Japanese Game Sales and Demographics

A study of the influence of culture on the video game market

1989-2005

Prior to 2005 Games

Many of the top selling games are based on popular television series and established video

game franchises, despite some being rated poorly

1996 DBZ (ultimate battle 22) sells in the top 100 with a Metacritic rating of 25/100

1997 DBZ Final Bout sells in the top 100 Despite Metacritc rating of 30/100 2001 Gundam Zeonic Front sells in the top 100 with an IGN rating of 6.5/10 2002 Unlimited Saga sells in the top 50 with a Metacritic rating of 45/100

Prior to 2005 Games cont’d

Nintendo is Japan’s Top Selling Publisher Since 1989 Nintendo has sold more titles every year then any other

publisher in Japan Pokemon hits critical mass 1996 Pocket Monsters is introduced, selling over 2.5 million copies in

Japan alone. The series as a whole has sold over 30 million copies in Japan alone since it’s inception

Through 1996 SNES games dominate sales Through 1996 SNES leads the way in software sales followed in a distant

second by the Gameboy.

Shift in Focus? In 1997 Gameboy software sales more then double from 4.3 million units to

10 million units

Prior to 2005 Games Cont’d

By 2005 Combined sales of GBA and DS Games tops PS2 game sales

2005 is the first year where portable systems sell more games then home console games in Japan. Led by more traditional “girl games” such as Nintendogs, Tamagotchi, and Brain Age. Coincidentally a massive expansion of the Japanese rail system occurs in March of 2004 with the opening of the Kagoshima to Yatsushiro line which cut the travel time between the cities from 1:30 to just 35 minutes.

Top selling categories Prior to 2005 the top selling video game categories included

RPG’s, Fighting Games, and Racing Games

Top Chart: Software Sales in 1996 | Bottom Chart: Software Sales in 2005

2005 - Present

2005 – Present Games

Nintendo Revolutionizes the Market With the release of the Nintendo Wii in 2006 Nintendo looked to

capitalize on game play innovations instead of graphical enhancements. Having sold over 24 million titles thus far

No Xbox or Xbox 360 titles crack the top 100 in sales

Being outsold by PS2 consoles at a 2 to 1 ratio and just barely topping sales of Dreamcast, Microsoft has yet to publish a game that cracks the top 100 sales list in Japan. A feat which would be difficult considering only 760,000 Xbox 360 consoles have been sold in Japan.

2005 – Present Games Cont’d

• Portable Games Becoming Dominant• With the release of the Playstation Portable and Nintendo DS,

coupled with the busy lifestyles of Japanese gamers, the portable systems have begun to outsell the major consoles.

• As of August 2008 the Nintendo DS has sold over 108 million games, while Sony’s PSP has sold over 20 million titles. Compare this to the combined total of all next gen systems tallying up to roughly 35 million units.

• Top selling categories• The top selling game categories include, Role Playing Games, Brain

Training games, Fighting games and the new Active Games Genre (including wii play, wii fit, wii music)

1,783,496Pokemon PlatinumDs

1,794,496Super Smash Bros BrawlWii

1,827,404Wii FitWii

2,501,135Monster Hunter Freedom

2nd GenerationPSP

SalesTitleSystem

Demographic Information

There is very little information about Japanese gamer demographics. The little that is known is based on game sales and

supported with cultural influences

What Can Be Determined?

• Females, both young and old play video games.

• According to a recent study involving women over the age of 50 showed that 41% of those asked had a game machine in their house. Of that 41%, 68% used it occasionally or more frequently.

• Games like Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Animal Crossing, and Wii Fit are very popular among Japanese Women and Girls. It then may surprise you that they are also some of the top selling games in Japan.

What Can Be Determined? Cont’d

The typical Japanese gamer enjoys story over action.

With Role Playing Games consistently selling at the top of the Japanese charts, and Games like Halo and Gears of War not cracking 1 million sales overall, it’s pretty clear that Japanese gamers prefer a good story.

Brand Loyalty is very strong Japanese gamers purchase games based on their favorite

television series, regardless of the apparent quality of the title. That’s certainly a strong sense of loyalty.

This can also be seen with the lack of Xbox sales, brand loyalty to Sony and Nintendo is very strong.

What Can Be Determined? Cont’d

Japanese Gamers Purchase Portable Games

It’s been shown time and time again, Japanese consumers have purchased portable games at a ratio of over 3 to 1 since 2005.

United States Game Sales and Demographics

2006 Game Sales Sports and Shooter games high on best-

selling charts Madden NFL 07 sells 3.1 mill units

on PS2 and 1.3 mill on Xbox360 Gears of War sells 2.0 mill units on

Xbox360 Also a mixture of other genres within top

ten Role-playing, puzzle, musical,

simulation, platform

2006 Game Sales – Top Ten

*Numbers from VGChartz.com

2007 Game Sales Wii games becomes more popular

and frequent on best-selling charts Wii Sports sells 7.3 mill units Wii Play sells 4.3 mill units Super Mario Galaxy sells 2.5 mill

units Other noteworthy titles

Halo 3 sold over $170 million on its first day of release

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare has sold over 7 million copies worldwide

2007 Game Sales – Top Ten

*Numbers from VGChartz.com

2007 ESA Report: Best-Selling Genres

Top 4: Action, Family Entertainment, Sport Games, Shooter

2008 Game Sales Wii begins to dominate top-selling

charts Wii Sports sells 6.4 mill units Super Smash Bros Brawl sells 4.1

mill units Mario Kart Wii sells 3.4 mill units Wii Play sells 3.2 mill units Wii Fit sells 2.7 mill units Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

sells 1.3 mill units

2008 Game Sales Popular Action and Shooter

games ranked high Grand Theft Auto IV sells

3.9 mill units and takes in over $500 million in its first week

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sells 1.8 mill units

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots sells 1.3 mill units

2008 Game Sales – Top Ten

*Numbers from VGChartz.com

Demographics - Overall

Consumer Level 65% of American households invested in

computer or video games 38% of homes own a video game console

Player Profiles Average age of players is 35 Adult gamers have been playing games for

an average of 13 years 26% of gamers are age 50 or older

Games Aren’t Only for Kids!

Demographics - Gender 40% of players are female 60% of players are male Percentage of women has

increased from 33 to 38 over last 5 years

Frequent adult male players average 15 years of gaming, and females average 12

33% of the playing population is female gamers age 18 or over

18% of the playing population is male gamers age 17 or under

Compare And Contrast

Why are we different?

Top-selling Games

Culture influences game sales more than anything

Culture

The U.S. Was founded on freedom and independence

Grand Theft Auto, Mercenaries, Saints Row

Player is not forced to experience the game through the

designers eyes;

players can develop their own emergent play

Culture - Freedom

Metal Gear Solid 3 Camera system

Original had fixed camera

Critics complained, Subsistence was released with

free camera.

Culture - freedom

For most but not all..

Japanese Gamers prefer experiencing the designers

creation

American gamers prefer creating their own experiences

Culture

Character Archetypes

Marcus Phoenix vs. Cloud

Similar Top-Selling Games

What do we agree on?

Everyone Loves Nintendo in some way

They Suite Hard-Core and Casual Gamers alike

Final Fantasy I – XII

Metal Gear Solid

Niche Gamers

Fact: Not all Japanese think Microsoft is the devil and exists solely for the purpose of delivering bad games.

There are Japanese gamers who love certain

American games just as we love Japanese games