37 Percent of Japanese are Active Gamers

With 37 percent of the Japanese population actively playing games, total gamers in the country reached 34.44 million in 2003, up from 23.60 million in 2002, according to The Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association’s (CESA) “Games White Paper.” However, CESA reported that hardware sales declined between 2002 and 2003 in Japan, and software sales also fell from ¥249.2 billion to ¥230.6 billion CESA summarized total game shipments for 2003 to have reached ¥1,134.4 billion, including ¥349.0 billion for domestic shipments and ¥785.4 billion overseas. Information from GameSpot contributed to this report.