Video gaming in Japan

Video gaming in Japan is a major industry. Japanese game development is often identified with the golden age of video games, including Nintendo under Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi, Sega during the same time period, and other companies such as Taito, Namco, Capcom, Square Enix, and Konami, among others.

History

1970s–early 1980s

Prior to producing video games, Japanese companies like Sega, Taito, Namco and Nintendo were producers of electro-mechanical arcade games. Soon after the video game industry began in the early 1970s, many of these companies turned their attention to producing arcade video games. Japan eventually became a major exporter of video games during the golden age of arcade video games, an era that began with the release of Taito's Space Invaders in 1978 and ended around the mid-1980s.[1][2][3]

Japan's involvement in video games dates back to as early as 1971. According to video game historian Martin Picard, "in 1971, Nintendo had – even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States – an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s." The first Japanese arcade video games were released in 1973, Pong clones produced by Taito and Sega, soon followed by original titles, such as Speed Race (1974) and Gun Fight (1975) from Taito's Tomohiro Nishikado; these games were localized by Midway for the North American market. Japan's first home video game console was Epoch's TV Tennis Electrotennis, a wireless home console version of Pong released in September 1975, several months before Atari's own Home Pong. It was followed by the first successful Japanese console, Nintendo's Color TV Game, in 1977. Japan's first personal computers for gaming soon appeared, the Sord M200 in 1977 and Sharp MZ-80K in 1978. Eventually, the 1978 arcade release of Space Invaders would mark the first major mainstream breakthrough for video games, both in Japan and North America.[4]

1980s–early 2000s

Following the North American video game crash of 1983, Japan went on to become the most dominant country within the global video game industry, since the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System and the third generation of consoles. Japan's dominance within the industry would continue for the next two decades, until Microsoft's Xbox consoles began challenging Sony and Nintendo in the 2000s.[5][6][7]

While the Japanese video game industry has long been viewed as console-centric in the Western world, due to the worldwide success of Japanese consoles beginning with the NES, the country had in fact produced thousands of commercial personal computer games from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s, in addition to dōjin soft independent games.[8]

2000s

In the early 2000s, mobile games gained popularity in Japan's mobile phone culture, years before the United States or Europe. By 2003, a wide variety of mobile games were available on Japanese phones, ranging from puzzle games and virtual pet titles that utilized camera phone and fingerprint scanner technologies to 3D games with exceptionally high quality graphics. Older arcade-style games became particularly popular on mobile phones, which were an ideal platform for arcade-style games designed for shorter play sessions. Namco began to introduce mobile gaming culture to Europe in 2003.[9]

In 2002, the Japanese video game industry made up about 50% of the global market; that share has since shrunk to around 10% by 2010.[10] The shrinkage in market share has been attributed to a difference of taste between Japanese and Western audiences,[10][11] and the country's economic recession.[12] Despite declining home console game sales, the overall Japanese gaming industry, as of 2009, is still valued at $20 billion, the largest sector of which are arcade games at $6 billion, in comparison to home console game sales of $3.5 billion and mobile game sales of $2 billion.[13] The Japanese arcade industry has also been steadily declining, however, from ¥702.9 billion in 2007 ($5.94 billion in 2016 dollars) to ¥504.3 billion in 2010[12][14] ($4.29 billion in 2016 dollars). The domestic arcade market's decline has also been attributed to the country's economic recession.[12]

2010s

In recent years, Japanese companies have been criticized for long development times and slow release dates on home video game consoles, their lack of third-party game engines, and for being too insular to appeal to a global market.[15] Yoichi Wada stated in the Financial Times on April 27, 2009 the Japanese gaming industry of having become a "closed environment" and "almost xenophobic."[16] He also stated: "The lag with the US is very clear. The US games industry was not good in the past but it has now attracted people from the computer industry and from Hollywood, which has led to strong growth."[16]

Although Japanese video games often do sell well in Western markets, the reverse is not so in Japan.[17][18][19][20] Foreign games often sell more poorly in Japanese markets due to differences in escapism.[21] However, as detailed above, Japanese games have been becoming less successful in recent years, even in their own country.[22][23][24]

In the present day, Japan is the world's largest market for mobile games.[25] The Japanese market today is becoming increasingly dominated by mobile games, which generated $5.1 billion in 2013, more than traditional console games in the country.[26] The country's traditional console gaming market itself is today largely dominated by handheld game consoles rather than home consoles.[27] In 2014, Japan's game market reached an all-time high of $9.6 billion, with $5.8 billion coming from mobile gaming.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Boxer, Steve (2012-03-02). "Feature: Is Japan's development scene doomed?". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  2. ↑ "Why Japanese Games are Breaking Up With the West from". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  3. ↑ Lah, Kyung (February 8, 2012). "Japan's older generation turns gamers". CNN. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  4. ↑ Martin Picard, The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese video games, International Journal of Computer Game Research, 2013
  5. ↑ Tabuchi, Hiroko (September 20, 2010). "Japanese Playing a New Video Game: Catch-Up". The New York Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  6. ↑ "PAX '07: Japanese Gaming Culture 101 - GameSpot.com". GameSpot. August 26, 2007. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  7. ↑ "GameSpy: Video Game Culture Clash - Page 1". Uk.gamespy.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  8. ↑ John Szczepaniak. "Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 2011-03-29. Reprinted from Retro Gamer (67), 2009
  9. ↑ Hermida, Alfred (28 August 2003). "Japan leads mobile game craze". BBC News. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  10. 1 2 Cieslak, Marc (2010-11-04). "Is the Japanese gaming industry in crisis?". BBC. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  11. ↑ Krotoski, Aleks (2008-10-08). "Tokyo Game Show Day 2: the state of the Japanese industry". Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
  12. 1 2 3 "Market Data". Capcom. October 14, 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  13. ↑ Sambe, Yukiharu (2009). "Japan's Arcade Games and Their Technology". Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Entertainment Computing– ICEC 2009. 5709: 338. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-04052-8_62. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Space invaders: Seniors take over Japan's arcades". GMA Network. January 11, 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "Why do Japanese developers keep us waiting?". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
  16. 1 2 "Square Enix eyes further acquisitions". Financial Times. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  17. ↑ Kent, Steven (April 28, 2004). "Video games that get lost in translation". NBC News. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  18. ↑ Robson, Daniel (June 29, 2011). "Local heroes take Japanese video games to the world". The Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  19. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (August 3, 2011). "Top game designers going social". The Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  20. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (May 2, 2012). "Japan's gamers are starting to shoot 'em up". The Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  21. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (September 5, 2012). "Gunslinging the Japanese way". Japan Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Inafune: Japanese game industry is not fine". = Destructoid. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  23. ↑ Johnson, Stephen (2010-08-09). "Itagaki: japanese game industry dying". G4tv. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  24. ↑ Robinson, Martin (2012-10-10). "The truth about Japan: a postcard from the Japanese games industry". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2013-07-28.
  25. ↑ Negishi, Mayumi (2013-12-11). "Japan Tops World In Mobile Apps Revenue". Wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  26. ↑ Johnson, Erik. "Japanese console market down as mobile gaming takes over | Games industry news | MCV". Mcvuk.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  27. ↑ "Handheld Gaming Continues To Rule in Japan". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  28. ↑ http://gamasutra.com/view/news/246644/Japans_game_market_hits_record_high_as_consoles_decline_and_mobile_grows.php
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