Although the European and American game markets have gradually surpassed Japanese games as the game world progresses, the names “Final Fantasy”, “Resident Evil”, “Pokémon”, “Brave and the Bold” and “Ghostbusters” are still fresh in our minds. Recently, articles on topics such as “Japanese games are no longer hot” have appeared frequently on the Internet, which has also triggered heated discussions among many Japanese game developers. Recently, the British comprehensive daily newspaper The Guardian published a commentary on the Japanese game market (the original title of the article is “Japanese games have 10% of the world market share”), which argues that Japanese-made games have lost their original creativity and that the growing independent development model can revitalize the Japanese market. The article also explains and analyzes from three aspects: “the past and present of Japanese games, the reasons for the decline of Japanese home games, and the future trend of independent development”, and restores the current situation of the Japanese game market in the eyes of a European and American.
The past and present of Japanese games
In 2002, Japan occupied half of the world game market. The PS4 was sold worldwide, but its local release in Japan was three months later than Europe and the U.S. The shift of strategic focus proves that Japan is no longer the core of the world game market. “Final Fantasy”, “Resident Evil” and other Japanese games are already a thing of the past, and the games that have taken the world by storm have now become “Call of Duty”, “Mass Effect The games that have taken the world by storm are now the works of western game makers such as “Call of Duty” and “Mass Effect”.
Final Fantasy” series is already a thing of the past?
More headache is that, although Japanese games have reduced the proportion of the world market, and even Japan itself has shown a weak trend, but Europe and the United States hot gun car ball masterpiece still seems to be unable to penetrate the spiritual barriers of this far east island, the Japanese market is a bit puzzling. In today’s world game market environment, Japan has become an uncompromising “island”.
The reason for the decline of Japanese home games
This topic has been discussed countless times before, and according to the Westerners, there are indeed differences in taste between the East and the West in terms of game themes. Simply speaking, the setting and plot of Japanese games are mainly fantasy, but European and American game makers like to focus on the real world, even if it is the future of science fiction theme works, its style is also very realistic. It must be said that European and American game companies are particularly good at modern warfare to the game, which may be fundamentally caused by the different cultural roots of the East and West.
The Call of Duty series is still very popular
In addition, the Japanese handheld DS and Wii still enjoy high popularity in the world, but they are targeted at light users, or lower age group users, both in terms of function and game software. At the same time, the PS3 and Xbox 360 era, representing the highest function of the home console on the two platforms of Japanese masterpieces but very few, in addition to the high development cost factor, Japanese game developers familiar with the development of the platform is not as fast as the European and American manufacturers. Then look at the PS4 release, the Japanese version of the PS4 was sold in Japan on February 22 this year, the last major market in the world to start selling, about 3 months later than the North American market. As for why the Japanese version of PS4 will be so delayed, Mr. Shuhei Yoshida, president of SCE Global Studios, has publicly stated that Japanese game makers are not quite ready to mass-produce games for PS4.
Independent development will become the future trend
When it comes to development costs, in fact, the problem of soaring development costs does not exist only in Japan, where development costs are often in the millions or even tens of millions, leading to the demise or acquisition of many small companies, and many large Japanese game companies have also merged. This and the general economic weakness of Japan over the years also have an inseparable relationship. In the face of such a situation, the development model of independent games with network funding has quietly emerged. In Europe and the United States, such independent games have become the backbone of the game industry, and a real wave of independent development is expected to emerge in the foreseeable future.
Indie games are mostly sold in the form of online downloads, which do not require a distribution company and are sold in the form of direct sales by developers directly to players, just like apps on cell phones. At the same time, the capital threshold for independent development of games is very low, which allows many independent developers with good ideas to follow suit, and there is no shortage of independent development works of excellent quality, which is a good tonic for players who are used to playing the gun car ball developed by well-known manufacturers with heavy money. European and American media analysis that consumers buy home machines, a large part of the reason is for independent games.
Then look at the Japanese market. Although Japan has a very developed system of renting music, film and television works, it prohibits the rental of games. On the contrary, Japan has a very active market for mid-period games, but this is limited to physical versions of games that can be circulated in the market. It is for all these reasons that indie games are not yet very popular in Japan, are limited by distribution channels, and will not grow much in the foreseeable near future. However, it should be noted that Japan has never been a place lacking in creativity and has a deep cultural heritage of games in Japan, and with the unique culture of the country, the potential independent development power cannot be underestimated. In particular, the BitSummit, an independent developer conference, was held in Kyoto, Japan in March this year. Although it was only the second time the conference was held, it attracted many aspiring Japanese gamers to the event and made a “declaration of entry” to the world market. Microsoft and Sony are the two platform makers, and the biggest expectation for independent game makers is the assistance from the platform. For now, it seems that independent development will be a good medicine to activate the Japanese game market, which has lost its creativity.
