TOKYO – In the year 2020, strong sales were made for Japanese entertainment products as consumers moved in with the coronavirus pandemic found the perfect cure for depression in video games and anime. And while the rollout of vaccines could encourage more people to go outside in 2021, analysts expect demand for new content to continue to grow.
There was a surge in revenue for Japanese game makers, particularly Nintendo, which released the controlling title Animal Crossing: New Horizons in the relatively early days of the global health crisis in March. Since then, the game has sold more than 26 million copies worldwide while the company ‘s Switch console has struggled to buy.
His unique settings, which compel players to find hilarious action on a deserted island, captured the hearts of many who are locked up and quarantined.
The unprecedented demand has spurred the game giant’s earnings. In November, Nintendo posted the highest ever net profit for the first half of the current financial year, a jump of 243%.
Animal for the Nintendo Switch has become a global phenomenon. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
“As the world entered a time of social isolation, games played a major role in providing people with a means of communication,” said Hirokazu Hamamura, former editor-in-chief of the Japanese play magazine Famitsu and now a senior adviser to the board of media conglomerate Kadokawa Corporate.
Sony’s sales have also gone up in pandemic demand. The company released their next-generation PlayStation 5 gaming console in November and expects to sell more than 7.6 million units by the end of March 2021. That would surpass the PS4’s sales over the same kind of time after launch.
Sony games sales rose more than 20% in the first six months of the fiscal year ending March, prompting the company to raise its full-year forecast to a 37% jump in net profit to 800 billion yen ($ 7.6 billion).
Dutch research firm Newzoo estimates that the global games market will have grown by nearly 20% to $ 174 billion in 2020, with the token and mobile game sectors on the rise among the pandemic . “Gaming has been a way for entertainment, escapism, and socializing and interacting with friends / family for many customers, leading to unprecedented growth for the games market,” he wrote. Tom Wijman from Newzoo.
“Demand for home entertainment, especially games, will remain high in 2021,” Hamadura at Kadokawa predicts. “Even in the post-coronavirus age, people prefer to play and communicate online,” he said.
Along with video games, 2020 was also an innovative year for anime.
Demon Slayer – also known as Kimetsu no Yaiba in Japanese – fans from all over the world attracted how COVID-19 led to an increase in audiences for TV and online streaming services like Netflix.
The TV anime, produced by Sony Aniplex anime and music production unit, is based on the manga comic book series. In October, the film version and the series for the TV series were released in theaters across Japan. The film had earned over 32.47 billion yen by Dec. 28 and just surpassed Spirited Away anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki to become Japan’s all-time feature film.
A poster for the anime film Demon Slayer can be seen at a ticket counter at a movie theater in Tokyo on November 5th. (Photo by Shihoko Nakaoka)
Yusuke Harada, a partner at PwC Consulting LLC, said Japanese anime is unique because “villains are also popular. While American anime tends to make a clear distinction between the hero and the bad guys, many of the There are times when that line is blurred in Japanese anime. And that ‘s what attracts fans. “
US-based market research firm Grand View Research estimated in their 2019 report that the global anime market will reach $ 36 billion by 2025 and record an annual growth rate of nearly 9%. According to his analysis, growth will be driven by “the growing popularity and sales of Japanese anime content worldwide as well as Japan.” He also said that online streaming services are contributing to the distribution of Japanese anime content overseas.
“The leadership of Japanese anime lies in the fact that it appeals to a global, but unique audience,” said Tetsuya Watanabe, consulting manager in the business strategy division of advertising company Dentsu. Watanabe said that many Japanese anime series are based on manga which is appealing to them otaku, or geeks, with particular cultural ideas. “These anime genres are only created in Japan and that is likely to be the case in the future.”
In recent years, popular entertainment content, such as the Marvel movie franchise, has taken the U.S. and other parts of the world by storm.
But Kenji Fukuyama, an analyst at UBS Securities in Tokyo, says while the West prefers three-pronged content, Japan tends to create bilateral jobs. “I think this is probably because of Japan ukiyo-e culture, which included 2D art, “Fukuyama explains, referring to a style of traditional wood prints that emerged in the 17th century.” This has led to the adoption of anime in Japan, as well as abroad, “Fukuyama said.
With hopes now rising that vaccines around the world will normalize life and move away from the inner loneliness that has fueled demand for Japanese entertainment content, companies such as Nintendo and Bandai Namco Holdings have accelerated efforts to expand their reach. outside.
Nintendo is preparing to open its first Mario-themed park at Universal Studios Japan in the city of Osaka. Super Nintendo World opens in February 2021, with tours featuring famous characters such as Mario and Yoshi.
Bandai opened the Yokohama Gundam Factory base in December, featuring an 18 – meter ethnic image of the Gundam robot, which is popular with the Gundam Mobile Suit TV anime series that began in Japan in 1979.
“More and more companies are trying to melt their online and offline content in an effort to expand business by strengthening their intellectual property, which are popular characters,” he said. Harada at PwC.
Uuk’s Fukuyama agrees that the value of highly non-digital entertainment will rise over time after the COVID era. “More entertainment companies are being led to expand the use of their intellectual assets beyond games and TV anime,” he said.