Gaming sales in Japan have seen a massive drop compared with last year.
A 25% decline in year on year sales is nothing to be sneezed at, but that is what the Japanese games market has found itself facing. Market research company Enterbrain released figures this week that showed that software sales had declined by 22% and hardware sales had declined by 28%, averaging out to a 25% decline over all.
One explanation put forward for this plunge is that the start of 2008 saw the release of some very high profile games like Smash Brothers, a factor that 2009 lacked, although it’s hard to imagine a handful of games accounting for such a huge portion of the market.
Is it possible that the novelty of the Wii has started to wear off? The console has seen a dip in sales this year, and without its massive popularity shoring up the market a decline was inevitable. The big question though, is this the end of the decline, or is there more to come?
Source: Kotaku
