A feared downturn in the Japanese game market has been confirmed by Japanese print publisher Enterbrain.
According to its figures, reported by ITmedia, the domestic market generated 218.9 billion ($2.31 billion) in revenues from December 29, 2008 to June 28, 2009 - a fall of 24.4 per cent year-over-year. Hardware has suffered a 27.6 per cent drop, with software down 21.8 per cent.
Where the same period last year saw four million-selling games, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, this year has seen none. The latter game remains the country's second-biggest seller in 2009, the biggest being Mario & Luigi RPG 3!!! for DS. In descending order, the runners-up were Yakuza 3, Resident Evil 5, and Wii Fit.
Hardware sales were predictably led by Nintendo's DS (1.62million units), though the Monster Hunter effect saw respectable PSP sales of 1.18million units. Both exceeded home console sales by a considerable margin, the top-selling Wii managing 640,000 units. PS3 (550,000) and Xbox 360 (210,000) came second and third.
It is hoped and widely assumed that the second half of 2009 will see a turnaround, at least for software sales. Dragon Quest IX, for which reservations were being taken last month, is expected to sell in the region of five million copies. Other major upcoming releases include Monster Hunter 3 and Final Fantasy XIII. Wii Sports Resort, meanwhile, with June sales of 360,000, should continue to perform well.
They could be lower... they could have been as low as the original Xbox's sales in Japan :? I think they sold a total of 17 of those in Japan. The 360 has sold at least twice that there :lol:
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