24% of all games sold in Japan are for mobile devices

Software for the portable games market, which is currently dominated by Nintendo's GameBoy Advance SP handsets, accounted for 23% of the 309 bln yen ($2.8 bln) domestic game software market in 2003, according to the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association. Some analysts predict that Sony's PSP will expand the market about 1.5-fold by appealing to a different age group - above 20 years old - from Nintendo's focus, which is young children. The size of the Japanese video game market - software and hardware combined - shrank for the third straight year in 2003 to 446.2 bln yen as game makers compete with mobile phones, Internet and DVDs for consumers' leisure spending.