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What's up for the PS3 in Japan?

Y

ymmv

Banned
In a discussion on a another board the subject of Japanese sales age cropped up. The 360 had an (semi) unexpected sales spike thanks to Tales of Vesperia. The upcoming releases of Infinite Undiscovery, the Last Remnant and in early 2009 Star Ocean 4 will probably also see the 360 outselling the PS3 for a week.

You'd expect Sony to come up with its own heavy hitters for the Japanese market to combat Microsoft's JRPG offensive. The funny thing is that I have no idea what those titles could possibly be since all of Sony's big guns have been produced by western devs. There's a lot of interest from western gamers for Resistance 2, Socom, LittleBigPlanet. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, NBA 09, Buzz, Wipeout HD, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, etc but with the possible exception of LBP none of those games will set the Japanese charts on fire. So what else is left? There's Afrika (a minor title) and Eternal Sonata (a port of year old 360 game) but I don't think these 2 titles will hit the top of the charts. If White Knight Chronicles doesn't make it this year there are no further homegrown AAA titles to look forward to for Japanese gamers.

Am I missing something? Is it possible the 360 will begin to outsell the PS3 for real in Japan with its JRPG streak of good fortune just as the PS3 hits a drought?
 
P

Pai Pai Master

Banned
360's getting a long string of good games, I don't see why it shouldn't outsell the PS3 for this period. Sony literally has nothing to combat any of these releases until White Knight Chronicles next year.
 
M

MassiveAttack

Banned
i105366_yumijustgoteaten.gif
 
R

Rolf NB

Member
There's trouble in Japan for Sony. While Microsoft is keeping a number of Japanese studios busy developing RPGs, Sony has poured most of their in-house resources into games that would appease primarily the western markets. The only (known) things of relevance left to come are White Knight Chronicles, the Team Ico game and GT5, whenever they come out. Game Republic might come out with something nice. Or maybe not. Who knows.

If it stays that way, they're fucked. To gain any relevance in Japan, they need to ramp something up, hard.
 
I

icecream

Public Health Threat
-Trusty Bell
-Cross Edge
-WKC?

3 JRPGs in a span of 4 months. Not to mention the number of titles that it has set for 2009. It takes time for such titles to be developed, and when compared to the 360's second year in Japan, it's lineup is hardly lackluster at all.

arg2bad said:
my hunch is a lot of crow is going to be eaten TGS
Click to expand...
That will do nothing to help bolster this year's release schedule though.
 
Y

Yama

Member
Sony needs to take a long look at what made the PlayStation brand so successful. Titles like RFOM and Motorstorm are decent entries in their corresponding genres, however they should be complimentary to an already solid PlayStation-esque line up. Japan Studio should not have to carry the console in Japan, it simply cannot. Team Ico's new project should prove beneficial, but again, it should be complimentary to an already solid (and preferably third party) catalog. There are quality titles arriving, slowly, but there needs to be quantity as well in this case. There are enough reasons to own a PS3, at least for myself, but when comparing libraries from previous generations (same length into) there is certainly a different vibe surrounding the console; one I don't exactly care for and one that certainly does not cater towards the consoles home land.
 
B

Bizzyb

Banned
Hmmm

Well, I would say MGS4 is going to lead them for the rest of the year but it doesn't look like that's going to happen (perhaps a holiday spike)


For Japan, this year? Hmm well, Afrika looks nice but lets be honest, that's not going to be moving any systems exactly.

And LBP looks like something only the western world is currently hyped for.

yeah, good question. You should ask Sony, I'm sure they have a primed PR response for this type of question
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
I wouldn't discount LBP in Japan. The campaign they're running right now shows they don't plan on hanging it out to dry.
 
R

Rpgmonkey

Member
Not to do the "wait for X" thing, but I think TGS will have some stuff.

...Of course, I doubt most of them will be anywhere near ready to release this year. :p
 
T

travisbickle

Member
I'm guessing the Japanese need something to keep coming back to? They bought MGS4, completed it, then sold it (from what I hear). Needs to be a game with replay value I think? I don't know really? What do the Japanese want? Don't say a Wii! Gran Turismo? LBP?
 
rykomatsu

rykomatsu

Member
icecream said:
-Trusty Bell
-Cross Edge
-WKC?
Click to expand...

X-Edge will sell what, though, 30-50k tops? and it's not a system mover lol

it's a niche game which will probably see similar sales to TtT :p

being an Ar Tonelico fan, i'll snag it, but i think a lot of At1/AT2 fans will probably skip on it.
 
A

antiloop

Member
travisbickle said:
I'm guessing the Japanese need something to keep coming back to? They bought MGS4, completed it, then sold it (from what I hear). Needs to be a game with replay value I think? I don't know really? What do the Japanese want? Don't say a Wii! Gran Turismo? LBP?
Click to expand...

I think a steady stream of games would do wonders. At least 3 decent games each month.

The way it's now Japanese people will just forget about their PS3 between releases..
 
A

arg2bad

Member
I don't think the Japanese will forget about PS3 - the machine can only get cheaper and i think Japanese dev's are still having problems with the machine - this should work itself out in the next year

you have to remember that Sony are not going to go from number one is the last two generations to second place without a fight
 
M

MassiveAttack

Banned
Weisheit said:
That's right...
Click to expand...

Disagree. The PS3 FFXIII demo bundle is going to sell extremely well in March. At least double what the MGS4 bundle did. Especially if the Famitsu report of a 2 hour demo holds true.
 
T

Thomper

Member
DJ Crimson said:
Masterplan:

1. Buy Level 5
2. Develop RPGs
3. Profit?
Click to expand...
Yeah, no. I like Level 5 as an independant developer - Professor Layton is awesome, Inazuma Eleven looks promising, and they're well on their way to becoming one of the bigger independant developers. Not everything should be bought up.
 
E

Elios83

Member
I think they could do fine if Naruto, Winning Eleven, Tekken 6, White Knight Chronicles and a few unannounced surprises ( Ace Combat? the team confirmed to be working on a PS3 game during last TGS and a Namco RPG) come out this year.
BUt probably we won't get the full picture of the PS3 japanese lineup this year until TGS.
No doubt that Sony has put too much efforts in trying to please americans and completely forgot of japanese gamers.
 
R

Rhindle

Member
Sony doesn't seem to care much. As long as there's no real threat of the 360 catching on, they seem to be content with just keeping the system on life support there.

As long as there's no real competitive threat, it probably makes sense for them to lay low, until they're in the black on the hardware.
 
P

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
Someone post my charts from the last MC thread. I would but don't want to get banned for posting relevant information in more than one thread. Thanks.
 
Z

Zoc

Member
The PS3 release list from now until the end of the year looks no different from any other period in the console's life, on average. Neither does the 360's. Why would their relative sales change at all?
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
MassiveAttack said:
Disagree. The PS3 FFXIII demo bundle is going to sell extremely well in March. At least double what the MGS4 bundle did. Especially if the Famitsu report of a 2 hour demo holds true.
Click to expand...
Only to be sold back to fill the used bins, just like the MGS4 bundle...
 
W

Weisheit

Junior Member
MassiveAttack said:
Disagree. The PS3 FFXIII demo bundle is going to sell extremely well in March. At least double what the MGS4 bundle did. Especially if the Famitsu report of a 2 hour demo holds true.
Click to expand...
:lol 150k PS3's....for a demo.
The 360 is currently sold out in Japan due to a recent RPG release.
Click to expand...
This is the 360 you're talking about...



For some perspective, MP8 has outsold every JRPG this gen......thats Mario Party, the only JRPG that will outsell it in the foreseeable future is FF13, maybe VS13.....yeah, really, MP8.
 
B

BoilersFan23

Member
Elios83 said:
I think they could do fine if Naruto, Winning Eleven, Tekken 6, White Knight Chronicles and a few unannounced surprises ( Ace Combat? the team confirmed to be working on a PS3 game during last TGS and a Namco RPG) come out this year.
BUt probably we won't get the full picture of the PS3 japanese lineup this year until TGS.
No doubt that Sony has put too much efforts in trying to please americans and completely forgot of japanese gamers.
Click to expand...
Uh, some devs that worked with SCEJ/SCEI previously aren't working on PS3 games. Matrix Software has been remaking FF games on DS. MediaVision (Wild Arms makers) are making a DS RPG (I forgot the name). The PaRappa creators are making a Wii music game. It just seems like most devs who may have made a game on PS1/PS2, are making games for DS/Wii instead (and since SCEJ doesn't own them, they can).
 
W

Weisheit

Junior Member
Elios83 said:
I think they could do fine if Naruto, Winning Eleven, Tekken 6, White Knight Chronicles and a few unannounced surprises ( Ace Combat? the team confirmed to be working on a PS3 game during last TGS and a Namco RPG) come out this year.
BUt probably we won't get the full picture of the PS3 japanese lineup this year until TGS.
No doubt that Sony has put too much efforts in trying to please americans and completely forgot of japanese gamers.
Click to expand...
By PS3 you mean Wii?
 
B

biggkidd32

Member
Sony Japan has been very weak IMHO. I'm not talking about sales either. The system is almost two years old and we still do not have a full fledged GT title. Minna no Golf, while entertaining, lacked voice chat and the charm of the PSP versions. There's no Ape Escape, yet. Thank God for LBP, though. What I've always loved about the PlayStation platform were wacky and interesting Japanese titles. Sony Japan really has to step it up.
 
P

PistolGrip

sex vacation in Guam
Arent Japanese Publishers hesitant to show games unless they are only a few months from release?

We can truly analyse this only after TGS.
 
B

Bizzyb

Banned
Rhindle said:
Sony doesn't seem to care much. As long as there's no real threat of the 360 catching on, they seem to be content with just keeping the system on life support there.

As long as there's no real competitive threat, it probably makes sense for them to lay low, until they're in the black on the hardware.
Click to expand...


Wii doesn't count, right?
 
K

kevm3

Member
Seems like Sony spent all their money on western developers this generation. If you look at their lineup, virtually all the titles shown are western:
Resistance 2
Motorstorm 2
God of War 3
Killzone
Little Big Planet
Ratchet and Clank: QFB
Infamous
DC Online
Heavy Rain

I find it amazing that Sony has basically neglected Japan. We did have Siren. We have WKC, but who knows when that's coming out? Same for FF13, which is also on 360.

Sony really needs to get back on the ball with 3rd parties. it's what garnered them such outstanding success two generations in a row, and now they are moving away from it. I don't get it. At least put a dedicated team together to make tons of tools to make the system a lot easier to work with or something. Their Japanese lineup sucks too. Hire Konami or fund a new Square game instead of dumping tons of millions into somewhat unproven developers next time. Don't want another Lair. Heavenly Sword was good, but for its budget and development time, it was only what, 6 hours long?
 
B

biggkidd32

Member
PistolGrip said:
Arent Japanese Publishers hesitant to show games unless they are only a few months from release?

We can truly analyse this only after TGS.
Click to expand...
That's been Nintendo's strategy recently. Not Sony's. White Knight was shown two years ago.
 
Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Member
biggkidd32 said:
That's been Nintendo's strategy recently. Not Sony's. White Knight was shown two years ago.
Click to expand...

White Knight was supposed to be a launch title. Blame Level-5 for being slow as shit, not Sony.
 
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