Top Japanese game companies such as Sega, Capcom and Konami are reported to be drastically scaling back their releases of games for console platforms, whilst drastically scaling up their output of games for mobile phones and social networking services.
Sega has said its releases of console titles will drop from 66 in 2010 to 56 in 2011, whilst it will expand its releases of games for smartphones and social networking sites from 6 to 39.
Capcom is reducing its home console releases to 55 in fiscal 2011, down by 17 titles over the previous year. It too has announced a series of high profile SNS and mobile game releases.
Konami is keeping the number of its console releases stable, but has increased its social and smartphone game releases by 20 over the same time last year.
Square Enix also seems to be following a similar strategy, and has a distinctly unimpressive console line-up for 2011.
Even Atlus has been dissolved and is now only a brand owned by a mobile phone software development company, with predictable consequences for its releases.
The (business) appeal of free to play games designed for casual users is succinctly described by the CEO of Electronic Arts:
At the end of [2011], the digital business is bigger than the packaged goods business, full stop. No questions in my mind.
Then, you know, I think that we’ll find ways to even sell our packaged goods content in chunks and in pieces and subscriptions and micro-transactions.
Our highest ARPU (average revenue per user) are free-to-play games among paying users. You think about that and say, ‘how can a free game be the game they pay the most for?’
We have people who are giving us $5,000 in a month to play FIFA Ultimate Team. And it’s free. Dirty little secret.
In the face of such a huge number of imbecilic rubes shelling out vast sums for the crudest games seen for decades, it is no wonder they are keen for their share of the revenues.
However, unlike EA many of the major Japanese game companies seem to be having a great deal of difficulty keeping pace with the international gaming market – whereas EA and company appear to be hungrily entering a new market, the Japanese companies instead seem to be fleeing both their lack of success overseas and a shrinking domestic market.
Unfortunately, producing even fewer home console games and instead pinning their hopes on developing awful mobile and social games only seems likely to accelerate the atrophy of their remaining competitive strength, and the decline of the Japanese gaming market as a whole.
sega? why?
Japan is doomed! Seriously are people really busting their balls to play mobile phone games? It seems unthinkable to this retro gamer here.
I haven’t seen anything here I haven’t seen before. The phone market it growing rapidly, anyone could have told you that. Of course game companies are going to jump on the wagon. As for all the crappy lineup’s and loss of games, 2011 for me is going to be epic. I have a list of games I cannot wait for. None of them are for a phone. I’ve seen plenty of years where companies have hardly put out anything, or they put out s♥♥t. That doesnt mean its doom and gloom. Don’t abandon the industry now because the time’s changing, it will right itself.
I hope you guys know that these games – the casual fare – are what finances your big budget HD games.
And it’s funny, because those same big budget HD games are the cause of the problem themselves; they cost so much to produce, that it takes a crazy amount of sales to break even.
See Ubisoft and Red Dead Redemption for example.
Nobody is forcing you to play these games, however, you should know that they play a vital part in the industry (nowadays).
i dont think most people here have seen the mobiles Japan has. Fricken badass monster phones. They are pretty big too (people watch TV on them), if the game companies actually tried a decent phone game is possible
and i dont see how capcom will ditch consoles when its got monster hunter. P3rd just sold 4 million copies in 1 month =)