The Japanese Videogames Market Is Shrinking

Enterbrain, the company that compiles weekly sales charts of software and hardware in Japan, and publishes the gaming magazine Famitsu, has just released some very unsettling numbers regarding the said market.

According to its figures, the videogames market shrank in Japan from March 2008 to March 2009 by no less than 17.4%. The overall value went from 6.79 billion dollars to 5.54 million dollars, which is quite a significant drop.

The biggest fall was registered in the hardware department, as it makes sense that customers would not buy an expansive gaming console in an economic downturn. Sales went from 3.18 to 2.32 billion dollars, with the Nintendo DS being the best piece of hardware, at 4 million sold, while the PlayStation Portable followed with 3.23 million.

The only home gaming console to sell more than 1 million over the same period was the Nintendo Wii, with 2.57 million moved. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 3 sold 999,903 units in the same period while the Xbox 360 managed to double its sales but only reached 398,633 consoles moved in one year. The people at Sony must be very annoyed about the fact that their console ended up just below the 1 million mark.

Sales of videogames also went down, but by a lesser amount, reaching a value of 3.22 billion, coming down from 3.61. The biggest game in Japan over the course of the year tracked was Pokemon Platinum for the Nintendo DS, which moved 2.37 million copies. Number two went to Mario Kart Wii, with 2.20 million units sold in 12 months. Rhythm Heaven Gold managed to sell 1.65 million copies, reaching number three, while Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G registered 1.62 million units, followed by Wii Fit at number five. The first three games in the chart were released in the period that Enterbrain tracked.