• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Why is Japanese console gaming on the decline? Does anyone find this trend concerning?

Reader mode

Deleted member 37151

Account closed at user request
Banned
Jan 1, 2018
2,038
The Switch is selling loads. Games like Momotaro and Animal Crossing show where the market is: games you can play with your family or in short bursts.

lots of people don't want to play 30 hour solo games anymore where you dominate the TV. It just doesn't fit in with lots of people's lifestyles and living situations. Of course those games will always be there, and lots of people still want to play them. But mainly young people. And Japan increasingly fewer young people.
 
RGB

RGB

Member
Nov 13, 2017
670


Selling to more than 10% of the entire population seems... pretty good? They'll scrape by.
 
Sanka

Sanka

Banned
Feb 17, 2019
5,778
The transition from ps2 to ps3 was fucked. Handhelds took over and from there it was only natural that mobile games would take a huge slice of that audience and create new ones in the process. Small homes, long working hours, lots of commuting, a decrease in focus on the japanese audience are all factors that contributed to the decline of consoles and rise of portable platforms. Hence the switch being such a success.
 
Last edited:
Valkerion

Valkerion

Member
Oct 29, 2017
7,297
Finaika said:
Japanese gamers found nirvana that is PC gaming.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's actually growing thanks to the rise of e-sports here, well Japan finally awknolaging it and wanting to promote themselves in it after all these years of asking lol. As a result a lot of the PC shops and shops that sell PC parts are now stocking large sections dedicated to gaming and gaming gear.

Still though, PC gaming is an expensive investment while gaming itself is largely still viewed and marketed to being for kids. Not to mention on average people here get paid pretty shit with a lot of household debt, but the prices for parts and consoles is pretty similar. Its got an uphill battle no matter what. But the idea that no one is on PC here is the same thinking as "Japan doesn't like FPS/shooters." Which made sense back in the PS1/2 era when those games were garbage on console, but now a days Apex, CoD, and Fortnite are the leading titles.
 
Failburger

Failburger

Banned
Dec 3, 2018
2,455
Mobile games are taking over and why spend many millions to make millions when you can spend less millions to potentially make billions.

Nobody wants story or character progression or engaging gameplay. Nah, people want yo press a button and get that dopamine fix, and maybe even win a 3D model of a underage girl in a bikini.
 
Cyanity

Cyanity

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,345
MeepMerp said:
Why make a proper video game when you can make a shitty phone gacha and make 4x the profit? Gacha killed Japanese games.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Japan's obsession with shitty gacha mobile games is very concerning. Markets all over the world are falling to it. Hopefully new gachas keep failing so that companies know to stay away, but I'm not confident most AAA devs won't fall to it in the coming years.
 
AniHawk

AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,245
Cyanity said:
Japan's obsession with shitty gacha mobile games is very concerning. Markets all over the world are falling to it. Hopefully new gachas keep failing so that companies know to stay away, but I'm not confident most AAA devs won't fall to it in the coming years.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

what do you think loot boxes are?
 
Ailanthium

Ailanthium

Shinra Employee
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,286
Cyanity said:
I don't know if loot boxes are the same thing, but I get where you're coming from. Hopefully new talent keeps cropping up to prop up the spirit of the gaming industry before it all goes to hell
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They're pretty much exactly the same thing with a slightly different skin (hah!). You don't see quite as many western devs use gacha elements in their games after massive backlash with games like Battlefront II, but it's still fairly prevalent in stuff like sports games and F2P games. In some respects, it's funny how much the west seems to have latched onto games like Genshin Impact, considering it has all the same trappings.

Overwatch is the game that got closest to Japanese gachas, in my opinion (at least as far as games I've played). The way they appeal to people is very similar to "waifu/husbando" kind of stuff you find in like, Idolm@ster or Love Live! or Bandori or whatever's popular these days.
 
Lelouch0612

Lelouch0612

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,200
The dedicated video game market is growing. It is has never been better for the past 10 years or so.

The only thing declining is the PS brand and the franchises attached to that ecosystem.

The portable/home console Split is often overblown, the worse selling platform for Sony in Japan is a portable. After a rough start with the PS3, Sony found the durable ingredients to turn things around in the West but not in Japan. (CoD, GTA, 1st party output).
 
CaviarMeths

CaviarMeths

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,655
Western Canada
It's not in decline. In fact, it's growing. The problem is that Nintendo gained market dominance because Sony adamantly refuses to make products that are appealing to Japanese consumers.

Concern trolling about gacha ruining Japanese gaming or ruining lives honestly feels kind of racist.
 
Ferrs

Ferrs

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
18,830
CaviarMeths said:
It's not in decline. In fact, it's growing. The problem is that Nintendo gained market dominance because Sony adamantly refuses to make products that are appealing to Japanese consumers.

Concern trolling about gacha ruining Japanese gaming or ruining lives honestly feels kind of racist.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The fuck has to do with racism?

Gacha/loot boxes/ gambling does ruin games and lives everywhere and it's not about racism.
 
Sadist

Sadist

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,343
Holland
As others have stated, the PlayStation brand has been steadily declining and some of the high profile releases like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Resident Evil, Yakuza and others wit them.

If you check the Media Create threads every weeek (or the sales archives) its shown that the market for traditional gaming is growing; Nintendo is currently reaping the benefits with the Switch. Software wise its Nintendo's traditional games like Animal Crossing, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Smash, Pokémon and many other evergreens like Splatoon 2, Oddysey, Mario Party, Breath of the Wild etc. moving massive numbers. While not being as dominant, tradtional third parties have slowly beginning to understand that their software is finding an audience on Nintendo systems. Konami for example has a massive hit with Momotaro right now and is on its way to selling two million units just in Japan. Other companies like Koei-Tecmo, Nippon Ichi, Capcom, Square-Enix and even smaller publishers are seeing that their multiplatform release are slowly selling better on Nintendo hardware.

The traditional AAA market is the only one not really active on the systeem due to limitations, but with MH Rise releasing it will be massive. There are companies releasing games on the wrong platform domesticly at this point in time.
 
Djehuty

Djehuty

Member
Sep 2, 2020
1,044
you can really tell who lurks on the media creates threads and who doesn't lol.

Edit: greninja'd by 2 pages
 
Last edited:
Mickagau

Mickagau

Member
Dec 11, 2018
2,198
France
I think the Switch success in Japan is not due to the fact it is a console.
It is rather its hybrid nature (thus portable) + small and light form factor as a whole + softwares actually appealing to the Japanese audiences.
Traditional home consoles are on a decline for quite some time now simply because they are not particularly appealing to most of the Japanese audience.
 
Herb Alpert

Herb Alpert

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,035
Paris, France
It's mainly Playstation that's in decline.
Gaming market has been on the rise last year but that's not really healthy cause it's all on the Switch.
 

Deleted member 11008

User requested account closure
Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
6,627
Lelouch0612 said:
The portable/home console Split is often overblown, the worse selling platform for Sony in Japan is a portable. After a rough start with the PS3, Sony found the durable ingredients to turn things around in the West but not in Japan. (CoD, GTA, 1st party output).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The fact the Vita sold worse than PS4 is very interesting. Just being a portable system don't make it that successful, and to thriving they need proper support and exclusives. The Wii U and Vita sold a bit closer to each other, and the Switch feel like have the best features from both systems.

cw_sasuke said:
lol...what ?
Switch is on course to outsell every system everything except the DS.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I wonder how much the Switch being a hybrid have weight on this tendency + games like Ring Fit. If Switch was fully portable it could have sold, at best, close to 3DS, but now should be second next to DS. It's amazing.
 
PachaelD

PachaelD

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,519
Not particularly, since there has been a steady shift over the past decade from console (and handheld) to mobile gaming. Maybe the only difference is whom is surviving at this point.

There was also a similar shift from arcade to console gaming too as formerly powerful arcade developers (Sega, Namco, Capcom) moved on to console.
 
Last edited:
Guaraná

Guaraná

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,053
brazil, unfortunately
Im sorry, but where did you get the idea that the market is declining?

There is ABSOLUTELY NO BASE to claim that.

OP, just so you know: the Playstation brand does not represent the entire market.

Switch is selling almost Nintendo DS levels of units every single month.
 
JuniperAndSage

JuniperAndSage

Member
Dec 27, 2019
6,130
Seattle
Ferrs said:
The fuck has to do with racism?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Super long history of white people and westerners attacking Asians for "corrupting" white people, particularly white youths and white girls, with gambling. Here in the US, white mobs spent a few decades burning down Chinese and Japanese neighborhoods across the American west, claiming they were corrupting white children with vices such as gambling, prostitution, and/or opium. Tucson, Denver, Rock Springs, Billings, etc., all saw entire neighborhood razed to the ground for this. The entire mountain west was essentially stripped of Asian communities, and they largely ended up here on the west coast. You can hear an echo of that same yellow peril BS here everytime folks start talking about Chinese or Japanese gacha games getting kids addicted and ruining their lives.
 
BabyShams

BabyShams

Member
Nov 7, 2017
1,842
I don't give 4 shits where the japanese market is... I buy games I like, I buy game I want, I buy games from USA from EU from Japan from wherever.

If Japan stops making games I like... well fuck. Sucks to be them.
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
I wonder how much their aging demographics play into it as well. I think there were more kids in Japan in the 80s/90s.
 
FantasticMrFoxdie

FantasticMrFoxdie

Member
Oct 26, 2017
16,414
Mushroom Kingdom
Damn some of the bad takes in here are so bad lol

Looking at the bigger picture over the past few generations.. it does make sense.

All the major japanese companies embracing smartphones and the slew of gacha games that have flooded the markets. The major tell should be when Nintendo finally embraced Smartphones. It's a massive market that would be dumb to not capitalize on
 
Glio

Glio

Member
Oct 27, 2017
24,689
Spain
Most of the major third parties in Japan (and Sony) are unable to make games that the Japanese want on the platforms that the Japanese want.

This is probably because the decision makers at Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Sega ... are from a very specific demographic that no longer represents the market. They make games for themselves and the West, not for most Japanese gamers.
 
K Samedi

K Samedi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,991
The problem is triple A content and new hit games from third parties. Japanese gamers have their own tastes and western games don't appeal to that market ad much as games from Japanese developers. The problem is that Japanese developers are not that good at consistently providing AAA games. That's why the Playstation doesn't take off anymore. The console market is hugely underserved in Japan and Nintendo is basically taking over that scene in Japan because they can consistently provide console experiences.
 
Zedark

Zedark

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,719
The Netherlands
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
Damn some of the bad takes in here are so bad lol

Looking at the bigger picture over the past few generations.. it does make sense.

All the major japanese companies embracing smartphones and the slew of gacha games that have flooded the markets. The major tell should be when Nintendo finally embraced Smartphones. It's a massive market that would be dumb to not capitalize on
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nintendo have recently de-emphasised their mobile efforts. And dedicated gaming systems are on the rise compared to last year - it's just that Switch has been growing the market, offsetting declines in PS hardware.
 
Guaraná

Guaraná

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,053
brazil, unfortunately
inner-G said:
I wonder how much their aging demographics play into it as well. I think there were more kids in Japan in the 80s/90s.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Please explain Switch, along with all Nintendo's evergreens, selling so much to a point where people are considering it might catch Nintendo DS.

Perhaps it's not console market that's shrinking, it's playstation relevance.

But hey, you didn't hear it from me.
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
Guaraná said:
Please explain Switch, along with all Nintendo's evergreens, selling so much to a point where people are considering it might catch Nintendo DS.

Perhaps it's not console market that's shrinking, it's playstation relevance.

But hey, you didn't hear it from me.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Switch is the only thing doing well over there console-wise though, it counted for more than 8 out of 10 consoles sold in Japan last year.

Japans population is also aging and shrinking, I mean that is just statistics.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan
 
Guaraná

Guaraná

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,053
brazil, unfortunately
inner-G said:
Switch is the only thing doing well over there console-wise though, it counted for more than 8 out of 10 consoles sold in Japan last year.

Japans population is also aging and shrinking, I mean that is just statistics.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Again, if one console is doing so well that is actually selling to an almost unprecedented level, and the other is selling so poor, perhaps the market is fine, the relevance of this second console that it's not.

You should visit media create threads more.
 
Lelouch0612

Lelouch0612

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,200
inner-G said:
Switch is the only thing doing well over there console-wise though, it counted for more than 8 out of 10 consoles sold in Japan last year.

Japans population is also aging and shrinking, I mean that is just statistics.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging_of_Japan
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
One might say that the gaming population is increasing tho. Kids that were playing videogames in the past decades are more likely to continue playing once they grow up.

A shrinking kids market should have impacted Nintendo the most too.
 
SageShinigami

SageShinigami

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,571
JuniperAndSage said:
Super long history of white people and westerners attacking Asians for "corrupting" white people, particularly white youths and white girls, with gambling. Here in the US, white mobs spent a few decades burning down Chinese and Japanese neighborhoods across the American west, claiming they were corrupting white children with vices such as gambling, prostitution, and/or opium. Tucson, Denver, Rock Springs, Billings, etc., all saw entire neighborhood razed to the ground for this. The entire mountain west was essentially stripped of Asian communities, and they largely ended up here on the west coast. You can hear an echo of that same yellow peril BS here everytime folks start talking about Chinese or Japanese gacha games getting kids addicted and ruining their lives.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Kids are getting addicted and it is ruining lives, this shit a reach. Nevermind "white youths", it's ruining people's lives in Japan. I remember the stories of dudes spending thousands of dollars trying to get a specific character in Granblue Fantasy.
 
HaremKing

HaremKing

Banned
Dec 20, 2018
2,416
Mylatestnovel said:
The Switch is selling loads. Games like Momotaro and Animal Crossing show where the market is: games you can play with your family or in short bursts.

lots of people don't want to play 30 hour solo games anymore where you dominate the TV. It just doesn't fit in with lots of people's lifestyles and living situations. Of course those games will always be there, and lots of people still want to play them. But mainly young people. And Japan increasingly fewer young people.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Exactly.

This is why a lot of the biggest selling Japanese third party titles on Nintendo Switch in Japan: Momotaro, Fishing Spirits, Taiko, etc. are mainly only popular in Japan.

Japan's taste in video games and the taste outside Japan is very, very, very different.
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.