Rambling thoughts on the history of the Japan game industry, how it got so disconnected from the rest of the world, and where it's going

1. Meanwhile in Japan… Andy Hall
Thoughts on gaming in Japan gaming, and how it got that way Gaming Evangelist
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GTA mods: http://hamoge.blog18.fc2.com/blog-category-10.html

2. Agenda
§ The past/present: arcades, consoles, PCs
§ The present/future: social, mobile
§ How things got this way
§ Further rambling
§ QA
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3. Once upon a time...
Japanese video game was redundant.
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4. Whence this success?
§ 1983 US video game crash
§ Market was driven by arcades
§ Japan s economy and high tech/manufacturing industries
were ascendant
§ Japan dominated home hardware (see: console wars )
§ Quality driven up by console makers putting controls on 3rd
party content
(today we d call it a walled garden ...)
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5. Flash-forward to today: Top-selling titles of 2012, US/EU
US Europe
1 Mass Effect 3 FIFA 13
2 Diablo III Diablo III
3 Just Dance 3 FIFA Soccer 12
4 Pokemon Black/White CoD: Modern Warfare 3
5 CoD: Modern Warfare 3 Mario Kart 7
6 Kinect Adventures! Super Mario 3D Land
7 Madden NFL 13 Mass Effect 3
8 Borderlands 2 Just Dance 3
9 NBA 2K12 FIFA Street
10 Zumba Fitness 2 Uncharted 3
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. http://www.vgchartz.com/yearly/2012/USA/
http://www.vgchartz.com/yearly/2012/Europe/

6. Top-selling titles of 2012, Japan
Japan
1 Pokemon Black/White
2 New Super Mario Bros.
3 Dragon Quest Monsters
4 One Piece
5 Biohazard 6 (aka Resident Evil)
6 Monster Hunter 3G
7 Mario Kart 7
Note - Japan s highest selling...
8 Super Mario 3D Land § XBOX360 game was #162 (Biohazard 6)
9 Dragon Quest X § non-Japanese game was #156 (FIFA 13)
In other words the market is very different here.
10 Mario Party 9
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http://geimin.net/da/db/2012_ne_fa/index.php

7. So how much have things changed?
Japan’s approximate share of
global video game market:
2002 50%
2010 10%
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_gaming_in_Japan

8. This sums things up:
“Everyone's making awful games -
Japan is at least five years behind.
Japan is isolated in the gaming world.
If something doesn't change, we're
doomed."
Keiji Inafune,
Capcom (2010)
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9159905.stm

9. Meanwhile in mobile...
Statistics on market size vary, but here are two:
Mobile Games - Market Size
Japan US
$1.06B (JP gov t)
$1.53B (Gartner)
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000073104.pdf
http://business.time.com/2012/01/19/why-mobile-gaming-changes-everything-or-is-mobile-gaming-facebooks-achilles-heel/

10. Meanwhile in mobile...
Oops, forgot the dates!
Mobile Games - Market Size
Japan (2007!!!) US (2011)
$1.06B (JP gov t)
$1.53B (Gartner)
pre-iPhone!
So how did Japan have a billion dollar mobile game market
before smartphones came along?
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000073104.pdf
http://business.time.com/2012/01/19/why-mobile-gaming-changes-everything-or-is-mobile-gaming-facebooks-achilles-heel/

11. The explanation:
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12. Why i-mode was revolutionary:
§ A separate internet based on
C-HTML
§ Official portal leading to 2nd
party sites, apps, stores, etc.
(i.e. walled garden)
§ Parallel access to unofficial
content outside the garden
§ Carrier-driven, manufacturers
were along for the ride
§ Carrier payments!
In 1999-2000! Seriously!
§ And later: NFC (FeLiCa), digital wallet, TV tuners...
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

13. Oh, and did I mention?
Biggest feature of all:
Flash Lite 1.1!
(HHOS)
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

14. So why didn t this go global?
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-mode (duh)

15. The result: Galapagos-ization
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1084712/Darwins-Beagle-sail--5m-replica-survey-oceans-help-NASA-craft.html

16. The other result:
FP SP %
users
SP
users
now
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
http://webdacapo.magazineworld.jp/top/70161/

17. The other other results:
§ Users still have good reasons not to move to smartphones
§ Some social games here go back 5-7 years
§ Social-casual is a long-established genre, players are used to
IAP and avatar goods sales
§ Facebook? What s that, does it taste good?
§ Carrying FlashLite 1.1 assets over to smartphones is kind of a
big deal in gaming
§ Social platforms are kind of an even bigger deal in gaming
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

18. On social platforms..
Facebook-
shaped
hole
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
http://www.serkantoto.com <- awesome site

19. FlashLite -> SmartPhones solutions
These are just the two best-known ‒ there are many more.
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

20. Developing trend: platform-free games
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

21. One more trend...
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http://www.edge-online.com/news/complete-gacha-disaster-historic-proportions/

22. So getting back to the original question:
§ Popular theories on the Japan-West Gaming Divide
§ Genre gap ‒ space marines vs. girls with enormous swords
§ Mechanic gap ‒ FPS vs. RPG
§ Localization gap ‒ English vs. イングリッシュ
§ Culture gap ‒ Japan s gamedevs became too Japanese
§ Culture gap ‒ Japan s gamedevs tried to become too western
(i.e. mimicking US AAA games but without the speed, middleware...)
§ Hardware gap ‒ living room w/ Xbox vs. commute with phone
§ Motivation gap ‒ XBLA trash-talk vs. moe
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

23. Or maybe it s just random disparate evolution?
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
http://gamingwithscissors.com/reviews/monster-hunter-freedom-unite/

24. Thanks! Questions?
Andy Hall
andhall@adobe.com
@fenomas
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