[Road]

famitsu.com/news/201301/07026935.html

Market Value:

               2012          YOY        USD
SOFTWARE   ¥271.21 billion (-1.3%) $3.106 billion
HARDWARE   ¥177.98 billion (-1.0%) $2.040 billion

TOTAL      ¥449.19 billion (-1.1%) $5.144 billion

Physical retail sales only.
2012 had 53 weeks, 2011, 52.

Top 10 Games:

                                                         2012      /   TOTAL      PUBLISHER       RELEASE DATE

 1 [NDS] Pokémon Black 2 / White 2                     2,879,027   / 2,879,027    Pokemon Co.      2012-06-23
 2 [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf                     2,286,977   / 2,286,977    Nintendo         2012-11-08
 3 [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2                       1,780,493   / 1,780,493    Nintendo         2012-07-28
 4 [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D    899,410   /   899,410    Square Enix      2012-05-31
 5 [PS3] One Piece: Pirate Warriors                      825,860   /   825,860    Bandai Namco     2012-03-01
 6 [3DS] Mario Kart 7                                    822,542   / 1,904,933    Nintendo         2011-12-01
 7 [PS3] Resident Evil 6                                 821,053   /   821,053    Capcom           2012-10-04
 8 [3DS] Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate                       776,171   / 1,585,493    Capcom           2011-12-10
 9 [3DS] Super Mario 3D Land                             738,109   / 1,780,620    Nintendo         2011-11-03
10 [WII] Dragon Quest X Online                           633,827   /   633,827    Square Enix      2012-08-02

Hardware Sales

                  2012  /          TOTAL

3DS          5,626,763  /       9,762,502
PS3          1,327,185  /       8,744,333
PSP            941,992  /      19,179,100
Vita           674,365  /       1,077,159
Wii U          638,339  /         638,339
Wii            492,999  /      12,660,742
Xbox 360        67,273  /       1,588,011
DS              28,627  /      32,863,798

[liger05]

Didnt some say Pokemon B & W 2 was a flop?

[Coldplay619]

Wii U closing in on Vita D:

[Combichristoffersen]

Japan is Nintendo Land

[Alias Greed]

Wii U closing in on Vita D:

Or Vita closing in on Xbox 360, lol.

[Bruno MB]

Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D will definitely not reach the million mark.

[grimshawish]

Thats a really low decline. Wii dying 2011 and 3DS domination helping off.

EDIT: Also clear third part games will and can sell on 3DS.

[Boss Doggie]

So not even Tom Nook's economics could defeat the Pikachu conglomerate.

[rouken]

the trinity is still alive and kicking. so awesome

[Nibel]

Animal Crossing just came out in November.

[ffdgh]

Go trinity and Pokemon!

I bet animal crossing's unexpected demand helped with lower yoy loss this year lol.

[Chris1964]

Some months ago I was sure 2012 would beat 2011 comfortably, with the extra week it had.

Edit: They have added week 53 sales of DS at LTD.

[meltingparappa]

Only 8/10? Nintendo is doomed. Going third party with $.99 mobile phone games for them, confirmed.


Weird that for the other two games, it's

1) a mediocre-ish (compared to Orochi) licensed musou game and
2) a critically horrible and janky game

A weird summation of the current industry.

[StoppedInTracks]

Resi 6 that high?

[denshuu]

Dragon Quest, Dynasty Warriors, Monster Hunter, and a slew of handheld games. Looks like Japan.

Resident Evil 6 makes sense. It was a highly anticipated game to a successful franchise.

[Bruno MB]

Some months ago I was sure 2012 would beat 2011 comfortably, with the extra week it had.

Yes, that always looked like a safe bet.

Under normal circumstances Top 5 should have been something like this:

1. [NDS] Pokémon Black 2 / White 2 - 3,000,000
2. [3DS] New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 2,500,000
3. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 2,286,977
4. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 - 1,000,000
5. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry's Wonderland 3D - 1,000,000

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was the only big big title (+1m) that didn't disappoint, in fact, it has been the overperformer of the year.

[Haunted]

Resi 6 that high?

Disgusting.

One of the few big console games from Japan this year.

[sakipon]

Can't say much about software decline without digital sales numbers. Title kind of misleading.

[grimshawish]

Title kind of misleading.

Its not at all. Famitsu follow retail only.
The decline is tiny anyway.

[zomgbbqftw]

It's actually a 3% decline on an adjusted basis to take into account the extra week in 2012.

[Tizoc]

Wow glad to see One Piece among the top 5, just hope the 2nd game will be a better improvement over it.

[mugurumakensei]

It's actually a 3% decline on an adjusted basis to take into account the extra week in 2012.

That's still a relatively small decline compared to the west.

[Zertez]

Maybe it is lack of sleep, but why is bw2 ahead of animal crossing when animal crossing sold the most copies.

[Opus Angelorum]

It's actually a 3% decline on an adjusted basis to take into account the extra week in 2012.

Still pretty consistent compared to other continents.

[Frillen]

Good software numbers compare to the west. There's probably not even a decline if you include digital sales.

[deathcobra]

The decline includes missing PS2 numbers?

[18-Volt]

We can all agree that Japan is handheld exclusive country right now. Sony and MS shouldn't bother releasing their new consoles there, people don't care about awsome graphics.

[Glass Rebel]

We can all agree that Japan is handheld exclusive country right now. Sony and MS shouldn't bother releasing their new consoles there, people don't care about awsome graphics.

Well, both consoles are fairly old and there haven't been that many great games that appeal to Japanese audiences.

But I agree, homeconsoles in Japan will have an uphill battle to fight.

[1st Course]

We can all agree that Japan is handheld exclusive country right now. Sony and MS shouldn't bother releasing their new consoles there, people don't care about awsome graphics.

The PS3 sold more in Japan than what it did in UK this gen. The console market might be not big as it was there but its still a very valuable market for consoles.

[zomgbbqftw]

Still pretty consistent compared to other continents.

Didn't say that it wasn't, in fact the Japanese games market has been remarkably resilient in comparison to the rest of the world. However digital growth is probably much lower there than the west.

[Toth]

Yikes. FF13-2 is still the highest selling PS3 game since December 2011...and that didn't break 1 million.

[Lagspike_exe]

Digital software sales would boost software sales, I wonder if that would balance things out. Still, with Nintendo domination, that wouldn't add much most likely.

[deathcobra]

Digital software sales would boost software sales, I wonder if that would balance things out. Still, with Nintendo domination, that wouldn't add much most likely.

Well there's 500,000 Animal Crossings for a start.

[ffdgh]

Digital software sales would boost software sales, I wonder if that would balance things out. Still, with Nintendo domination, that wouldn't add much most likely.

....Animal crossing sold 500k in digital sales lolz....or not

[Chris1964]

Well there's 500,000 Animal Crossings for a start.

No, there aren't.

[nickcv]

2012 software share in japan, courtesy of garaph

[Alrus]

Well there's 500,000 Animal Crossings for a start.

Most of those are retail download cards and famitsu counts them.

[Mpl90]

No, there aren't.

Right, it's actually more like 200k direct downloads from eShop. 500k is direct downloads + downloads through retail cards.

[nickcv]

handheld VS consoles SW

[deathcobra]

No, there aren't.

There are. I was responding solely to the 'digital software sales' line, irrespective of whether they are included on the Famitsu figures (I know they're not!). There are 177,000+ sales to add to the Famitsu figures which still disproves the theory of no digital software sales on a Nintendo platform, even if Animal Crossing is more the exception than the rule.

[wrowa]

There are. I was responding solely to the 'digital software sales' line, irrespective of whether they are included on the Famitsu figures (I know they're not!). There are 177,000+ sales to add to the Famitsu figures which still disproves the theory of no digital software sales on a Nintendo platform, even if Animal Crossing is more the exception than the rule.

Famitsu is counting eShop download cards which are being sold at retail. Since a good amount of digital Animal Crossing sales came from these download cards, we can say that there aren't 500k missing Animal Crossing units in this number.

However, considering how strong social games are in Japan and considering that while iOS/Android might not be as strong in Japan as in the West they probably still make a noteworthy revenue, the Japanese market might actually be in a better shape than before if digital/online sales would be included.

[Allan Holdsworth]

Japan looking pretty good compared to most other territories.

[deathcobra]

Famitsu is counting eShop download cards which are being sold at retail. Since a good amount of digital Animal Crossing sales came from these download cards, we can say that there aren't 500k missing Animal Crossing units in this number. However, considering how strong social games are in Japan and considering that while iOS/Android might not be as strong in Japan as in the West they probably still make a noteworthy revenue, the Japanese market might actually be in a better shape than before if you digital/online sales would be included.

I meant I know they ARE! Damn insomnia! 323,000+ ARE counted on Famitsu and 177,000 + are not!

[Sir_Crocodile]

Wow glad to see One Piece among the top 5, just hope the 2nd game will be a better improvement over it.

I wouldn't hold my breath - One Piece + Musou is the ultimate "we can phone this in and not worry about quality" combination.

[Kouriozan]

I'm still amazed by Animal Crossing numbers, really incredible.

[nickcv]

2012 HW share according to famitsu (no NDS data included)

[Cosmo Clock 21]

Wish the article pointed out what areas contributed to the decline, cause 3DS 2012 has been a monster compared to 2011. PSP owners not being replaced by Vita, maybe?

[hardcastlemccormick]

Wish the article pointed out what areas contributed to the decline, cause 3DS 2012 has been a monster compared to 2011. PSP owners not being replaced by Vita, maybe?

Not a big enough decline to be explainable? Minor market variations are normal.

[Captain Smoker]

Japanese gaming market from 2000 to 2012.

The slowdown of hardware revenue is the biggest reason for the slowdown of the market.
(But that's clear because PS3 & PSP are slowing down and Wii U just launched. Vita...)

[Cosmo Clock 21]

Not a big enough decline to be explainable? Minor market variations are normal.

I probably have bad short term memory, but 2012 saw the resurgence of the 3DS, Vita's first full year, and the launch of the Wii U. I would have expected a statistically significant growth in the market instead of flatlining.