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Japanese mobile game sales are now bigger than regular Japanese game + hardware sales

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
TL;DR:
-Japanese mobile game industry (feature phone + smartphone) was $5.1 billion for 2012.
-Japanese consoles/handhelds software + hardware was $4.6 billion for 2012.


----

I realize we had a thread on the extreme growth of mobile year over year, but I thought another thread to discuss this point might be useful.

Have you been asking yourself why your favorite Japanese franchise has been turned into a mobile game lately?

Have you been wondering why your favorite Japanese companies have suddenly been churning out loads of mobile games instead of what they used to do?

Well, today we have a pretty good answer.

Mobile Game Industry:
  • $5.1 Billion Total
  • $2.7 Billion Smartphone Games
  • $2.4 Billion Feature Phone Games
serkantoto said:
According to the MCF, Japan’s market for mobile gaming reached roughly US$5.1 billion in 2012.

The size of the market for gaming on feature phones in Japan in 2012 reached around US$2.4 billion: roughly US$2 billion for social games, and another US$410 million for mobile games (titles that are not distributed through social gaming networks like GREE or Mobage).

On the smartphone side, the gaming segment reached US$2.7 billion for all game-related content (here, the MCF doesn’t make a special distinction).

This segment on smartphones grew 5.4-fold year-on-year:
Source: http://www.serkantoto.com/2013/08/12/japan-mobile-content-games-market/

Traditional Game Industry (Software + Hardware):
  • $4.6 Billion Total
  • $2.8 Billion Software
  • $1.8 Billion Hardware
serkantoto said:
According to data released by Tokyo-based game magazine publisher Enterbrain (published in business daily The Nikkei over the weekend), the Japanese market for video games grew 1.2% to US$4.6 billion in fiscal 2012 – which ended on March 31, 2013.

Software sales contracted 1.2% to US$2.8 billion in that time frame.

But hardware sales increased 5% to about US$1.8 billion in Japan, thanks to the introduction of the Wii U (well, OK), a new 3DS, and Sony’s recent price cuts for their consoles.
Source: http://www.serkantoto.com/2013/04/07/japan-video-game-market-growth/
 

shira

Member
GAF: Nintendo make a phone. get into mobile, something

Nintendo: no

I wonder how much of that is Dragons & Puzzles
 

zroid

Banned
When you see these numbers, it's no wonder it feels like Nintendo is singlehandedly keeping the Japanese traditional game industry afloat. They're pretty much the only Japan-oriented game company who won't release their products on mobile platforms.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Everyone own a phone and has access to mobile games - would be weird if wasnt happening sooner or later, that doesnt mean that every kind of title is better suited for mobile plattforms without buttons and a userbase who is willing to spend some serious cash high quality software.
 

Strike

Member
350x700px-LL-52d68bae_feelsbad.jpeg
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
This really isnt surprising seeing how many people are on their smartphones constantly. Not to mention how many people Ive noticed playing Puzzle & Dragons still. Huge adds all over the place for various mobile games too.

Its no wonder and one cant really blame too why some game companies have switched more efforts / resources over to the mobile side of the market.

Basically what it is, is that the current mobile market with smartphones have won over the crowds that ran to the DS during the whole brain age craze. Now that they dont need to carry around an extra device with generally only a singular function and / or purchase what they would deem as expensive games, its pretty easy to see how the numbers have shifted so much.

In short the mobile market is the casual / light users, which as we all know out numbers the group of folks who call themselves "gamers" greatly.
 

zashga

Member
Here's hoping mobile platforms will support games with decent development budgets. Not talking AAA console budgets; just 3DS or Vita level would be good enough for me.

Does $15-20 stuff like XCOM and the Final Fantasy ports actually sell on mobile, or is it exploitative FTP stuff that pulls in all the money?
 

Fitrix

Neo Member
The future of Japanese games is mobile.

After Breath of Fire 6,expect more big Japanese titles to be released on mobile.

Yay...
NOT!
 

ReaperXL7

Member
And the divide between East and West will only grow larger.

Not really, it will happen in the west aswell at some point imo. The AAA industry just cannot compete in a one to one fashion when mobile gaming is so much cheaper. Everyone buys smartphones these days, everyone has access to either IOS, or GooglePlay for the most part. The same cannot be said for services like PSN, or XBL.

Its alittle scary because I often believe many dont see how much of a scam "Free to play" is (especially on mobile games), but when you can get so many games, some of which are actually very good, and cost a fraction of what consoles gaming does its only a matter of time before mobile becomes the bread winner. I dont believe consoles will just up and die or anything, but to believe that mobile gaming does not have some genuine advantages is probably not best.

Also Tower of Saviors>>>Puzzles and Dragons.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
If anything I could see this as potentially a better step to help cut the fat on production of games from the major studios. Which would leave us with better designed products by folks who actually need to make something that will sell off of how good of a game it is, rather than just the name alone. Since another trend too is that brand name in general still doesnt save titles from the "wagon" sales that go on here.

Will be interesting to see how things evolve here domestically due to these economical changes in the enviro.
 

smurfx

get some go again
the japanese are usually ahead when it comes to these kinda things so i wonder if by the end of next gen mobile gaming will be larger than console gaming in the u.s.
 
Only Apple can dominate the Japanese gaming market!

Seriously, crazy. I don't know if this is good news or not. I'm glad the 3DS is still doing well and Monster Hunter + Pokemon is exclusive to it...

...

...

...for now.
 
This really isnt surprising seeing how many people are on their smartphones constantly. Not to mention how many people Ive noticed playing Puzzle & Dragons still. Huge adds all over the place for various mobile games too.

I thought it was crazy how much advertising there was for mobile games when I was last in Tokyo. Certainly, much more than for mobile games on the train than for traditional games.
 

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
But really, mobile games in Japan has been a thing way earlier than elsewhere in the world, long before Android/iPhone devices came to life, so to see the market maturing to this level isn't that surprising. Japan-GAF can attest to that, yes?
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
I thought it was crazy how much advertising there was for mobile games when I was last in Tokyo. Certainly, much more than for mobile games on the train than for traditional games.

If you saw the kind of numbers with how much these companies pull in such as Gree & Mobage, its not surprising how they can afford these types of advertisements in prime locations / magazines which are insanely expensive. Have had to deal with magazine advertisements in the past here and its CRAZY how much it costs just for a single issue price jumps depending on where in said magazine / use of color / page space etc.

But really, mobile games in Japan has been a thing way earlier than elsewhere in the world, long before Android/iPhone devices came to life, so to see the market maturing to this level isn't that surprising. Japan-GAF can attest to that, yes?

Its a lot bigger now that smartphones for the most part offer a far more complete entertainment experience than what previous phones did. On top of that a lot less models to have to deal with when it comes to having various versions of the same / similar applications which was part of the huge mess with mobile application development in the past. These days too there are 2 major portals which people use to get most of the popular apps being Gree and Mobage. In the past it was a bit more of a pain in the ass having to make accounts everywhere and all of them worked off of different payment plans and whatnots. Lets not even go into the huge problem of trying to deactivate ones account back then too.

The ease of use with smartphones and graphical interface is what really made the market blow up in a positive way.
 
Interested to see how the PS4 performs in Japan. It appears that console gaming is all but dead in Japan and focus is being shifted to mobile/handheld gaming.
 
If you saw the kind of numbers with how much these companies pull in such as Gree & Mobage, its not surprising how they can afford these types of advertisements in prime locations / magazines which are insanely expensive. Have had to deal with magazine advertisements in the past here and its CRAZY how much it costs just for a single issue price jumps depending on where in said magazine / use of color / page space etc.

Oh, I don't doubt it at all. It just hit me for the first time last month how disproportionate it is now, of course with traditional developers struggling, while mobile developers boom it's hardly surprising.

Interested to see how the PS4 performs in Japan. It appears that console gaming is all but dead in Japan and focus is being shifted to mobile/handheld gaming.

It depends on what Sony can provide for the Japanese audience before Final Fantasy XV/KH3 hit. What they have announced so far is pretty weak in its appeal to Japan, in my opinion. Obviously, there's more to be told.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Interested to see how the PS4 performs in Japan. It appears that console gaming is all but dead in Japan and focus is being shifted to mobile/handheld gaming.

Well seeing how development costs for the "next gen" consoles keeps on going up while numbers are not all that hot, I dont really blame them for wanting to take the safer bet with handhelds. Esp with the types of expectations that are put on games released on consoles these days.

Part of the fault I really have to say lies within the media and userbase too.
 
GAF: Nintendo make a phone. get into mobile, something

Nintendo: no

I wonder how much of that is Dragons & Puzzles
i woulldnt be surprised at all if they made a phone, nintendo is dominating and holding japans gaming consoles up by it self with the 3DS, just imagine that gaming console mixed with a phone. Japan wouldnt need anything else but the Nintenphone(or what ever its called)
 

Alchemy

Member
I don't see what the problem is. Different groups of consumers, and there is still $4.6 billion in core games so those businesses won't vanish.
 

CTLance

Member
Awwww. Oh well. PC gaming is currently eating my money, so this does not affect me too much. Still, fascinating from a sales-age perspective.
 

Watashiwa

Member
If anything I could see this as potentially a better step to help cut the fat on production of games from the major studios. Which would leave us with better designed products by folks who actually need to make something that will sell off of how good of a game it is, rather than just the name alone. Since another trend too is that brand name in general still doesnt save titles from the "wagon" sales that go on here.

Will be interesting to see how things evolve here domestically due to these economical changes in the enviro.

Oh you complete innocent. Ever heard the term "race to the bottom"? That's what we're going to see. Major companies are looking at the same sales data that we can see here, and they're going to want a piece of that pie. They're going to look at what the biggest sellers are, and they're going to find ways to make the same thing, but cheaper. Money is made on the margins, after all.

We can bury the japanese industry next to the western one. :p

I'll get the shovel, you get the wheelbarrow.
 

Kagami

Member
I don't have a problem with phone hardware per se. You can use Bluetooth controllers with them, and HDMI out works fine for big-screen gaming.
The trouble lies with the type of games being made.
Those social card game things are the most mind-numbingly boring games ever.
And then there's the problems of IAP and associated DRM and server-dependency, leading to disposable games and no re-playing the good ones in 20 years.
 

Sandfox

Member
I don't really have a problem with mobile gaming taking over as long as we start to get games on par with what is on handhelds now.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
I don't understand this shit mobile phone games are straight up garbage.

Depends on your perspective, graphics tech has gotten significant upgrades over the last few years for mobile platforms. To be honest I think the only real disadvantage left for mobile gaming is control, but if someone can figure out a way to make a mobile device that is not an abomination with real controls it would be a huge step. Touch only just does not work for some game types.

I disagree with your assessment that all mobile games are garbage though. Let us not forget that more, and more major ip are shifting to either include mobile platforms, and not consoles, or shifting to basically mobile only.

But don't the input methods of a phone limit that?

Depends, traditional RTS games are normally hot garbage on consoles, but could translate well to touch interfaces. This is also ignoring the fact that we are seeing more, and more devices that allow your phone to connect to something that allows the use of real controls.
 

Shengar

Member
My hate for smartphone and tablet just went up even further. Yes, I type these all with my.Android but thas it, I only my phone to browse, take note, Whatsapp, and other social/petty thing while tablets mainly for ebooks. I never considere mobile platform to push the room for industry. If anything, they limit its even further. Yes there are good games out there but I'm pretty sure they will wiped out year later. I'm so mad at this like I'm a Ferrari fans that see Ferrari decide to create mass production cheap home car just because they see Toyota sales number. All of this shit, companies jumping the mobile bandwagon makes me want to turn luddittes and thrown my smartphone away.

But we have new generation of consoles next year. Surely it will have impact on the gaming industry right?
With all that mobile/casuals money, I don't think it will make drastic impact on the industry. Mobile platform is cheap to develop with a minimum risk. Publishers and developers will chase all that money especially if we consider how bad Japan economic situation is.
 

Brofist

Member
But we have new generation of consoles next year. Surely it will have impact on the gaming industry right?

I wouldn't have high expectations. Xbone will be dead in the water and PS4 while probably
likely to be the best selling home console by default probably wont put up numbers that will reverse this trend.
 

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
But we have new generation of consoles next year. Surely it will have impact on the gaming industry right?

It will just become a different part of the market. Not really sure if it will have much of an impact, besides the usual schedule all studios are used to, which is to keep producing games for the latest & greatest to help stay relevant in the console share market. Though one thing that it will effect is depending on the cost to develop for said consoles will be the barrier of entry for which studios can go in from the get go or not. But this always happens in each cycle anyways. So its really just having to wait and see how things go. One thing that we can guess is that the Xbox One isnt going to have much of an impact for Japan. Seeing how MS already stated so far that its not going to make the launch window & the general reception of the MS brand domestically here in Japan.

*editing misread your post. Edited answer up above. This below was under the assumption you were talking about how the mobile market will effect the current console one.
It will for a while. Will the whole "fad" last though is another story. Only time will tell to see which way the winds blow.

Though with how a lot of the major companies have been screwing themselves up bad on what used to be their bread & butter, its no wonder why a lot of them are running to try and grab a piece of that smartphone market pie, by either developing their own games or licensing their IPs to companies that specialize in making such titles.

The whole F2P business model is making its way into the traditional gaming market too and the thing is apparently its doing not too bad for some titles, tekken being one of the more recent examples.
 
I was really hoping that this whole mobile craze was just a fad, but it looks like its not only here to stay but its killing off actual games. I want to feel sadness for the east since I feel their games are leaps and bounds better than in the west, but after all the shit that SE, Capcom, and Sega pulled this gen its hard for me not to feel like they had it coming.
 
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