Consolidation in Japan’s game industry

Japan’s mobile game software companies are global superpowers. They are all historically grown and linked to other industry sectors, such as characters, arcade games, pachinko (pinball parlor) machines. For details read our report on Japan’s mobile game software sector

While the market for traditional home video gamesoftware is rapidly shrinking, a landslide shift is underway to network games, online games and mobile games.

These changes bring consolidation. Some recent mergers are:

  • Bandai acquires Namco
  • SEGA (game arcades) and Sammy (pachinko) merge
  • Takara and TOMY merge
  • Role playing game leader Square-Enix (itself a merger of Square and Enix) acquires the larger TAITO
Consolidation of Japan's games sector
Consolidation of Japan’s games sector

The Square-Enix deal is particularly interesting because it underlines the Japanese preference for role playing games.

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