Japanese Gaming Corporations

My research will be looking into the popularity of Japanese gaming consoles and mobile gaming. Looking into some of the best gaming technology ever created in Japan and seeing how it came to be, I can tell that Japan made huge contributions to providing us the means to play different kind of games as well as how we play the games. Before looking into the Japanese gaming industries, I can already assume that Sony, Nintendo, and Sega are probably of the top three, but I could be wrong. While I look into the gaming aspects of Japan, I also want to look at games that Japan is hoping to excel in, take a look at games for people around the world to take interest in, including exergames or goggles that will take us into a whole different kind of virtual gaming environment.

Gaming has long been a source of amusement and joy for people of all ages, especially in children and young adults. It started with simple, physical devices like the Gameboy, and then evolved towards more advanced gaming devices like the X-box, the Playstation, the Wii, etc. These systems include computers and other machines that support different game types and versions, accordingly. The most up-to-date gaming in Japan, is mobile gaming, which has captured the interest of millions of children and adults alike.

Adult gamers exist in Japan, simply they're fewer in number for various reasons, including peer and work pressure. When Japanese adults do make for games they do so more often than not on portable devices, and don't self-identify as "gamers." It's not a hobby, but preferably something they do to kill time on a commute. In the past that meant the DS and to a lesser extent the PSP (the handheld's core market in Japan was always teenage boys, though Monster Hunter expanded the audience.) Today it means the iPhone and other smart phones. The 18-35 year old demographic that's hungry for HD experiences on their television doesn't exist outside a small group of dedicated gamers. That particular group overlaps to a great extent with those that are so fond of feeling exited and satisfied. This has resulted in a marketplace where the mass market audience plays on Handhelds and the hardcore plays on consoles, which is rather different than most other grocery stores in the globe.

Game Central explains that mobile games like the Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita are prioritized more highly than console games like the Play Station 4 because it is said that only hardcore Japanese gamers have a need for advanced consoles. Mobile games seem to excel in Japan purely because of their ubiquity and convenience, properties that consoles do not have. Many of us prefer to use things that are convenient like smart phones, so it seems logical to want an on-the-go gaming device or apps that have games.

Japan is fighting to reach worldwide attention for mobile games, and DeNA, a Japanese mobile gaming company, created an app on Google Play that is the current top-grossing American game; this game is called the "Blood Brothers." DeNA and GREE are even challenging Sony and Nintendo! Even though the social games cost nothing to download, the game has a number of small in-app purchase that help improve the player’s chance of winning. These small fees generated 15.75 billion yen 2 years ago. I never thought profit could be generated this way, but it seems to be very effective. With Japanese apps becoming very popular globally, Japan is hoping to be the “Facebook of social gaming.” The graph below clearly depicts some profit gains to Japan's gaming market.

Recently, Japan’s video games have been decreasing dramatically in both profit and popularity.. Keiji Inafun in 2009 said that "Japan is over. We're done. Our gaming industry is finished." When the Xbox came out, much has changed; As Bungie grew to create high-budget games for the Xbox (like Halo), Japanese developers struggled to keep up. This is most likely because online multiplayer type video games are the most popular type of game in the world today. Top Japanese console video games are usually set in single player mode with no multiplayer component.

Even though this is the case, many people like me are waiting for certain console games that Japan is releasing in hopes of gaining back the popularity they had for console gaming worldwide. These games are Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XV. I believe that we don’t get the full experience of gaming when we play mobile games. Even though hand-held gaming devices are playable on-the-go, being able to experience a full story setting with a full television screen is very different. As we stroll by multi-tasking with mobile games, we are not devoting our full attention to the games and the stories that they are trying to tell us. Regardless, most phone gaming apps or other on-the-go games are usually straight to the point where you try to reach a high score that compares to other players around the world or other players that are from the user’s Facebook buddy list. Many mobile devices do not have enough memory to satisfy an exciting full story to play to. Kingdom Hearts I and II have shown promising results in terms of gaming experience as well as popularity; the same goes for the previous Final Fantasy games. While we are excited that these games will come out soon, we hope that it will be worth the wait. We have waited for over 4 years for these games to come out. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until 2016 for these games to come out L

According to El Gamer Grande from the Ranker website, Nintendo, Konami, and Sony Computer Entertainment are the top three Japanese game developers. I am very interested in Konami purely because of their successful line of exergaming devices like Dance Dance Revolution. Exergaming is another important aspect of gaming that we will now go into.

Exergames are exercise based gaming, hence exer-gaming. Atari and Nintendo have changed the approach to gaming for a couple of years; these games have introduced the concept of active gaming, or exergaming. With the development of Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Fit, and Eye Toy, the progress of active gaming has been analyzed. The important point included in the given literature is the trend of technology driven gaming along with its social impact in an efficient manner. Sometimes the children or adults may find it hard to play the outdoor games because of the environmental factors, but they want to be able to participate in active physical exercise; taking this into consideration, active gaming provides physical education and mental exercise. It is all about, fun, entertainment, knowledge and motivation. Active gaming can be the ultimate choice that provides socialization; the players can select the mode and level of game according to their cognitive abilities (Rice et.al, 2011). Witherspoon et al. prove their point of view by gathering the information from reliable sources; the researchers also illustrate the criticism against active gaming. Conclusively, it is said that by making the best use of technology, focusing on the right decision at the right time by completely following the instructions and interacting with technology in a fun environment are some of the notable features brought to the gamers by active games designers and developers (Olmsted, 2008). Meanwhile, it keeps the brain and heart active and fit.

With the possibility of surpassing the gaming industries in Japan in terms of stocks and profits, casino legalization and investments in Japan have the “potential to rival if not surpass Singapore as the second-largest [gambling] market in the Asia-Pacific region" (Paladino, 2014). While this sounds great, I’m sure this will change Japanese people’s attitudes on gambling because not everyone wins. Just a few days ago I participated in a gambling event (Ursinus Chips with no real money value) and I lost everything; I was frustrated.

With Japan being dependent on the global popularity and profits of the gaming industries again, mobile gaming corporations have shown some promising results. Console gaming from Japan may not be up to par with Xbox in terms of popularity, but eventually that could change through games like Kingdom Hearts III, new exergames, or the newest Super Smash Brother’s game for the Nintendo Wii. I am unsure about the reasons why these games are taking unbelievably long to be released, but hopefully it will be worth the wait for Japan and for us. These games will have a major impact whether they are a huge success or a colossal failure because of the expectations these games “should have.” With huge economic investments, I believe that their major corporations (Nintendo, Sony, and Konami) will reign over the all of the other gaming corporations just like before, but only time will tell.