The domestic video game market in Japan shrunk by 10.5 percent in the first half of fiscal 2009, according to new data from Famitsu publisher Enterbrain.
The report,
translated by consumer weblog Kotaku, shows a 15.1 percent drop in hardware revenues alongside a 7.5 percent drop in hardware sales between March 31 and September 28, 2009.
The shrinking Japanese market has led numerous publishers to take a hard look at globalization strategy, Western design methodologies and tools, and products with more worldwide appeal. Many Japanese companies increasingly look to Western acquisitions to gain a bigger foothold outside their shores, as Square Enix did with Eidos.
First-half and life-to-date unit sales for hardware platforms in Japan are as follows:
Nintendo DS (all models)
6MO: 1,698,818
LTD: 27,851,784
PSP
6MO: 813,604
LTD: 12,618,193
Wii
6MO: 594,398
LTD: 8,547,552
PlayStation 3
6MO: 581,676 units
LTD: 3,591,071 units
Xbox 360
6MO: 137,059 units
LTD: 1,138,250 units
According to the report, the top five software titles by units were
Dragon Quest IX (DS, 3.92 million), Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS, 2.06 million), Wii Sports Resort (Wii, 1.19 million), Tomodachi Collection (DS, 1.15 million) and Monster Hunter 3 (Wii, 908,693).
