Enterbrain CEO: Earthquake cost the Japanese game industry 7.3 billion yen
If you've kept up with the game delays and cancellations that happened as a result of the catastrophic earthquake which struck Japan last month, you probably understand the extent of its effect on the gaming industry. Enterbrain CEO Hirokazu Hamamura recently put a number on the devastation: At a recent seminar, Hamamura revealed that according to Enterbrain's calculations, the quake caused the domestic games industry to lose ¥7,330 million ($90 million) in potential sales.
That number was divided into ¥4,470 million in lost software sales -- attributed to the delay of Steel Diver, Dead or Alive Dimensions and 29 other titles that were either pushed back or canceled wholesale -- and ¥2,860 million in lost hardware sales. Hamamura ended the seminar with a hopeful message, though, explaining that most of the delayed titles had been pushed back to the first quarter of the new fiscal year, which could prove to be a boon for Japan's gaming industry. We certainly hope that's the case as well.
