Intensifying Competition in the Game Market
First written in FY2016. 14 of 29 entries say "Restated". Latest entry: FY2026.
NJ Holdings moved to the "Worse" side of this theme in 2018, 3 years before the typical company in this theme (2021).
The whole theme swung hardest in 2022: 5 of 14 companies on the "Worse" side.
4 other companies' latest entry also says "Other".
- FY2026Flat market alongside growth in consumer and PC gamingAnnual report
「In the mobile gaming market, while the market has remained broadly flat, long-running titles that maintain high rankings continue to generate stable revenue, and new titles supported by IP fan bases and broad popularity also remain strong. In the consumer gaming market, numerous new releases have been launched alongside the spread of new game consoles, driving the market as a whole. In the PC gaming market, the share of free-to-play (F2P) in-game monetization models in revenue is increasing, while a broad range of new releases, from indie titles to AAA titles, continues to expand the market.」
While the mobile market remains flat and continues to concentrate on long-running titles, the consumer market is expanding through new consoles and new releases, and the PC market is expanding through diverse titles ranging from F2P and indie games to AAA titles. Differences by platform have become clear. - FY2026-H1Expansion of the New Hardware and PC Markets and Flat Mobile MarketAnnual report
「The mobile game market has remained flat since bottoming out after the stay-at-home demand period. New titles based on various IP have been released and have gained broad popularity on the strength of their fan bases. The consumer market has become more active, with many new titles released and announced alongside the launch of new hardware. The PC game market is expanding through AAA titles released across multiple platforms and a variety of new IP emerging from independent titles, and is approaching the same scale as the consumer market.」
While the mobile game market remains flat, the consumer market has become more active due to new hardware and new releases, and the PC game market is expanding through AAA titles and new IP from independent developers. The game market's competitive environment is described as having diverged by platform. - FY2025Market stability and differences by platformAnnual report
「In the mobile game market, titles including casual games and games based on well-known IP have been released, increasing downloads of game apps. In the consumer market, hardware adoption has stabilized and the market contracted from the previous year, although next-generation consoles have been launched and are attracting attention. Globally, as the consumer market expands alongside hardware adoption, the PC game market is also expanding at least as rapidly.」
The market environment is now described as a combination of higher smartphone game downloads, the consumer market falling below the previous year, next-generation console launches and expansion of the global PC game market. - FY2025-H1WorsenedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, downloads are increasing and recovering from the post-pandemic correction, but in-game spending has not recovered and the market remains flat. In the consumer market, hardware adoption has stabilized and the market has remained smaller than in the previous year as attention focuses on next-generation consoles.」
While downloads are recovering, in-game spending has not recovered and the smartphone game market remains flat. The consumer market has also contracted from the previous year, indicating a worsening competitive and earnings environment in the game market. - FY2024-Q3In-app purchase revenue remains on the road to recovery; competition continuesAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, interest in game apps remains high based on download trends for new titles and other releases and is recovering from the post-pandemic correction, but in-app purchase revenue has not yet fully recovered. As long-popular titles have continued to refine their appeal, the competitive environment for new titles remains challenging, and only a limited number of new titles are able to acquire and retain more than a certain number of users.」
While interest in game apps is recovering from the post-pandemic correction, in-app purchase revenue remains on the road to recovery, and competition with long-popular titles and the difficulty of acquiring and retaining users for new titles continue. - FY2024-Q2RestatedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, interest in game apps remains high based on download trends for new titles and other releases and is recovering from the post-pandemic correction. However, as long-popular titles have continued to refine their appeal, the competitive environment for new titles remains challenging, and only a limited number of new titles are able to acquire and retain more than a certain number of users.」
While interest in game apps is recovering from the post-pandemic correction, competition with long-popular titles continues, and the difficulty of acquiring and retaining users for new titles continues to be disclosed. - FY2024-Q1WorsenedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, interest in game apps remains high based on download trends for new titles and other releases, but the user population is declining following the post-pandemic correction, competition is intensifying, and only a limited number of new titles are able to acquire and retain more than a certain number of users. The consumer market continues to expand steadily as hardware adoption and the emergence of hit titles continue. Meanwhile, the sharp rise in development costs accompanying higher quality standards is also expected to increase marketing expenses, further strengthening the trend toward selecting and concentrating on projects.」
The decline in the smartphone game user population, intensifying competition and the difficulty of acquiring and retaining users for new titles were explicitly identified. It was also indicated that higher development and marketing costs are expected to lead to more selective project screening. - FY2023-Q3RestatedAnnual report
「In the game industry, competition for leisure time has intensified as various leisure industries recover.」
The game market continues to compete with other leisure industries for users' time, and the competitive environment, including expanding development costs and high quality requirements, continues to be disclosed. - FY2023-Q2WorsenedAnnual report
「In the game industry, competition for leisure time has intensified as various leisure industries recover. In the smartphone game market, although the effects of the post-pandemic correction are visible, leading titles continue to retain users steadily, while new titles showing strong growth are also emerging. The consumer market is also expanding steadily, with multiple hit titles emerging and shortages of new hardware easing. The PC gaming population continues to grow, driven by demand to play popular overseas titles on high-end devices. Meanwhile, the continued expansion of development costs as quality expectations rise is expected to increase efforts toward sustainable future growth in content pricing strategies and delivery models.」
While the market itself has growth drivers centered on console and PC gaming, competition for leisure time and development costs continue to expand as quality expectations rise, indicating ongoing competitive and cost pressure. - FY2023-Q1WorsenedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, competition for users has intensified, and only a limited number of titles are able to acquire and retain enough users to cover the increased costs associated with larger-scale development.」
Explains that competition to acquire game users has intensified and that only a limited number of titles achieve user acquisition and retention at a scale sufficient to absorb the higher costs of large-scale development. - FY2022WorsenedAnnual report
「The hurdle for new titles to succeed in the domestic app market has risen. As expectations are being raised by free-to-play AAA-quality gaming experiences, not only in leading game apps, the sharp increase in development costs is driving demand for franchise potential that supports long-term and diversified monetization, including multi-platform releases and overseas expansion.」
Notes the difficulty of achieving success and user retention for new titles, along with higher expectations driven by free-to-play AAA-quality experiences, sharply higher development costs and the need for long-term monetization, thereby providing a more specific description of competitive pressure. - FY2022-Q3RestatedAnnual report
「In the game industry, as new lifestyles brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have become established, the domestic market has reached a plateau. In the smartphone game market, new hit titles are emerging, but as users continue to play established leading titles over the long term, only a limited number of new titles are able to acquire and retain a certain scale of users, making it more difficult to stabilize earnings and create new IP.」
Explains that growth in the domestic game market has reached a plateau, while user concentration on established leading titles and the difficulty of acquiring and retaining users for new titles, stabilizing earnings and creating new IP continue. - FY2022-Q2WorsenedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, new hit titles are emerging, but as users continue to play established leading titles over the long term, only a limited number of new titles are able to acquire and retain a certain scale of users, making it more difficult to stabilize earnings and create new IP.」
As users continue to play established leading titles over the long term, the difficulty of acquiring and retaining users for new titles, stabilizing earnings and creating new IP has become increasingly evident. - FY2022-Q1RestatedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, existing leading titles continue to have high user retention, while new popular titles are also emerging.」
Continues to describe a game market environment in which high user retention for established leading titles coexists with the emergence of new popular titles. - FY2021RestatedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the number of major cross-platform titles is increasing, and as an environment emerges in which games can be played across countries regardless of platform, efforts to enhance the user gaming experience have led to larger new titles, higher costs and a narrower selection of titles under development. The required standards for outsourced development have also risen.」
Continues to disclose the competitive environment in the game market in terms of the increasing number of major cross-platform titles, rising development costs and higher requirements for outsourced development. - FY2021-Q3RestatedAnnual report
「In the game industry, use of online content has increased as people have spent more time at home. In the smartphone game market, established leading titles continue to enjoy long lifespans, while new hit titles have emerged through new releases using well-known IP and the multi-platform rollout of overseas titles, and the market continues to expand.」
Continues to describe a market environment featuring longer lifespans for established leading titles, multi-platform rollouts of new and overseas titles, and the emergence of new hit titles. - FY2021-Q1RestatedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, established leading titles continue to enjoy long lifespans, while the consumer market has produced many new hits, particularly series titles, and sales of various dedicated game consoles remain strong.」
Continues to describe the competitive environment in the game market, including the longer lifespans of established leading titles and the emergence of new hit titles. - FY2020RestatedAnnual report
「Across markets, rising expectations for new titles continue to drive larger-scale and longer development projects and higher development costs. This trend is even more pronounced for major titles, partly because of their long-term content strategies.」
Continues to describe the competitive environment in the game market in terms of the difficulty of acquiring users for new titles, larger-scale and longer development projects, and rising development costs. - FY2020-Q2WorsenedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, users are continuing to remain with established popular titles for longer periods, while new hit titles are also emerging, but the hurdle for acquiring new users has become even higher. Across markets, rising expectations for new titles continue to drive larger-scale and longer development projects and higher development costs. This trend is even more pronounced for major titles, partly because of their long-term content strategies.」
Notes that the hurdle for acquiring new users has risen further, while costs continue to increase as development projects become larger and longer, with this trend becoming more pronounced for major titles. - FY2020-Q1RestatedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, while users are showing longer-term retention of leading titles, development costs and other expenses are increasing amid higher expectations for game content, making it more difficult for new titles to acquire users.」
Continues to describe the competitive environment in the game market in terms of users concentrating on leading titles, rising expectations for content, higher development costs and the difficulty of acquiring users for new titles. - FY2019-Q4WorsenedAnnual report
「In the smartphone game market, while users are showing longer-term retention of leading titles, development costs and other expenses are increasing amid higher expectations for game content, making it more difficult for new titles to acquire users.」
Notes that rising expectations for game content have increased development costs and other expenses, making it more difficult for new titles to acquire users. The scope of the impact of competitive pressure has become more specific. - FY2018RestatedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the competitive environment has become more intense as more titles are released, and development costs and technical requirements have also increased as expectations for the gaming experience have risen.」
Continues to note intensifying competition as the number of titles increases, along with rising development costs and technical requirements as expectations for the gaming experience increase. - FY2018-Q2WorsenedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the competitive environment has become more intense as more titles are released, and technical requirements have also increased as expectations for the gaming experience have risen.」
Notes intensifying competition, higher expectations for the gaming experience and rising technical requirements, indicating that competitive pressure in game development is broadening. - FY2018-Q1RestatedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the competitive environment has become more intense as more titles are released, and development costs have also increased as expectations for games have risen.」
Continues to note intensifying competition as the number of game titles increases, along with rising development costs as required standards increase. - FY2017-Q4RestatedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the competitive environment is becoming more intense as the number of titles released increases, and development costs are also rising as demands for games increase.」
Continues to note intensifying competition as the number of game titles increases, along with rising development costs as required standards increase. - FY2017-Q2RestatedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the competitive environment is becoming more intense as the number of titles released increases, and development costs are also rising as demands for games increase.」
Continues to note intensifying competition as the number of game titles increases, along with rising development costs as required standards increase. - FY2017-Q1RestatedAnnual report
「Meanwhile, the environment for acquiring users is becoming more competitive as the number of titles released increases, and development costs are also trending upward due to rising demands for the quality of the gaming experience and other factors.」
The company continues to report intense competition for user acquisition resulting from the increase in game titles and rising development costs accompanying higher demands for the gaming experience. - FY2016-Q4WorsenedAnnual report
「The competitive environment is becoming more challenging as the number of titles released increases, and development costs are also trending upward due to rising demands for the quality of the gaming experience and other factors.」
The company reports both the increasingly challenging competitive environment and the upward trend in development costs accompanying higher demands for the gaming experience. No quantitative figures are provided. - FY2016First statedAnnual report
「The competitive environment is becoming more challenging as the number of titles released increases with the entry of more companies.」
The company identifies intensifying competition resulting from increased market entry as a risk alongside the expansion of the native smartphone game market.