The Japanese Gaming Market

The Japanese gaming market is a large yet saturated market, which is similar to the USA in terms of prevalence of consoles and console games. In addition, buyers have many games to choose from, and many entertaining alternatives to gaming in general.26 Like in Korea, opportunities lie in new platforms like mobile phones.

Japan's ranks of successful content developers, console makers, etc. are well known. It has taken a back seat to Korea in developing MMOGs yet has had notable success with fantasy and role-playing games (RPGs). Hence, EA may find a saturated market in traditional genres. This necessitates looking to underserved demographics or novel platforms.

The convergence of mobile devices and gaming consoles is a plausible scenario since game-capable phones have been out for years and technology advancement continues. 95% of teenage girls in Japan own cell phones (80% for teenagers in general) and 81.2% of mobile subscribers accessed games through their mobile devices. Games from the role-playing and fantasy genres are already common on mobile devices. 27 Interoperability of mobile with consoles and PC games is a commonly discussed possibility. High quality 3-D games, in which EA is strong, are still hard to come by on the mobile platform. EA possesses existing content, including the Sims and certain sports franchises, to satiate anticipated mobile demand.

Piracy and Distribution

Piracy is a formidable problem in Asian countries, though Japan is the exception.28 Because of this, EA should develop online games, whose authenticity must be verified before a user can play the game. This model has been successfully adopted by other game companies in Asia.29 This model allows EA to reap profits from subscription costs, not sales of packaged games. Korea's high broadband penetration allows users to play in their own homes, but China's low broadband penetration forces them to play in internet cafes.