I very closely follow the Japanese market, but also discuss it a lot over at Installbase forums.
If you were interested in seeing the top third party publishers in Japan for 2022 and 2021, here are the lists, courtesy of user Nocturnal. Keep in mind these are physical only.
(2022)
(2021)
Konami released eBaseball (Japan only release) this year and Momotaro (2020 Japan only game) is a Switch evergreen title that has sold millions ( sold close to half of the entire Silent Hill series)
I’m surprised Microsoft is actually that high (around 10%) each year. I knew Capcom were doing well but that’s fantastic growth for 2021 (assuming the list is accurate).
Thats the minecraft effect baybee
Considering Vanguard sold 41K physical copies and Modern Warfare did 117K physical copies in Japan it’s almost a guarantee that Microsoft will keep moving up that list too!
Funny that, because CoD used to be published by Sony in Japan. Starting this year it will be published by Activision and distributed by Kadokawa.
damn, either way, I was aware konami was still doing stuff but I had issues in research as a lot was JP exclusive which as a result I didn’t realise they were this big in Japan
how big is CoD in Japan out of curiosity?
I don’t blame you. Most Western gaming journalists still push out that “Konami stopped making games” rhetoric. Really, a lot of Western gaming influencers do not follow the JP market.
First week sales
[PS4] Call of Duty: Vanguard (SIE, 11/05/21) – 28,321
[PS5] Call of Duty: Vanguard (SIE, 11/05/21) – 12,754
Quite weak lately, I know Vanguard was down worldwide but in Japan I don’t expect MW2 to recover CoD that much. These are basically niche JRPG sales
First week sales
[PS4] Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream (Koei Tecmo Games 02/24/22) – 22,104
[NSW] Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream (Koei Tecmo Games, 02/24/22) – 18,912
(That’s a lower selling Atelier game, by the way)
Basically with the dwindling of Playstation there, has caused a dwindling of CoD (and other big Western games there too). By far the biggest Western shooter IP in Japan is Apex Legends thanks to EA’s very aggressive marketing with VTubers. If you want to count Splatoon as a shooter then that just decimates anything else.
On the topic of first person, the JP market actually has a preference for third person. In fact it’s a factor in why RE Village is getting a third person mode update.
Success doesn’t necessarily quantify if a company will sell or not, though. A larger factor would be what they view as their peak earning potential versus the risk of continuing to be independent. As lots of businesses that are successful sell every day.
I would think a bigger part of capcom not being bought is that if you are looking to acquire a studio or publisher in the Japanese market, they have competitors who are more vulnerable and could be had at a cheaper price. So anyone interested in making a purchase in that market would probably look elsewhere first unless whoever buying were specifically wanting to own capcom for some reason.
Instead of paying a premium for capcom you could more reasonably purchase Sega who has a trove of dormant IP. At one time Phantasy Star was up there with Final Fantasy. You could do a collection of those older titles and then Make a new game as kind of a relaunch.
Koei Tecmo could also be had a lot cheaper then a capcom would run you. In a world where elden ring and soulslike games are becoming popular. How popular could a ninja gaiden title be modernized and released.
A team like platinum who has a history of making good sometimes great games but also releasing some cash grab games seems to be on the market with how they talk. Obviously square enix is kind of the golden goose at the moment. As tehy are kind of being bouyed by the success of FF14. There financial outlook would look different minus that game and more specifically yoshi p.
I agree with you that capcom isn’t going to be sold. I just don’t think their current financials have as much to do with it. Obviously they play a role but the market condition and the wants/desires of their competitors have a larger part to do with it in my opinion.
Either way it will be fun to watch the Japanese Market as on paper, and following the trends it seems like that market is next in line for a big shift. As how long can those studios/publshers afford to stay independent when your home market is shrinking due to the rise mobile. so a larger portion of your triple A development sales come from western audiences than ever before.
I can remember a time in japan where people would take off work and you’d see lines down the street for dragon quest and final fantasy releases. However, those days get further and further away from where the Japanese consumer games market currently is each day.
I try to but a lot of info if hard to fine (I am not even that anti Konami being honest, I think how they treated their employees is scummy but Japanese work culture isn’t great regardless and Konami going in the more profitable direction makes sense even if it sucks in some ways…the only part which pisses me off is Konami not letting Kojima go to the game awards, that just felt petty)
damn (I would count splatoon as a shooter but a 3rd person one). That is honestly pretty intresting. I knew apex had a following in Japan
just a question, why? Like shouldn’t this logic apply to the west too where MS bought the biggest player. Not saying you are wrong, just curious for your reasoning here. I would assuming it would come more down to what MS decides to target where price is obviously a factor but not the end all be all
Koie Tecmo is actually around the same price as Capcom and has 1 issue which I even overlooked. The Erikawa Family basically owns a majority share (45.7%) meaning if they don’t want to sell they could probably prevent it fairly easily, escpecially koei tecmo owns 6.29% of itself and on top of that another family (The Kakihara Family) owns 6.72% meaning if those 2 familys don’t want koei to be acquired they have enough power to vote against it
I mean the switch is still selling hand over fist and I believe PC is pretty popular there. Obvious mobile is dominate but that isn’t really shocking since it is dominate in most place if not everywhere since almost everyone owns a phone so I don’t think that is a sign of the downfall of AAA games in that market (just my 2 cent though)
Xbox giving sony a taste of its own medicine, also kinda funny how there is another user similar to thebrightestsun
they straight up threw them under the bus LMAO. Bruh
Microsoft taking absolute shots there at Sony.
Also glad to see further clarification on keeping CoD multiplat.
More discussion of this is in its dedicated thread @
???
I’m also glad they’ve given a fairly clear and definitive answer on the subject of Call of Duty exclusivity. I look forward to this being ignored completely and there being several more months of discussion on whether or not it’ll be exclusive.
dude obviously its just warzone, didn’t you see the secret code
They literally repeated the same talking point as in the blogpost.
They’re just referencing their previous statements…to the word…almost like they have a set response they don’t deviate from. A definitive statement would be issuing a new one. Which they arent.
And they could. It would make this deal open and shut.
I was reading the post on resetera and there was a account with your name
