Japanese smartphone games market doubled in 2013, now accounts for 50% of entire gaming market

The market for smartphone games in Japan almost doubled in size last year, reaching $5.4 billion in total sales.

According to data released by the Japanese internet firm CyberAgent, the domestic smartphone game market generated ¥546.8 billion ($5.4 billion) in 2013, an increase of 178 per cent over the ¥307.2 billion earned in the prior year.

And Smartphone games now account for 50 per cent of the entire games market

In 2013, the entire Japanese software market was worth ¥1103.6 billion ($10.8 billion), so smartphone games accounted for around 50 per cent of the whole. In 2012, it was only 30 per cent.

However, this rate of growth is expect to slow over the next few years, rising to around $6.5 billion in value in 2014, $7.4 billion in 2015, and $8.2 billion in 2016.

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