Enterbrain Prez Predicts Thirty Million DS Systems in Japan

[Shrygue]

via IGN


According to a report from Mainichi Interactive, Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Famitsu publisher Enterbrain, painted a bright picture for Nintendo in his annual industry forecast, announced at a seminar held in Tokyo on the 12th.

The coming years will see big things for the DS and related parties, predicts Hamamura. He expects the DS to cross the 30 million shipment mark in 2009. Echoing past statements made in his weekly column in Famitsu, he also believes that Dragon Quest IX could see a series' record five million sales.

It's not all good news for Nintendo, though. Hamamura noted that the Wii hasn't seen a second big hit at the level of Wii Sports, and cited figures that suggest 67% of Wii owners haven't used the system of late. However, he admitted that Wii Fit is drawing attention, and added that it's possible that more games make the platform switch akin to Monster Hunter 3.

Regarding the PS3, Hamamura believes that the release of a 40,000 yen model will at last mark the system's arrival at the starting line for a games machine. However, he cautions that there's no guarantee of continued exclusivity for Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4. In the case of their going multiplatform, he believes the key to Sony's success will be its self produced titles like Gran Turismo 5.

[robman84]

I imagine therein lies the rub. If you market to people who don't traditionally buy games the likelihood is that they'll not be in any great hurry to buy the next Mario/Sonic/FF/Whatever game, and will be quite happy with the games they got at launch for the occasional times they dig out the system. That's why I predicted a while back that the PS3 would eventually take over.

Nintendo probably needs to capitalise on its high market value and buy in some franchises that will appeal to the games playing (and buying) masses. It would also be an idea for them to be working on the next console rather quickly, OR "doing a Sega" and supporting other platforms once demand for their own dies down.

Of course the DS is likely to sell on and on and on!

[jdnation]

FFXIII was confirmed at TGS to be ONLY for PS3... And the same still holds true for MGS4 who Kojima says on the official site is there to back the Sony warhorse in the console war.

[Shadowblind]

FFXIII was confirmed at TGS to be ONLY for PS3... And the same still holds true for MGS4 who Kojima says on the official site is there to back the Sony warhorse in the console war.

Well, so has Bioshock and Mass Effect. Doesn't stop speculation though.

Are there even 30 mil people in japan? How many of the people really care about video games?

[JKKDARK]

Well, so has Bioshock and Mass Effect. Doesn't stop speculation though.

Are there even 30 mil people in japan? How many of the people really care about video games?

127,433,494

and don't forget 99% of the casual gamers will select a Wii or DS and there are owners with more than one DS or Wii.