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[SatelliteOfLove]

Well, there's PC, but good luck getting a lot of Japanese developers to make something for the platform, and good luck getting publishers to accept that even barebones localizations and competent ports will get them some sales, even after all the Japanese PC port success stories.

We're entering a wierd era where what we know as Japanese gaming will either be made nigh explicitly to the PS4/PC-owning foreign market or (God I hope so) a mobile market that shakes off that LCD & IAP-soaked wasteland that continues to dominate those platforms. Both are fraught with danger.

^^^

Yes, the 3DS will likely be the second best selling dedicated gaming device ever in Japan by the time its successor launches and even in the west, where it is a lot weaker, it's still a viable platform. Unless that was somehow included in your latter category?

Nope, sure wasn't. Too hit or miss for releases. Not popular enough with kids. The Good to Mobile's Good Enough.

 

[Biker19]

One of the reasons I hope PS4 lasts 10 years is because it's likely the last home console Japan will support.

If Sony introduced a PS5 very early, I don't think any Japanese Publisher will care for it or we'll just see last gen up ports like how PS4 is getting PS3 titles, sadly.

I think that PS4 will most likely be the last home gaming console to get decent Japanese 3rd party support of any kind, with the way how things are currently going in the Japanese region.

Move to PC, Japanese devs. We have cookies.

Except that PC gaming isn't exactly huge in Japan like in U.S., China, & Europe.

Japan doesn't really do digital though.

This. It's why we see games like Strider on physical copies in Japan over there.

No kidding. Almost all of my top games are Japanese made. If consoles start to be completely Western oriented, I'm sure I'd have to find another hobby.

Me too.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

I guess the point for comparison is that PS4 is also a console that is fraught with problems in Japan. Problems that some are expecting declining 3rd party franchises like Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts to solve for Sony.

Oh. I actually don't think those kind of franchises will do much. Especially not KH which is going to sell more in the west. I think the hope Sony has in in SCEJ and other 3rd-party studios like Tecmo Koei and Atlus. If the PS3 3rd-party Japanese devs make the move to the PS4, the console should have a decent but not spectacular showing. If the devs instead make a direct jump to mobile, which some will, the PS4 is screwed. It's all really out of Sony's hands. Unless they moneyhat like crazy.

 

[sörine]

Except that PC gaming isn't exactly huge in Japan like in U.S. & Europe.

How is this any different from PS4 though?

 

[QaaQer]

The fact that Sony have failed so hard with the Vita in Japan in this climate is a testament to how badly they fucked up that handheld

As oppossed to blaming it on smartphones, demographic decline, declining real wages, and the concentration of wealth in the 50+ age bracket?

 

[QaaQer]

Declining birthrate is just going exacerbate the numerous growing social problems (massive gender inequality given that it's a first world country, economic future looking grim, political regression to right wing stupidity, etc.). Global warming will probably fuck Japan too. Japan has a million problems and no mechanisms in place to address them. I used to thing American politics were broken, but compared to Japan? pretty functional relatively speaking.

They need to address the sexism that hobbles female productivity and the racism that leads to zero immigration. Open the borders and invite young dynamic skilled immigrants, stop kneecapping women in the workplace and the demographic problem would be solved.

 

[casiopao]

As oppossed to blaming it on smartphones, demographic decline, declining real wages, and the concentration of wealth in the 50+ age bracket?

This is true if 3DS does not exist though and if Vita is Sony first portable machine.

Vita comes from PSP u know. The second best selling platform in JP now.

 

[Spineker]

This is true if 3DS does not exist though and if Vita is Sony first portable machine.

Vita comes from PSP u know. The second best selling platform in JP now.

Pretty much. Sony have a huge profile in Japan, even to this day. They clearly aren't doing as well as they should be.

 

[minkymuskyslyoldstoaty]

I suspect the availability of second-hand games has a lot to do with the decline (assuming those figures don't include second-hand sales). My town which is quite small has no fewer than four shops with huge used sections for PS2 onwards and smaller sections for earlier consoles. I probably by about 100 games every year, and 9/10 of those games will be used ones, not new.

 

[z0m3le]

NintendOS would have Japanese support on their console as long as the handheld does. Until mobile can figure out how to grow buttons but still be an iPhone, I don't see 3DS's successor not selling 20m on it's own, and really the entire dedicated industry there is probably less than 30m users now.