Top Japanese developer: DS bubble about to burst?
It might have sold over 60 million but will success be short-lived?
Clearly recent Nintendo sales figures would suggest the future is bright as far as DS is concerned: 25 million consoles sold in Europe (to boost the overall worldwide total past the 60 million mark) make it the biggest selling games console of 2007. Software sales too are buoyant, with eight million copies of Nintendogs being shifted in Europe alone since its release.
However, a pessimist has spoken and we feel obliged to pass on his words. If for no other reason than to give PSP fans something to get behind (only teasing). Speaking to website Gamasutra this week, PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura told of rumblings amongst Japanese developers that "the DS software bubble has burst".
He cited a couple of reasons for the gloom, beginning with: "[One company I know has] some kind of learning type of game. The first one sold over 200,000, but the second one is 8,000. So these kind of things are going to happen".
Matsuura also spoke of the DS's game market in Japan being largely made up of older people. "We have to keep increasing the chance to make more unique titles, but for us it's getting much more difficult because the game market – especially in Japan – is still very conservative. Many people know that the DS has very unique titles, like Brain Training, or something like that, but it's not for younger-aged market. It's kind of older people, like me."
He went on to say that many developers didn't previously care over the overseas market because the Japanese market was powerful enough to sell for exclusively, but that the situation has now changed.
At this point it's worth noting the differences between the Japanese and western (European) DS consumer – namely that the Japanese have wholeheartedly embraced the learning and language-based games released for the handheld since its launch and vast quantities of them have inundated the market.
Over here, games such as Dr Kawashima's Brain Training have done surprisingly well but it's still predominantly the likes of New Super Mario Bros, Pokémon and Mario Kart that sell. So if Japanese developers feel the end could be coming for brain training-type titles, it shouldn't impact too much on consumers here.
Anyway, surely all 7.1 million of those DS units sold in Japan in 2007 couldn't have gone to old codgers trying to keep they grey matter ticking over?
