Video game market shrinks in Japan

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Japan’s video game market shrank for the first time in four years in 2008 in the absence of new console launches, a report said Tuesday. Sales of video games and consoles in Japan dropped 15.3% last year compared with 2007 to 582.6 billion yen, according to magazine publisher Enterbrain, which tracks the sales.

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The decline was largely due to a dearth of new console launches last year, in contrast to a sales boost in 2007 from the launch of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii in December of the previous year.

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In 2008, Nintendo sold 2.91 million Wii consoles in Japan, easily trumping Sony which sold 991,000 PS3s, Enterbrain said.

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Nintendo has enjoyed strong demand for the Wii, which is aimed at people who would not traditionally play video games and has an innovative motion-sensing controller.

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Nintendo also enjoyed sales of 4.03 million DS handheld consoles in its home market last year, while Sony sold 3.54 million PlayStation Portables, it added.

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Microsoft logged sales of just 318,000 Xbox 360s last year in Japan, where the U.S. software giant has had a tough time winning over gamers.

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Console makers are hoping the industry will prove relatively recession-proof as financially squeezed people spend more time at home with their consoles.

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But video game software sales dropped 7.9 percent in 2008, despite brisk demand for certain titles including the “Wii Fit” exercise program.

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