Most “powerful” Japanese video game companies

Business

January 21, 2014

Japanese culture might seem a little “crazy” to our prosaic western sensibilities, but the country is a cornerstone of the global gaming industry, and so we pay attention when Japanese gaming things happen.

With the flailing Nintendo and confident Sony, it’s a very interesting time for the Japanese video game industry.

As reported by DualShockers, who have done the hard work of crunching the numbers, here are the most powerful Japanese gaming companies.

The list is generated by Japanese business and economy magazine Toyo Keizai, who ranks 2,000 Japanese companies based on growth, profitability, safety, and scale to come up with their economic power rating.

The score scale for each category ranges from 500 to 1,000.

126th – Namco Bandai – Last year’s position: 442nd
157th – Broccoli – Last year’s position: not ranked
173rd – Nihon Falcom – Last year’s position: 215th
292nd – Sony – Last year’s position: 163rd
318th – Capcom – Last year’s position: 701st
363rd – Sega – Last year’s position: 133rd
363rd – Marvelous AQL – Last year’s position: not ranked
390th – Tecmo Koei – Last year’s position: 451st
567th – Konami – Last year’s position: 355th
1647th – Nintendo – Last year’s position: 219th

While it’s great to see Namco Bandai reigning as the top Japanese gaming company, the most obvious movements are with Nintendo and Sony.

Nintendo is battling with terrible financial results in recent years, catalysed by its poor Wii U sales performance. This has seen it plummet down the list to 1647th from its position last year at 219th.

Interestingly, Sony has also slipped down the ranking. Although the launch of its PS4 console has been a great success, more broadly speaking, the company is struggling in other areas of consumer electronics and with its movie-making business.

It’s sad to note that Square Enix, who is also struggling with company restructuring and financial woes, has completely dropped off the list.

Top entrants, Broccoli and Nihon Falcom show that the internal Japanese anime and RPG market is going strong, as these companies respectively specialise in these areas.