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The Japanese Console And Handheld Market Is The Lowest Its Been In 24 Years

famitsu-japanese-market-2014

Japanese gaming publication Famitsu has revealed that the Japanese handheld and console video game market is currently at the lowest it has been in 24 years. The reason is the advent of smartphone and tablet devices which have taken off in Japan by a staggering amount. Traditional consoles and handhelds have taken a significant hit because of this. It should be noted that consoles are performing well in the west as Sony announced yesterday that they’ve sold 18.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide. Here’s the best-selling software and hardware in Japan during last year.

Famitsu Top 10 2014

01. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 2: Ganso / Honke (Level 5) {2014.07.10} (¥4.937) – 3,050,178
02. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire (Pokemon Co.) {2014.11.21} (¥4.937) – 2,464,850
03. [3DS] Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate # (Capcom) {2014.10.11} (¥6.264) – 2,381,177
04. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2014.09.13} (¥5.616) – 2,066,022
05. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 2: Shin Uchi (Level 5) {2014.12.13} (¥4.968) – 2,007,327
06. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch (Level 5) {2013.07.11} (¥4.800) – 994,346 / 1,280,799
07. [WIU] Mario Kart 8 # (Nintendo) {2014.05.29} (¥6.156) – 842,053
08. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru to Ruka no Fushigi na Fushigi na Kagi # (Square Enix) {2014.02.06} (¥5.490) – 748,139
09. [3DS] Kirby Triple Deluxe (Nintendo) {2014.01.11} (¥4.800) – 687,957
10. [WIU] Super Smash Bros. for Wii U # (Nintendo) {2014.12.06} (¥7.776) – 478,366

Hardware 2014:

3DS – 3,153,045 / 17,847,056
PSV – 1,147,936 / 3,423,075
PS4 – 925,570
Wii U – 604,856 / 2,123,283
PS3 – 450,034 / 10,018,534
One – 45,958

Thanks, Jacob

32 thoughts on “The Japanese Console And Handheld Market Is The Lowest Its Been In 24 Years”

  1. SirIsaac Newton of Judah

    This too shall pass. Like Britney Spears and other pop nonsense, smartphone gaming shall be intriguing for a little while longer. Then the Companies with mettle shall game on. Nintendo and …..? shall remain.

    F=ma.

    1. Except pop is still going strong. And rock is all but dead. See how things progress and change? You sound like the people that said DVDs were dumb and vhs will live forever, lol.

  2. Wii U and mainly 3DS software dominated. 3DS dominated the hardware charts and what was that about Vita and Wii U being doomed??? This chart begs to differ…

    1. If you weren’t roleplaying you would sound like a psychopath… Naah I’m jk, you already sound like one ;)

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  4. When the 3DS is the only console having sales over 100K, yeah it is a little worrying. Some consoles are doing OK, but could be better and some are doing plain bad.

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  7. I blame phones taking a chunk out of the market. There were even game devs that said PSVita will fail. people only want one thing in their pocket and that’s a phone. Nintendo is smart to aim for every age including children.

  8. curious how the PS4 still placed in front of the wii u
    wasn’t it mostly behind it in the weekly stats? this week is no different after all

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