The latest annual report from the Consumer Entertainment Software Association (CESA) shows that the games market in Japan declined once again in 2003, leading to an overall decline of some 40 per cent since 1997. Sales of hardware and software dropped by some 11 per cent in 2003, giving the market an overall value of 446 billion Yen (3.4 billion Euro) - around 40 per cent of the value of the US market during the same year.
The biggest hit was in hardware shipments, which dropped 16.7 per cent - with only the Game Boy Advance managing to hold steady in terms of sales. This has been reversed slightly in the first few months of 2004, with the GameCube leading a sales boost of about 3 per cent, but the general conclusion is that the PS2 is nearing saturation point in Japan. Software sales also dropped, however - with an 8.2 per cent reduction in sales, which contrasts with increases in software sales in both North America and Europe during the same period.
News source: gamesindustry.biz
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