Japanese games market shows first growth in two years

Solid 3DS sales help ailing market claw its way back

Chris KempJune 30, 2012

People have had a lot to say about Japanese games of late, with the likes of Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima discussing his culture’s flawed approach to game design.

However, the Japanese games market appears to be coming out of its two year slump, as new data suggests that the first six months of 2012 show a 0.7 percent increase from the first half of 2011. It’s not a lot, but it’s an upward trend for the first time in two years. Sales data gathered by Enterbrain shows an increase from 192 billion yen to 193.4 billion yen.

It seems a lot of this new success can be attributed to the PS Vita and the Nintendo 3DS, which managed to ship 2.2 million units in Japan since the beginning of the year to the Vita’s 350,000. Due to the long commutes on public transport, handheld systems are wildly popular in Japan. The PS3 did however manage to bring in 700,000 sales, making it leader of the pack in home consoles.

Unfortunately the market is continuing to suffer from low home console sales, as no one wants to buy in to the old generation with new technology just around the corner. This led to a fall in hardware figures from 79.81 billion yen in 2011 to 70.73 billion this year.

Software however is stronger than ever, with a climb of 9.4 percent to 123 billion yen. The golden goose that is Pokemon continued to lay, with Pokemon Black & White 2 racking up an astonishing 1.6 million units shipped in its first two weeks.