Nintendo's Hardware and Related Software Hits 70% Market Share in Japan

and to think the Wii U is just around the corner.

Wii u might not translate into great sales in Japan. The Japanese market is leanIng heavy towards handheld. It would be interesting to see how it does though thought the first 4 months in sales.

I hope North America, Japan, and the UK all get the wii u within the same week.

Reminds me of the nes/snes days. All things Nintendo going well, and as nfzeta007 pointed out, wii u just a few months away now. Ooh I'm getting excited.

But, but Michael Pachter says Nintendo is DOOOMED!!! When will this guy get fired?

Good for Nintendo, now tell Capcom to announce Monster Hunter 4 for America!

Great for Nintendo. Can't wait for the WiiU.

nice

They win we win!!

Awesome! Now if only the big N was as prevalent everywhere else instead of being shoved aside by the swarms of FPSs...

after Wii U launch, things will improve even more. I just hope Wii U isn't going to get delayed to 2013... It would be beyond painful

To the people who think Nintendo is old news and is dead compared to Xbox and PlayStation: read this article and weep, suckers!!!

@Nintendoro agreed, I think things are just gonna get better for Nintendo, but we really need this system out this year.

Nintendo loves that money. Stories like this are nice to see. It's amazing how dominate Nintendo is in Japan.

It's time for Wii U. September 13th here we come!

YAY! Keep at it Nintendo, even if you don't survive in the west, at least in your home land you live and even if that means you'll have to resort to staying there, I'm ok because imports feels so good, also I could move there soon

This is good news.... as long as nintendo is doing strong in its home market everything else should follow suit... the Wii u should sell at a faster rate in the west then in Japan...

I can't wait to get my Wii u... hopefully I can copy my Mii into my profile...

If only sales in North America & Europe were the same as in Japan...

If so then why does the PS3 still get all the JRPGs D:<

@BanetheKira yup, those japanese people are a smart bunch, aren't they

I think they have what? 1% of the japanese market? sad...

@Tech101 Exactly. Here in Japan, all you see are handhelds on the top sales lists. I go on the train to Tokyo or Yokohama, and I see tons of 3DSs (and some PSPs, but not so many). That's not to say that WiiU won't sell, but handhelds are definitely where the market is heading here. And with some of the big games that are coming out in the next few months (Bravely Default, Luigi's Mansion 2, Monster Hunter 4, Project X Zone, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers) I think they're going to have another good year.

It's a shame that the success in Japan isn't translating well to the west. Of course, having the amount of games released here as there is over there would help. Nintendo can't rely on western devs supporting the 3DS to any great degree. They need to be working with companies like XSEED that specialize in translating Japanese games and getting them to release them, or set up their own teams to bring the games over. I know focus groups seem to point to western gamers increasingly preferring western developed games, but that shouldn't translate to party game/mini game shovelware over here with the odd first party game, while Japan gets Project X Zone, Senran Kagura (sp?) and many other great looking games.

Japan, relatively speaking, isn't the biggest market for video games so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on this news. Let no one be under any illusions, Nintendo faces huge difficulties both financially and in terms of mindshare (especially within western markets). This news has done little to allay my fears that Nintendo might be left behind as their competitors and the industry at large gear up to move forward with the next generation of consoles and smart phones.

So does this mean Sony and Microsoft are battling for the scraps?

@Henmii Its not really a battle, as Sony does have much of the rest of the market share.

@PixelatedPixie I think you underestimate the size of the Japanese market. It may not be THE biggest market, just by population size alone, but the money Nintendo makes here in Japan is quite large, and even just by association a 70% market share in one of the largest markets in the world is still incredibly impressive, so I wouldn't downplay that achievement by any means. Plus, its one thing to see it in an article, but in Japan the sheer popularity and exposure that Nintendo products have cements their status here. Don't forget that Nintendo beat out the other consoles, both the home consoles with the Wii, and the portables with the DS, by a fairly large margin in the last generation of consoles, and looks ready to still dominate at least the portable market with the 3DS in most western markets, and is a definite here in Japan.

Of course, these are different opinions, and you are entitled to yours. If you have fears, that's fine, but I'm very optimistic about their future, whether that's just the domestic (Japanese market), or a continued international dominance.

@Tsuchinoko Thank you, I would believe the word of mouth of someone who actually lives there rather then the few people on this site who say "Nintendos doomed, because I visited Japan once" it's one thing to read it (I admit I'm sorta one of those) but when you read from someone who lives there you believe a lot more

@LordOtakWiiU Agreed. NintendoOMED should become an Internet meme the way it's used so much now.

Well that's good to hear!