Support NeoGAF

[Mibu no ookami]

Japan’s population peaked in 2010 and we’ve seen a decline in console gaming associated with the decline in population, the aging population, and the increase in mobile gaming.

This might also play a part in Japanese gaming investment, particularly for games and studios that focus more on Japanese oriented culture.

The most successful Japanese publishers and studios have focused on games that are not inherently Japanese.

Japan‘s population is potentially facing a drop to 100 million by 2056 down from its current population size of 120 million, a population size they haven‘t seen since the 1970s with significantly worse demographics and an aging population.

 

[Hudo]

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Japanese people getting married less, having less sex and fewer children.

Means more older, single, horny Japanese adults who care less to, "think of the children" with less kids in society... So...

Shit produced in Japan gets way more X-rated/lewd. Way more fan servicey/borderline-hentai games.

 

[Astral Dog]

Thankfully Japan is still going strong in gaming,the West we need to check in a decade

 

[Fart Knight]

 

[//DEVIL//]

I watched a long ago a video on YouTube if I remember about why japanese men don't like to have sex with women. the answers were freighting.

- Sex is smelly
- anime girls are hotter
- why have responsibility when the government doesn't help?

it's really sad since this new generation coming up.

I do not have a link to that video sadly it's been a while.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Japan’s population peaked in 2010 and we’ve seen a decline in console gaming associated with the decline in population, the aging population, and the increase in mobile gaming.

This might also play a part in Japanese gaming investment, particularly for games and studios that focus more on Japanese oriented culture.

The most successful Japanese publishers and studios have focused on games that are not inherently Japanese.

Japan‘s population is potentially facing a drop to 100 million by 2056 down from its current population size of 120 million, a population size they haven‘t seen since the 1970s with significantly worse demographics and an aging population.

On the flipside, I bet there'd be roughly the same or perhaps even more people who play games from this population of 100mil vs the 125mil population today. It would consist of generations of people who were raised with video games in the mainstream vs the a few generations in the current population who didn't play games as kids.

So I think just looking at the population metric doesn't really give us an indication whether or not the Japanese game market will be bigger or smaller in 20-30 years time.

 

[El Muerto]

I will make the pilgrimage to Japan and assist with the repopulation. Lets go kyodais.

 

[Nankatsu]

How do Japanese women fancy gaijins? I might be interested in going there

 

[Killer8]

Japan is the only thing holding gaming up these days so I think it's going to be fine. The peak in population in 2010 was during their lowest "your games just suck" period of the Japanese games industry. They've since rebounded massively during the PS4 gen.

 

[Fabieter]

Alot of the developed countries have similar problems. You do need 2.1 kids for every single women to not decline. If its under that 2.1 you need migration.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[{insert code here}]

Not too worried about it tbh. Japan has been carrying since PS4/Switch and I think they will only continue to get better. Even if they chose to fallback to just remakes of old classics I think they've got the next 10 years on lock.

 

[simpatico]

They originated the "just consooooom and watch cartoons as an adult" brainworms that are killing the West right now.

Hope they can pull out of that tailspin and start making some babies soon.

 

[havoc00]

They originated the "just consooooom and watch cartoons as an adult" brainworms that are killing the West right now.

Hope they can pull out of that tailspin and start making some babies soon.

They adopted the lay down and rot lifestyle

 

[SmokedMeat]

Now’s your chance losers.

 

[simpatico]

They adopted the lay down and rot lifestyle

Agriculture and it's consequences has been a disaster for the human race.

It's sad because when you read about Imperial Japan, they had one of the most based cultures in semi modern history. Who needs nukes when manga exists.

 

[Woopah]

So far there's been very little impact that we can see. Console gaming in Japan is currently a growing market (as of the end of 2022) and this generation will see several records set in terms of both hardware and software.

So in that regards, I'm not expecting any lack of investment just yet.

I do think 2023 will see a decline, and that will likely continue until Switch 2 comes out.

So right now the market is very strong, but I would say it is overly reliant on Nintendo. We. We need third parties to start seeing more major hits like Level 5 had in the 00s and early 2010s.

Switch 2 and improvements in PS5 software will be key to this.

This would help prepare the market for when the declining population problem hits in the future.

This might also play a part in Japanese gaming investment, particularly for games and studios that focus more on Japanese oriented culture.

The most successful Japanese publishers and studios have focused on games that are not inherently Japanese.

I don't think it's healthy for any major publisher to only focus on one country. But out of interest, what would you define as "inherently Japanese"?

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I will make the pilgrimage to Japan and assist with the repopulation. Lets go kyodais.

I agree, the Japanese government needs to start importing lonely gaijin otaku to donate some sperms and reverse this decline. I bet the Japanese ladies would be so charmed by a white guy who really understands anime and manga. They’ll embrace us with open arms.

 

[consoul]

What impact does Japan’s population decline have on gaming?

Is this question the wrong way around?

 

[newtypepilot]

 

[Griffon]

Japanese people getting married less, having less sex and fewer children.

Means more older, single, horny Japanese adults who care less to, "think of the children" with less kids in society... So...

Shit produced in Japan gets way more X-rated/lewd. Way more fan servicey/borderline-hentai games.

I'm not gonna lie, this actually sounds cool as fuck.

We need more societies like Japan.

 

[Griffon]

Alot of the developed countries have similar problems. You do need 2.1 kids for every single women to not decline. If its under that 2.1 you need migration.

No you don't.
The mindset of eternal expansion at all cost is what's killing us. We need quality over quantity.

 

[NeonGhost]

Their population needs to get lower way too many people in that small country

 

[ManaByte]

 

[rofif]

Their population needs to get lower way too many people in that small country

They need some more land from Russia

 

[Bojji]

Their population needs to get lower way too many people in that small country

Future with less and less children will lead to serious problems. South Korea and Japan are going in very wrong direction, rest of developed world is following them.

2.1 children is needed for replacement to keep population stable, with number lower than that everything will go to hell at some point. WE CERTAINLY DON'T NEED more people on this planet but keeping number around what it is now should be priority in many countries. But I don't think this can be achieved without forcing women to have more children...

 

[lh032]

Their population needs to get lower way too many people in that small country

this is not true? most people just migrate to the main city like korea so it looks like theres too many people but its not

 

[Fabieter]

No you don't.
The mindset of eternal expansion at all cost is what's killing us. We need quality over quantity.

I dont say its good or anything but people from all developed countries would look pretty helpless if most professional workers would suddenly go to their respective home countries including the us.

 

[Shut0wen]

I watched a long ago a video on YouTube if I remember about why japanese men don't like to have sex with women. the answers were freighting.

- Sex is smelly
- anime girls are hotter
- why have responsibility when the government doesn't help?

it's really sad since this new generation coming up.

I do not have a link to that video sadly it's been a while.

Japanese government doesnt give any help towards having children whatsoever?

 

[Bojji]

Japanese government doesnt give any help towards having children whatsoever?

Many coutries (south Korea, Poland...) tried financial benefits for people to have children but this doesn't work. There is shit ton of reasons why people don't want to have kids when they are in relationships and financial reasons are just one of them. There is also massive problem of incels and "singles", those people can't and don't want to be in relationships, numbers are growing...

 

[//DEVIL//]

Japanese government doesnt give any help towards having children whatsoever?

I think they do give per child per month and a onetime big payment . But not sure what more they want

 

[ADiTAR]

Future with less and less children will lead to serious problems. South Korea and Japan are going in very wrong direction, rest of developed world is following them.

2.1 children is needed for replacement to keep population stable, with number lower than that everything will go to hell at some point. WE CERTAINLY DON'T NEED more people on this planet but keeping number around what it is now should be priority in many countries. But I don't think this can be achieved without forcing women to have more children...

We certainly need MORE people on this planet, and this planet can sustain all those people. This world is huge, and there's more to be developed. There are huge empty stretches of land that can be cultivated. Ingenuity is the key and fresh minds are the way to advance it, old dogs won't do the trick as they are stuck in their ways most of the time.

As for Japan, I do feel like Nintendo is owning more of their Japanese heritage in their games. BotW and TotK rely heavily on Japanese influences than previous games, Odyssey had a whole level in a Pagoda (with amazing music to boot).

I also wonder why the Japanese government didn't buy into changing that with games, maybe releasing games that are geared towards marriage and having babies, or some underlining messege in games. Like, maybe persuading Nintendo to have Link marry Zelda and have babies, etc.

 

[Bojji]

We certainly need MORE people on this planet, and this planet can sustain all those people. This world is huge, and there's more to be developed. There are huge empty stretches of land that can be cultivated. Ingenuity is the key and fresh minds are the way to advance it, old dogs won't do the trick as they are stuck in their ways most of the time.

As for Japan, I do feel like Nintendo is owning more of their Japanese heritage in their games. BotW and TotK rely heavily on Japanese influences than previous games, Odyssey had a whole level in a Pagoda (with amazing music to boot).

I also wonder why the Japanese government didn't buy into changing that with games, maybe releasing games that are geared towards marriage and having babies, or some underlining messege in games. Like, maybe persuading Nintendo to have Link marry Zelda and have babies, etc.

But what's the point? We need same amount of people to keep economy stable but more?

I agree that there is shit ton of unused space and population probably COULD be much larger, but this space is unused for reasons and more people = more resources and more garbage. We already have tons of garbage we don't even know what to do about and many resources are going thin.

 

[ADiTAR]

But what's the point? We need same amount of people to keep economy stable but more?

I agree that there is shit ton of unused space and population probably COULD be much larger, but this space is unused for reasons and more people = more resources and more garbage. We already have tons of garbage we don't even know what to do about and many resources are going thin.

Resources aren't going thin. There's plenty. Please don't buy into the children are bad for the environment.

People adapt, and change, and develop. That's what humans have done since the dawn of time. Economies were high, low, and we persevered.

I believe in our ability to find new sources for fuel, economy, etc. Actually, the line of thinking this is the end is the one hurting that the most because it affects young people who should instead do something to actually innovate to solve the problem.

 

[IAmRei]

japan oriented culture games, especially pop culture games still proved to be well accepted, if not, developed well in this time, i think.

 

[StereoVsn]

this is not true? most people just migrate to the main city like korea so it looks like theres too many people but its not

Yeah, Japan has whole bunch of small towns and villages essentially abandoned. 1/3 of population lives in greater Tokyo. S. Korea is similar with everyone packing into Seoul.

 

[The Pleasure]

Now’s your chance losers.

SenjutsuSage was a different person in his youth. Now he gets off to Starfield and acquisitions along with financial terrorism.

 

[Oberstein]

In addition to the arguments mentioned above, hygiene and etiquette are very strong in Japan, which limits love relationships, since "normal" relationships are already very complicated to establish...

One of my first times, the girl reeked it was horrid.

I had the same experience with a girl, when I gave her oral sex.
To this day, I don't know if it was her butt or her pussy that stank so bad. Fortunately, it didn't happen that often. And, of course, women can suck in bed, but that's another matter.

 

[StereoVsn]

But what's the point? We need same amount of people to keep economy stable but more?

I agree that there is shit ton of unused space and population probably COULD be much larger, but this space is unused for reasons and more people = more resources and more garbage. We already have tons of garbage we don't even know what to do about and many resources are going thin.

This is a very complex topic, but essentially right now what's happening is age pyramid is being inverted. So you are going to have a lot of older people and not as many young people. That's going to drive to bad economic circumstances as supporting old folks is going to majorly eat into governments budget world wide in developed countries and China. Thats the main issue, not that there are going to be less people. If before you had say 8 people of working age supporting 1 elderly, now you may have 3-4 people of working age supporting 3-4 elderly which isn't sustainable.

Hence from societal perspective having more young people is certainly preferable. But this is all really way beyond a gaming forum discussion, lol.

 

[Tomeru]

I watched a long ago a video on YouTube if I remember about why japanese men don't like to have sex with women. the answers were freighting.

- Sex is smelly
- anime girls are hotter
- why have responsibility when the government doesn't help?

it's really sad since this new generation coming up.

I do not have a link to that video sadly it's been a while.

Lmao what

also:
I see we have japan experts here. Cdn't wait to learn more

 

[Popup]

Depends which way they wipe. If you get sweet corn in your sushi, it's more than just minutiae.

 

[GymWolf]

I never once thought "Man, something or someone fucking smells" while doing it.

Now I wonder if Japanese people do it differently.

 

[Lethal01]

Lmao what

also:
I see we have japan experts here. Cdn't wait to learn more

I think that's a case of "the government is telling us we need to have kids which we cant afford, if they want to tell us to have kids they should give us a reason"

They adopted the lay down and rot lifestyle

Its more of a go to work and rot lifestyle need to chill more

 

[NikuNashi]

Just to let you know, don't book the plane tickets boys, it's all gone to shit here since around 2011 and the introduction of smart phones and dating apps. Before 2011 it was paradise, chicks had flip phones, no social media only messages. Clubs and bars were rammed with single women every weekend looking to hookup, sometimes 5 women for every 1 guy. Now it's a poor ratio everywhere with chicks staying home and swiping apps and according to friends they are flaky, fickle and all think they deserve a 10 guy.

 

[winjer]

How do Japanese women fancy gaijins? I might be interested in going there

Quite a few of them are very into western men, so there is hope.

 

[EviLore]

How do Japanese women fancy gaijins? I might be interested in going there

Just watch out for the dreaded Gaijin Hunter!

 

[justiceiro]

Console gaming loses its value because it's mostly used by kids who stay home all day. Tgs became basically a mobile event at this point. The few companies that still make console games are more focused on western audiences.

No game console can be successful relying on Japan alone( that was the Saturn case).

 

[Celine]

Nintendo Switch will soon break the record as the highest selling console in Japan history, for both hardware and software.
Of course through decades the industry kept consolidating with fewer and fewer platforms available on the market (basically now there are just three per generation, one of which is pretty much irrelevant) and higher and higher number of multiplatform releases to compensate for the increase of development costs.
Nowadays Nintendo dominates the japanese console market, with PlayStation being reduced to a role of a mere also-run and Xbox being irrelevant there.
One area that has experienced growth in recent time has been the PC game market.

No game console can be successful relying on Japan alone( that was the Saturn case).

Saturn wasn't successful, in fact Sega was forced to announce a successor for the Saurn four years in, with the hope to be more competitive against PlayStation and Nintendo.
Sega's consumer division (console) began a step decline since the latter years of the Mega Drive era.
During the Saturn and Dreamcast era they were firmly in the red.

 

[German Hops]

- Sex is smelly