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Overseas sales of Japanese content increased by over 1 trillion yen in 2023, carried primarily by console games and anime

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
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Overseas sales of Japanese entertainment grew from 4.68 to 5.77 trillion yen (over $38 billion) in 2023, which is an increase of over 1 trillion yen ($6.6 billion) compared to the previous year). This is according to a report published by Japanese market database Human Media on December 3 (via PR Times).

While 2022 was already a record-breaking year for the Japanese content industry, which generated a revenue comparable to the country’s steel industry, it seems 2023 brought the largest leap in profits to date. The graph below shows the progressive yearly growth of overseas sales from 2012 to 2023.

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What stands out in this report is that most of the growth is attributed to the success of console games and anime (colored blue and light green respectively on the graph), whereas content such as live-action films, TV programs and even manga “remained flat.” Moreover, sales of mobile and PC games reportedly declined compared to the previous year.

The report accounts for profit coming from licensing, distribution via overseas subsidiaries, as well as e-commerce from Japan to overseas. Data related to music content is not accounted for.

On a related note, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has positioned anime and video games at the core of its strategy to quadruple the market value of Japan’s content industry by 2033. To this end, the government is drawing up an action plan to further the development of these industries, which includes things like improving working conditions for creators.

 

Isa

Member
Space Force Im Doing My Part GIF


I'm interested in seeing how 2024 does as it seemed even more prevalent. I've gotten a bunch of manga, a few figures, a ton of doujin art/manga/hentai, old TV shows(Sakuban Dekas, Space Sheriff Shaider). Honestly its great to see and I hope the future holds more success for the people of that beautiful nation.
 

Bernardougf

Member
Yeah being playing more and more Asian titles since last year .... something in modern western gaming is not clicking with my tastes ... I wonder what it is 🤔😏
 

Mayar

Member
While Western developers are in decline and making some kind of incomprehensible nonsense with games, Asia has been practically carrying the entire industry on its back this entire year.
Therefore, the result is not at all surprising.
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
While Western developers are in decline and making some kind of incomprehensible nonsense with games, Asia has been practically carrying the entire industry on its back this entire year.
Therefore, the result is not at all surprising.
Then again, the console-market is carried by Playstation, which is Western focused nowadays.
 
Then again, the console-market is carried by Playstation, which is Western focused nowadays.
Capcom, Square-Enix, Atlus, FromSoftware, etc are all over Playstation. Even Konami now. We also got Stellar Blade (Korea) and Rise of the Ronin (Japan) there this year.
What are the 3rd party game releases from the east that aren't coming out on Playstation?

Not just Japan but also Korea. Everyone calls PlayStation GashaStation for a reason. All games are available there.
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
Well, that's not quite true, if we take software sales, Nintendo sells significantly more games than Sony. And this is despite the general trend of declining sales of the Switch console itself, all over the world =)
But the industry is more than just software sales:

"
Key Players in the Global Gaming Consoles Market Statistics
Three major brands primarily dominate the global gaming console market.
PlayStation holds the largest market share at 45%, underscoring its strong position and popularity among consumers.
Nintendo follows with a significant share of 27%, reflecting its enduring appeal and innovative offerings.
Xbox captures 23% of the market, indicating a solid presence and loyal customer base.
Other brands collectively account for the remaining 5% of the market. Highlighting the competitive landscape within the gaming console industry."

 

Mayar

Member
But the industry is more than just software sales:

"
Key Players in the Global Gaming Consoles Market Statistics
Three major brands primarily dominate the global gaming console market.
PlayStation holds the largest market share at 45%, underscoring its strong position and popularity among consumers.
Nintendo follows with a significant share of 27%, reflecting its enduring appeal and innovative offerings.
Xbox captures 23% of the market, indicating a solid presence and loyal customer base.
Other brands collectively account for the remaining 5% of the market. Highlighting the competitive landscape within the gaming console industry."

In terms of market control, yes, Sony is still on top, this generation was extremely successful for them, most likely Nintendo will bite off a little more from them at the beginning of next year due to the release of Switch 2, but I think in terms of the market they will remain the leaders, the gap will just shrink. Although everything will of course depend on the price that Nintendo asks for Switch 2, the cheaper the more they will take a piece from Sony =)
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
Capcom, Square-Enix, Atlus, FromSoftware, etc are all over Playstation. Even Konami now. We also got Stellar Blade (Korea) and Rise of the Ronin (Japan) there this year.
What are the 3rd party game releases from the east that aren't coming out on Playstation?

Not just Japan but also Korea. Everyone calls PlayStation GashaStation for a reason. All games are available there.
Sure, but what are the most played games on Playstation?

Out of the top 20 most played games on PS5, 19 are Western games.

Playstation Studios consists of mostly Western studios.
 
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Sakura

Member
It looks like most of the growth is driven by online console games. What games is this referring to? Is a game with online functionality counted here, like Elden Ring or something?
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
In terms of market control, yes, Sony is still on top, this generation was extremely successful for them, most likely Nintendo will bite off a little more from them at the beginning of next year due to the release of Switch 2, but I think in terms of the market they will remain the leaders, the gap will just shrink. Although everything will of course depend on the price that Nintendo asks for Switch 2, the cheaper the more they will take a piece from Sony =)
True, I think there will be healthy competition between Playstation and Nintendo.
They can coexist and both be successfull.
 

Mayar

Member
True, I think there will be healthy competition between Playstation and Nintendo.
They can coexist and both be successfull.
Nintendo has effectively squeezed Sony out of the Japanese market, Sony still has sales there, but not nearly as much as they would like, if Switch 2 has a suitable price they can finally squeeze Sony out of Japan, it is the second largest market after the US, and then they just need to build on their success in the US market and create competition there. Everything will depend entirely on them. That's why I think 2025-26 will be very interesting, it's not for nothing that rumors about portable consoles from Sony and Microsoft have started to spread, it's a reaction to Nintendo's growing expansion :messenger_grinning:
 

Killjoy-NL

Gold Member
Nintendo has effectively squeezed Sony out of the Japanese market, Sony still has sales there, but not nearly as much as they would like, if Switch 2 has a suitable price they can finally squeeze Sony out of Japan, it is the second largest market after the US, and then they just need to build on their success in the US market and create competition there. Everything will depend entirely on them. That's why I think 2025-26 will be very interesting, it's not for nothing that rumors about portable consoles from Sony and Microsoft have started to spread, it's a reaction to Nintendo's growing expansion :messenger_grinning:
It will definitely be interesting to see what will happen.

But honestly, I think Xbox can be left out. They're irrelevant as a competitor.
 

Mayar

Member
It will definitely be interesting to see what will happen.

But honestly, I think Xbox can be left out. They're irrelevant as a competitor.
They are doing well, they said it themselves - All consoles and devices are Xbox so they are happy with the results :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

Felessan

Member
Well, that's not quite true, if we take software sales, Nintendo sells significantly more games than Sony. And this is despite the general trend of declining sales of the Switch console itself, all over the world =)
You are mixing Sony/Nintendo and Playstation/Switch here.
Nintendo rely on their own games and sold more of them. Sony relies on 3rd party and it's 3rd party that maintain success/market control of playstation.

most likely Nintendo will bite off a little more from them at the beginning of next year due to the release of Switch 2
Next year will do nothing as early sales of Switch2 will be from migration from Switch and not new people

Nintendo has effectively squeezed Sony out of the Japanese market, Sony still has sales there, but not nearly as much as they would like, if Switch 2 has a suitable price they can finally squeeze Sony out of Japan
It has nothing to do with Nintendo. Nintendo themselves just hiding in a corner against mobile market.
 
Nintendo has effectively squeezed Sony out of the Japanese market, Sony still has sales there, but not nearly as much as they would like, if Switch 2 has a suitable price they can finally squeeze Sony out of Japan, it is the second largest market after the US, and then they just need to build on their success in the US market and create competition there. Everything will depend entirely on them. That's why I think 2025-26 will be very interesting, it's not for nothing that rumors about portable consoles from Sony and Microsoft have started to spread, it's a reaction to Nintendo's growing expansion :messenger_grinning:
What do you mean "squeeze Sony out of Japan"? Japan is PS5's 2nd or 3rd biggest market in hardware sales lmao. Yes it's not doing Switch numbers but let's not pretending it's not an important market for Sony.
 

Mayar

Member
You are mixing Sony/Nintendo and Playstation/Switch here.
Nintendo rely on their own games and sold more of them. Sony relies on 3rd party and it's 3rd party that maintain success/market control of playstation.


Next year will do nothing as early sales of Switch2 will be from migration from Switch and not new people


It has nothing to do with Nintendo. Nintendo themselves just hiding in a corner against mobile market.
We will see what will happen next year, I just stated my assumptions, nothing more, I am not an analyst and I am not nominating for this position.
And no one is hiding from the mobile market, it is physically impossible to hide from it, let's say so while consoles are fighting wars with PCs, the mobile market is slowly devouring both of them, and so far no one can stop it.
And financiers only predict its growth until 2027, that is, they expect that the mobile market will put even more pressure on consoles and PCs in the coming years.
 

Mayar

Member
What do you mean "squeeze Sony out of Japan"? Japan is PS5's 2nd or 3rd biggest market in hardware sales lmao. Yes it's not doing Switch numbers but let's not pretending it's not an important market for Sony.
I wrote that they have sales there, but I am more than sure that they would like a much better result. You can basically go and see all the sales through Famitsu
  1. Switch OLED Model – 48,373 (8,261,305)
  2. Switch Lite – 14,432 (6,232,233)
  3. PlayStation 5 Pro – 10,128 (102,092)
  4. PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 9,346 (877,915)
  5. Switch – 6,330 (19,950,011)
  6. PlayStation 5 – 6,099 (5,277,120)
If you add up all the versions of PS5 including PRO which just came out, you will get 25,573
But they manage to sell 48,373 Switch OLEDs in Japan, which is almost twice as many as all the PS5s combined (and we haven't even added the other Switch versions), despite the fact that the console is actually at the end of its life cycle. And I don't think Sony is happy with this picture.
 

Felessan

Member
We will see what will happen next year, I just stated my assumptions, nothing more, I am not an analyst and I am not nominating for this position.
And no one is hiding from the mobile market, it is physically impossible to hide from it, let's say so while consoles are fighting wars with PCs, the mobile market is slowly devouring both of them, and so far no one can stop it.
And financiers only predict its growth until 2027, that is, they expect that the mobile market will put even more pressure on consoles and PCs in the coming years.
Actually it stopped devour in terms of stealing playerbase and started to converge and Playstation is the biggest winner of it currently.
The rise of Starrail & co might even propel PS to old heights in Japan if/when we finally see a proper AAA mobile made in Japan.
 

Mayar

Member
Actually it stopped devour in terms of stealing playerbase and started to converge and Playstation is the biggest winner of it currently.
The rise of Starrail & co might even propel PS to old heights in Japan if/when we finally see a proper AAA mobile made in Japan.
I'm not interested in console wars in principle, I have all consoles and I play both Sony and Nintendo games. So I'll be a winner in any situation :messenger_grinning:
As for the mobile market, whatever will be will be, either it will eventually devour everything alive, or it will burst like a bubble.
 
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Felessan

Member
As for the mobile market, whatever will be will be, either it will eventually devour everything alive, or it will burst like a bubble.
Mobile games will eat most of the pie and other will be a new "wargames"
But consoles as hardware medium will be just fine
Take Fortnite for example - it is a mobile game. But it mostly played on Playstation. Mobile makes games popular and accessible - you can play anywhere anytime on a device always at hand. But home consoles provide superior experience - big screen, comphy chair, precise control and enchanced IQ.
So games that support cross play, and AAA mobile go into this direction - they are played on the go, but at home phone is put away and play continued on consoles/PC.
 

Woopah

Member
Nintendo has effectively squeezed Sony out of the Japanese market, Sony still has sales there, but not nearly as much as they would like, if Switch 2 has a suitable price they can finally squeeze Sony out of Japan, it is the second largest market after the US, and then they just need to build on their success in the US market and create competition there. Everything will depend entirely on them. That's why I think 2025-26 will be very interesting, it's not for nothing that rumors about portable consoles from Sony and Microsoft have started to spread, it's a reaction to Nintendo's growing expansion :messenger_grinning:
You are mixing Sony/Nintendo and Playstation/Switch here.
Nintendo rely on their own games and sold more of them. Sony relies on 3rd party and it's 3rd party that maintain success/market control of playstation.


Next year will do nothing as early sales of Switch2 will be from migration from Switch and not new people


It has nothing to do with Nintendo. Nintendo themselves just hiding in a corner against mobile market.
What do you mean "squeeze Sony out of Japan"? Japan is PS5's 2nd or 3rd biggest market in hardware sales lmao. Yes it's not doing Switch numbers but let's not pretending it's not an important market for Sony.
There's been a little bit of "squeezing" from Nintendo getting stronger third party support, but manly what is happening is the popularity of Switch exclusive franchises growing faster than the popularity of PS exclusive omes.

Both are still selling millions of consoles in Japan and it doesn't make sense to say they are "hiding" from mobile.
 

Felessan

Member
Both are still selling millions of consoles in Japan and it doesn't make sense to say they are "hiding" from mobile.
It's all down to perspective
Nin "portable" business (leave those hybrid home console shit at home) is around 10-15% of Japan mobile market. In absolute terms it seems that Nin doing ok, but relatively to mobile - not really that much.
To the perspective - the single Sony **Music** game is around 12-15% of entire Nin revenue
 

Woopah

Member
It's all down to perspective
Nin "portable" business (leave those hybrid home console shit at home) is around 10-15% of Japan mobile market. In absolute terms it seems that Nin doing ok, but relatively to mobile - not really that much.
To the perspective - the single Sony **Music** game is around 12-15% of entire Nin revenue
If we're talking about total Japsn gaming market %, then yes Nintendo's share was higher in the 80s back when PC was smaller and mobile and Playstation didn't exist.

But in absolute terms they are doing better now in Japan than ever before. So I don't think they are hiding from mobile, they just know the dedicated console market is more profitable for them, whether that's people playing portably or people playing on the TV.
 
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Paltheos

Member
I remember when anime was good, about ten years ago or more. Aside from a few decent shows these days, anime has become a trash bin.

This is too ambiguous an assessment to say much about (what does 'a few' even mean?), but as a general rule Sturgeon's Law always applies. 90% of everything is crap, and anime was no better 10+ years ago.

Actually, anime today is better than then. That period in the '00s as we moved away from beautiful, hand-drawn shows to early CG was really bad.

Anyway, just naming two of the biggest shows in years doesn't say much about how much you actually watch. Hell, I don't watch that much anymore but I can still come up with a bunch of good shows from the past 5 years: 86, Lycoris Recoil, Odd Taxi, Bleach (the return!), Jujutsu Kaisen, Bocchi the Rock, Kaguya-sama, Spy x Family. I could go on.
 
TTYBW is good, but not as good as the original Bleach imo, and yeah, Dandadan is pretty rad. A few years ago I really enjoyed Golden Kamuy and a few others I can't think of right now, but there's so many terrible anime shows now. I'll have to check out some of those suggestions though, thanks.

Oh, and if you guys haven't seen Chained Soldier, check that one out.
 
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IAmRei

Member
This is might be why i almost never see chinese game ads in the tokyo chiba this year? I sense Japanese comeback to it root in their pride for their product. Glad it works.
 

IAmRei

Member
This is too ambiguous an assessment to say much about (what does 'a few' even mean?), but as a general rule Sturgeon's Law always applies. 90% of everything is crap, and anime was no better 10+ years ago.

Actually, anime today is better than then. That period in the '00s as we moved away from beautiful, hand-drawn shows to early CG was really bad.

Anyway, just naming two of the biggest shows in years doesn't say much about how much you actually watch. Hell, I don't watch that much anymore but I can still come up with a bunch of good shows from the past 5 years: 86, Lycoris Recoil, Odd Taxi, Bleach (the return!), Jujutsu Kaisen, Bocchi the Rock, Kaguya-sama, Spy x Family. I could go on.
Anime now mostly for young people, back before we got lot of mature plot. Anime today artstyle is also mixed bag.
 

Felessan

Member
If we're talking about total Japsn gaming market %, then yes Nintendo's share was higher in the 80s back when PC was smaller and mobile and Playstation didn't exist.

But in absolute terms they are doing better now in Japan than ever before. So I don't think they are hiding from mobile, they just know the dedicated console market is more profitable for them, whether that's people playing portably or people playing on the TV.
No. They are doing worse, comparatively, even to 00's and early 10's
Their market share shrink considerably (though they hold better than Sony in this regard, as of now)
Nin do what they always do - they sell children's toys. it's a safe heaven business (and with a high margin), but a small niche in a grand scale of things.
 
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IAmRei

Member
We still get that…



Yeh, veryrare :')
I wish good anime is not hard to find, sometimes i found it oon manga. Few days ago, i found Clevates or something, kind of interesting. I heard that will be make into anime as well
 
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Woopah

Member
No. They are doing worse, comparatively, even to 00's and early 10's
Their market share shrink considerably (though they hold better than Sony in this regard, as of now)
Nin do what they always do - they sell children's toys. it's a safe heaven business (and with a high margin), but a small niche in a grand scale of things.
How are they doing worse in Japan than in the early 2010s?

They make hardware/software for all ages, and Switch has sold more hardware and software in Japan than any of their previous systems.

The fact that mobile/Steam now exist and didn't before doesn't mean Nintendo is doing worse.

To give another example, PS4 was more successful than the PS1 worldwide, even though it's market share in the grand scheme of things was much much smaller.
 
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ReyBrujo

Member
It's all down to perspective
Nin "portable" business (leave those hybrid home console shit at home) is around 10-15% of Japan mobile market. In absolute terms it seems that Nin doing ok, but relatively to mobile - not really that much.
To the perspective - the single Sony **Music** game is around 12-15% of entire Nin revenue
That happens everywhere. Mobile is king, it's revenue is higher than console and PC together so if you can grab a good chunk of that piece you are doing fine.
 
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