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[januswon]

Retail Japan Style

But what truly separates the Japanese market from America is its uncanny ability to promote titles. In a country where game rentals are outright illegal, publishers have to push their content harder to generate more sales. This means more demo kiosks, more standees, and better information.

American promotional material concentrates largely on nice visuals, a catchy tagline, and simple, bullet-point bits of information. One look at the minimalist approach to GTA: San Andreas (which admittedly, doesn't need that much hyping) is telling. On the other hand, Japanese game stores are filled with brochures and pamphlets that you can take home to read.

full story here
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=612&Itemid=2

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i am not familiar with the US game stores
in japan, visiting game stores will be quite a nice experience

although game rental is not allowed in japan
we still have 2nd hand market
and in some comic libraries and internet cafes, console gaming (mostly ps2) is free of charge, but the games are quite old

 

[C- Warrior]

Yeah, rentals is non-existant there and piracy is low (comparetively to EU and NA)

But on the flipside, things even out because the used game market in Japan is nearly 1/3rd of total sales. Ouch.

 

[TheDiave]

Yeah, rentals is non-existant there and piracy is low (comparetively to EU and NA)

But on the flipside, things even out because the used game market in Japan is nearly 1/3rd of total sales. Ouch.

I thought games couldn't be re-sold though... I mean I've seen the little "NOT FOR RESALE" label on my import PS2 games. So if that's true, how can their even be a used game market?

 

[MrDaravon]

Rentals are illegal in Japan? That explains the huge used game market there, but why are rentals illegal there exactly?

 

[dark10x]

On the other hand, Japanese game stores are filled with brochures and pamphlets that you can take home to read.

Ha ha, yeah, I noticed that too. I also noticed that a lot of impending games had full 16:9 LCDs setup with trailers and demos playing. Very kick ass. Even regular electronics stores were doing that.

The used game market kicks ass too. The quality of the used games is incredible. I asked an employee about that at one of the shops and he actually showed me several copies of one game they had used and every one of them was damn near flawless. Their used games were much better than the "off the shelf" new games you find in US shops like Gamestop. I guess the difference is that more people seem to trade in games in Japan. In the US, people who take care of their shit keep it...

 

[Yusaku]

Nintendo tried to make rentals illegal here as well, but lost that battle.

 

[polg]

I think some pics would have been nice in that article.

 

[cvxfreak]

Japanese retail is ultimately more interesting than American retail. Pamphlets, promotional material.

The quality of used Japanese games also surpasses American quality. For one, Japanese shops use peelable stickers for their prices and notes. It makes American shops feel lame by comparison.

 

[NotMSRP]

If US used games weren't so disgusting, I would be more incline to buy US used games.

 

[januswon]

I thought games couldn't be re-sold though... I mean I've seen the little "NOT FOR RESALE" label on my import PS2 games. So if that's true, how can their even be a used game market?

The Supreme Court of Japan ruled in favor of the 2nd hand tv game retailers on 2002.04.25
http://www.arts.or.jp/judgement/index_keii.html

Afterewards, the game vendors in japan had to remove all the "NOT FOR RESALE" label from the games sold in japan

 

[Jonnyram]

Some games are rented in Japan, but only demo versions. They also give demo versions out at some stores. Recently, companies like Namco and Konami are fighting back against the used game stores by selling budget versions a lot sooner, less than a year in some cases. I was pretty astounded by the used games sales actually. DQ8 sold a crapload of second hand copies last year. I have a top 100 list at home if anyone's interested.

 

[Synbios459]

Can someone please explain to me why in the world games are illegal to rent in Japan?? And are movies illegal to rent to? And if games were illegal to rent in the US do you think game sells would suffer?