to 2013.
Here are the details of the report.
Japan’s console market in the first half of 2014:
Hardware sales: 70.63 billion yen
Software sales: 101.63 billion yen
Total: 172.26 billion yen (US$1.685 billion)
The interesting point is that even though the PS4 was introduced in Japan in February this year, the new console seems to have had very little impact on console hardware and software sales.
In contrast to console games, the Japanese smartphone game market is project to grow handsomely in the next few years.
Japan’s console market in the first half of 2013:
Hardware sales: 66.39 billion yen
Software sales: 105.63 billion yen
Total: 172.02 billion yen (US$1.683 billion)
Converted to dollars, the difference from 2013 to 2014 amounts to a tiny plus of US$2.3 million.
For more context, the following numbers are not included in the Famitsu report linked to above but taken from 2 years ago.
Japan’s console market in the first half of 2012:
Hardware sales: 61.08 billion yen
Software sales: 114.26 billion yen
Total: 175.34 billion yen (US$1.72 billion)
