Japan's economy is going through some rough times due to the global financial crisis and the yen's high valuation. Unsurprisingly, the country's gaming business took a large hit in 2008. According to the AFP:
"Sales of video games and consoles in Japan dropped 15.3 percent last year compared with 2007 to 582.6 billion yen (6.26 billion dollars), according to magazine publisher Enterbrain, which tracks the sales. In 2008, Nintendo sold 2.91 million Wii consoles in Japan, easily trumping Sony which sold 991,000 PS3s, Enterbrain said. Nintendo also enjoyed sales of 4.03 million DS handheld consoles in its home market last year, while Sony sold 3.54 million PlayStation Portables, it added. Microsoft logged sales of just 318,000 Xbox 360s last year in Japan, where the US software giant has had a tough time winning over gamers."
What's most interesting here is Nintendo's performance, which is simply remarkable given the economic conditions. The Wii continues to dominate. Despite a highly saturated market, the Nintendo DS did amazingly well. The article doesn't mention Nintendo's new DSi handheld, which has seen great sales since its November release. Sony's PSP sales were excellent too, which makes me laugh when people say stupid things like "the PSP is doomed!". You know what, I think I ought to address that particular issue....
Comments are Closed
Comments