Japanese mobile gamers spend $65 a month on mobile games

From NeoGAF

Originally Posted by VentureBeat

It’s easy to look at Japan and assume that if you’re making a game you should release it in there as well, but the raw data is deceiving, according to Kantan Games analyst Serkan Toto. At the Casual Connect Asia conference in Singapore earlier this week, Toto gave a presentation that highlighted some important points that he would want developers to know before entering the Japanese market. Most notably, he pointed out that it’s not nearly as easy to make money from gamers in that country as you might think it is.

...

The average revenue per gamer who spends money on in-app purchases (ARPPU) in Japan is about $65 every month. That’s a very high number, but you’re probably not going to capture even a dollar of that if you release your Western game in Japan — historically speaking. The country has long preferred to consume Japanese-made products over foreign releases, and that’s especially true in gaming.

Hoooooly shit. This is more cancerous than the 3DS

Your hate boner for the 3DS was amusing at first, but is a tired old act now.

On topic, I would like to say I don't care about this, but unfortunately, trends like these are causing longtime beloved companies such as Konami and Sega to migrate from the console market. At least corporations like Capcom and Square Enix seem to be somewhat recovering off late.

@charizard1605: You were never amused

That's kinda depressing, that mobile games have made this much of an impact.

I told myself I wouldn't play mobile games, and now one of my friends talked me into Clash of Clans. I've only spent $10 on the game though, so hopefully I'm not that bad. Although I'm not really fond of the idea behind mobile games, and how they charge you money to speed things up, I do enjoy being able to pass a few minutes.

Where as I needed to pass hours before, a few minutes here and there on a mobile game can be fun.

The best mobile game is Monument Valley.

They spend money on their virtual girlfriends, to take out a girl on a date in game you have to spend real money lol.

how sad.

Look at the work ethic in Japan. From school all the way to the top of the corporate tree, its nothing but work, work, work. Kids are going to school early in the mornings, often staying behind late to attend clubs and/or do chores around the school, then its back home for homework then dinner then bed. Same goes for the Salary workers, leave early, arrive late back. Some don't even bother going home and sleep under their desks. Japan doesn't have time any more to sit down and invest in home gaming. Quick fix mobile gaming suits the pace of life for them.

Don't mind me, just came here to watch these two fight. *grabs popcorn*

@charizard1605: Monument Valley sucks, I h8 u

Duuuude. No.

It's such a good game. The artstyle is gorgeous too.

That and Game Dev Story are the only two mobile games I would recommend without hesitation lol

Yeah, Japan hates consoles now. Sales are at an all-time low.

And I hear they don't even know what PC is.

Sadsauce

Well, Nintendo will make some money then.

@charizard1605: oh I thought you were trolling.

Monument Valley is entirely shit. It's an art style and nothing more. The puzzles are non-existent, the story isn't good, and it's absolutely bare minimum from an interactive standpoint.

The praise it gets baffles me. It does remind me a lot of Wind Waker.

@Blabadon: Ah. See, I find it to be a very soothing and relaxing night game. It's not meant to be difficult, that's not why I play it anyway.

Did you play the expansion as well? The puzzle quality is definitely better in that than in the base game, where I admittedly have to agree with a lot of your criticisms.

^this

I don't hold it against Konami or Sega for leaving an increasingly unsustainable risky market and seeking greener more profitable pastures.

Interesting for the work ethic is that it is not helping the Japanese out of their years of stagnant economic growth. In fact, China has bypassed Japan as the second most biggest world economy.

As conservative as their culture are, I do not see their work ethic changing anything soon.

SEGA and SE are doing fine because they own Western studios especially PC-centric devs like Creative Assembly and Eidos. Not sure about Capcom but I'm pretty sure they aren't liked anymore in the West with what they did with the RE and Megaman franchises. Forget Konami. After releasing MGSV, they're gonna focus on mobile games and pachinkos (aka Japan alone).

Its not to do so much with the work ethic, its more to do with what Japan actually exports. Japans main export is high end electronics, during the 2008 global financial crisis many people and nations tightened their belts and stopped buying expensive electronics which hurt Japan considerably, couple that to a really strong currency and underlying social and economic issues already present in Japan which meant Japan was one of the worst affected country.

China on the other hand exports more than just electronics. Clothes, food, tat, industrial materials and goods, raw materials, cars, you name it China exports it. China though, all being said did suffer from the 2008 global banking collapse but they were in a much better position to deal with the effects than Japan was.

well that happens for a reason, there is a huge crowd waiting for jrpgs, those moved from handhelds to mobile, heck there are tons of mobile jrpgs atm ,some of them are really good but they are heavy on iap "f2p" model. they are designed to stall progression to earn cash, so they use addiction to take money from their users, thats why the numbers are so high, sure there are some great games that most people would love to have even on consoles. check for example final fantasy record keeper, i read an article that said 3 months in japan they made 10million ,thats huge.

expect mobile jrpg gaming to grow more. still it will be with the "f2p" model ,there must be a law that protects gamers from these type of games, its too much addiction and you dont stop them easily . i just stopped playing soccer spirits,that game was addictive like hell, i played 3 hours per day just to stay competitive and i still wouldnt because i didnt pay,and you see many players there spending 3000$ ... packs with prices 100$ ,and you wonder does anyone buy that? and if you read the forums tons of people buy that, even for mediocre games people want to be better and they pay tons of money . its becoming ridiculus

now i am playing only final fantasy record keeper(global) ,and that for nostalgia reasons, dena is one of the worst heavy on iap developers/publishers, they make it that you wont progress if you dont pay, sure you can have the 2nd rate things,but the guy who pays can be a beast and you wont even scratch that.

i bet those games could work with different models and be more enjoyable for everyone but they wouldnt earn as much money as they do now.and they are moneygrabbers,most of them dont last more than 1 year, people move to the next better game that will die too in 1 year...

3DS currecntly has way more games that are worth to play than the fucking Wii-U, PS4 and Xbone combined. If that's cancer, I'd gladly have some..

I just had to comment that that is freaking hillarious

lol

bitch pls

Apparently, you don't know that the Japanese economy has been stagnant way back before the 2008 financial crisis. They had a bubble burst and since then have never recovered. Workers weren't allowed to go home until their bosses go home. Workers were expected to deem the company important over everything else. There is a strict hierarchy where one of lower position can never question the knowledge and wisdom of those higher than him/her. Women were expected to be housewives after bearing a child. Gender roles are clearly established and practiced which results to gender bias. A female boss is quite rare in Japan even up to this day. The suicide rates are so high even with all the tech and restaurants, shops, etc. Japanese society is a pretty stressful and lone society that what it has become now isn't really a big surprise.

It is nothing new that mobile gaming is big over there

That's what handhelds historically have been for......quick hits.

What games are japanese people spending 65 dollars per month on can they list the games?

I only download n play free games on my phone, the games i bought i hardly play cuz of the touch controls take too much hand clicking

what ones are japanese ppl spending 65 dollars per month we need lists an stuff so we know what to buy like them

No we don't need it

i honestly do not understand how....i cant find a single mobile game i like outside of snes and ps1 emu's

what the **** does how the japanese people live their lives have to do with them spending 65 dollars a month on mobile games

i don't even pay that much for MMO's and monthly fees

who cares how they live they are pimpin out these mobile games i just waanna see which ones they are spending so much fat cash on so i can check them out for myself

Eudcate yourself

Wow. Talk about cash cow... no wonder Japanese companies are going all in on mobile.

Its no different from what we have here in the West. The West spends an ungodly amount of money on mobile F2P games.

@clyde46: Eh, maybe. Shame they're almost all crappy (I mean there have be a couple of decent ones among all of them) >.>

If you are putting them up against games on things like the 3DS or lolVita then sure but they seem to be doing something right.

@clyde46: Yes, they do something right. They ask money and the users clearly give them said money. Dem stamina bars, yo!

Pretty sad it is, that creativity and quality is being stifled to cater to the mobile junk experience. If anything is killing gaming right now it's no doubt the mobile market and it's freemium offerings. We can only hope that one day the working class zombie slave people of Japan get their humanity back, this should allow their creativity and tastes to flourish beyond addictive junk mobile gaming experiences. But as of right now all we can do is support developers like Igarashi and his Kickstarter campaign for the spiritual successor to the Konami-killed Castlevania franchise. It would be a total crime not to.

I wonder how much of that is spent on the actual game, and how much is spent on in-app purchases.

It's Memorial Day...........................no talkin about those sneak attack basterds!!! (this was for Krelian-co)

I don't buy or play Mobile games. I use my kindle and read while the other people are playing candy crap on the subway.

Japan will have more old people and less young ones. The nation remains insular with a big percentage of its population unable to read, write, and speak the English language and the unpopularity of PC gaming and Western video games (aside from the really mainstream ones like CoD and BF). Sorry but Japan isn't going to be heading to a bright future similar to when they once ruled the video game industry.

The whole article:

Why Japan’s lucrative mobile gaming market isn’t great for foreign developers

Why Japan’s lucrative mobile gaming market isn’t great for foreign developers

SINGAPORE — Mobile-game spending is higher in Japan than any other market, but that doesn’t mean you should necessarily do the work to localize your product for that country.

It’s easy to look at Japan and assume that if you’re making a game you should release it in there as well, but the raw data is deceiving, according to Kantan Games analyst Serkan Toto. At the Casual Connect Asia conference in Singapore earlier this week, Toto gave a presentation that highlighted some important points that he would want developers to know before entering the Japanese market. Most notably, he noted that it’s not nearly as easy to make money from gamers in that country as you might think it is.

“Japan is one of the hardest mobile-game markets to break into worldwide,” Toto said during his presentation.

The average revenue per gamer who spends money on in-app purchases (ARPPU) in Japan is about $65 every month. That’s a very high number, but you’re probably not going to capture even a dollar of that if you release your Western game in Japan — historically speaking. The country has long preferred to consume Japanese-made products over foreign releases, and that’s especially true in gaming.

“Whenever I talk to bigger game companies, there’s so much self-confidence going on,” Toto said. “And I’m always trying to tell them that people in Japan will say, ‘Who are you? We don’t care about what you’ve achieved in the U.S. or Europe.'”

This was always true in Japan’s traditional console-gaming market as well. Toto points to an incredible fact to prove his thesis.

“Between 2001 and 2013, the number of [foreign-made video game] titles in the top 100 in Japan was zero,” Toto said. “I think that’s an amazing number.”

But even for Japanese games, the app market is not printing money. Instead, most of the money is going to just two games.

“If you just look at the raw data, you’re on a very dangerous path,” Toto said. “Two apps dominate everything: Puzzle & Dragons and Monster Strike.”

These two games now run a duopoly on Japanese mobile-game spending. That’s not even a tiny bit of an exaggeration. Puzzle & Dragons accounted for approximately 51 percent of all mobile-game spending in Japan in 2013 on its own. These days, between Puzzle & Dragons and Monster Strike, the two games probably make up around 70 percent to 80 percent of the entire market’s spending, according to Toto.

So, yes, Japanese gamers are racking up huge charges in their smartphone games, but most of that is going to the same two places.

This prompted me to ask Toto if he would advise a developer to even try to bring a game into Japan.

“I shouldn’t do this as a consultant, but I spend a lot of time trying to convince developers out of the idea of getting into the Japanese market,” he told GamesBeat. “But, generally speaking, you should consider Japan only if you have met certain criteria or completely saturated the rest of the major markets in the world.”

Toto specified that the “certain criteria” includes having an enormous marketing budget. This has worked for publishers like Supercell, King, and Machine Zone with their games Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga, and Game of War, respectively. Though, even while those games are in the top 30 highest-grossing charts for iOS and Android in Japan, they aren’t performing nearly as well as they do in other countries.

If you don’t have a huge budget for TV ads, Toto suggests that you should have at least one if not all of the following:

• A game with an innovative concept, high production values, and/or targeting a specific niche.
• A local publisher.
• Mechanics that generate decent levels of revenue even with very few players.

If your game doesn’t match any of that, Japan probably isn’t worth your time.

Lines up with what Iga said in his interview.

It's why the Japanese have fallen so far behind from a technical standpoint. They use to always make the best looking games and outside of a few gems that time is long past.

Looks like consoles are on the way out...

Yeah, everyone knows it is Words With Friends, and then Monument Valley.

if anyone actually read it...they spend all that money on two shitty games.

gg japan, you guys are killing the industry.

As if the West is not responsible for its part in killing the industry.