In the West, the video game market is growing. In Japan, it is not. As with 2008, the domestic Japanese market size has been on a downward slide, getting smaller and smaller.
In data collected by Famitsu publisher Enterbrain between December 12, 2008 and December 27, 2009, both hardware and software sales were down. Software sales did stiffen up in the second half of the year.
Comparisons from 2007 ~ 2009 below — 100 yen equals 1.09 USD at time of posting.
2007 Market Size (Figures Are Approximate) Hardware: ¥327.41 billion Software: ¥360.54 billion Total: ¥687.95 billion
2008 Market Size (Figures Are Approximate) Hardware: ¥250.5 billion Software: ¥332.12 billion Total: ¥582.61 billion
2009 Market Size (Figures Are Approximate)
Hardware: ¥216.49 billion
Software: ¥326.16 billion
Total: ¥542.64 billion
Hardware sales were down 13.6 percent, and the sum total of hardware and software sales decreased 6.9 percent. While software sales were down 24.4 percent in the first part of 2009, software sales were pushed up 10.4 percent, powered by eagerly anticipated titles like Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII.