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Why do you think Sony are neglecting so much Japanese games?

SSfox

Member
So yeah, as everyone know and notice Sony has been neglecting a lot Japanese games in the recent years, what make this even weirder is that iconic japanese devs, games and IPs are the main ones that build and defined the Playstation brand since decades.

So in gaf members opinions why do you think Sony are neglecting so much Japanese gaming industry so much specially recently?
 
Dunno, but negatives are prolly due to sexualized characters and ideologies in Japan vs western shit. Positives are prolly due to how shit Japanese developers are at making actual levels in their games and overall quality, with only From being the single exception. Even P5R which I loved had garbage dungeons.
 

SSfox

Member
Which games have they neglected? Which publishers? Devs?

Sony aquired many western studios recently, meanwhile killed off the only japanese studio they own outside of PoDi.

Platinum games and Kojima prod are easy examples of top quality games and probably won't be as expansive as Bungie, but Sony are literally doing nothing with those devs. But no let's get Bungie, Jade Raymond and firespirit because those ones knows how to make Gaas panpan boumboum games.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
Sony aquired many western studios recently, meanwhile killed off the only japanese studio they own outside of PoDi.

Platinum games and Kojima prod are easy examples of top quality games and probably won't be as expansive as Bungie, but Sony are literally doing nothing with those devs. But no let's get Bungie, Jade Raymond and firespirit because those ones knows how to make Gaas panpan boumboum games.

But Kojima is making a game for Sony. Platinum is in the gutter, they are done.

Have you considered that maybe there are no devs worth acquiring from Japan, and it would take Sony aquiring an entire japanese publisher.
 

kingfey

Banned
No disrespect here, but Japanese games are weird in general. Aside of the big western like Japanese games, the rest leaves undesired thoughts.

The cultural differences between Japan and western plays important role in why some japanese games sell alot, while others sell low numbers.

Just my thoughts.
 

Elios83

Member
They haven't neglected them at all.
Playstation has full support of all Japanese publishers, they have key exclusives with games like FFXVI, it seems all but confirmed they're working again with Kojima and there are rumors they're working again with From Software, not to mention they invested in them through Kadokawa.
This whole take is not based on reality.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
They haven't neglected them at all.
Playstation has full support of all Japanese publishers, they have key exclusives with games like FFXVI, it seems all but confirmed they're working again with Kojima and there are rumors they're working again with From Software, not to mention they invested in them through Kadokawa.
This whole take is not based on reality.
So they happen to be working, or hypothetically working, with all the most popular JP devs (non-nintendo) in the west?
 

kingfey

Banned
Part 2.
I feel like Japanese writers are much better at presenting real issues, compared to western. Since they can make you question the simplest things, and not afraid to write those.
While in Western, games like specs ops the line showed that western media aren't ready for that type of game.

They have the talent to bring those to gaming. But too much nationalism makes it harder for them, to translate that to gaming at a bigger scale.
 
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Aion002

Member
Make It Rain Money GIF


For example... Just google the sales and reviews of Gravity Rush 2(ps4), White Knight Chronicles (ps3) and Siren(ps2) compared to Horizon(ps4), The Last of Us(ps3) and God of War(ps2)...

Japan lost.
 
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Vaelka

Member
I don't think that Sony is necessarily neglecting Japaneses games.
They're neglecting games that aren't super AAA because those are the big marketing games.

There's obviously AAA Japanese studios too but I feel like Japan excels a lot at more like AA games, there's few truly enormous titles and even so if we look at Elden Ring for example that game isn't AAA in the '' made for marketing '' way like most Sony exclusives are.
It's not super high end graphically and it's not cinematic in the traditional sense.
You can't throw pics of it around and be all like '' wow look at how next-gen this is '' to sell consoles.

Also the CA side of things...
People act like '' the West '' = the US, and Japanese games aren't as marketable and '' safe '' in the US.
It's not even people in the US I think either ( I mean Anime has been on a HUGE rise in the US ) it's corporate America.
Movies that should be more highly rated don't get censored to be PG-13 because it's what audiences wants it's because it's what the studios want to sell it to children and make more money.
Corporate America is totally out of touch I don't think that's a controversial thing to say, and most people who work at big tech companies only interact with other people in their industries too who are equally as out of touch with the average person.
They look at anything that isn't sanitized by their own office culture as unsafe or worse and that bleeds into what these companies will choose to market and elevate.

Edit: Scratch that, people act like '' the West '' = insular tech communities in CA and the like.
I really don't think that most Americans are as uptight and puritanical as companies would have us believe.
I do think Americans who get upset about things are significantly more louder and make themselves more obvious, but when companies think of '' the West ''/ global community they think of Silicon Valley.
 
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kingfey

Banned
Those poor games!

In all seriousness it does seem like Sony is only making western games these days.
Since they left Japan, it become western oriented company.
I am afraid western CEOs might take the company in to a weird position.
Western management is all about increasing business profitability, no matter what. Even if that means, putting your company's reputation at risk.
CDPR management made that move with cyberpunk2077.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
Sure Sony could do more to engage with japanese devs and games, but they are doing exclusive deals and marketing with a lot of prominent developers from Japan, so in a sense, what you are saying is not true.

Square Enix does tons of exclusives for Playstation. Final Fantasy 16 and 7 remake, Forspoken, A realm reborn. SE and Sony go way back and have a strong working relationship.

Capcom, From Software, Namco, Atlus, Kojima Productions and Sega are all aboard with Playstation with exclusive deals or marketing. They also had a big showing of Project EVE on their latest show. And let's not forget that Astros playroom developers Team Asobi belong to PS studios and are rumored to be working on a full fledged platforming game.

This whole "Sony neglects Japan" schtick that people try to run with is way overblown.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Those poor games!

In all seriousness it does seem like Sony is only making western games these days.

Cause that's where most of the revenue comes from.

Unless your name is Nintendo, your games won't sell a lot in Japan. Maybe 100k at best in Japan versus millions in US/EU.

Even predominant Japanese franchises like Biohazard (Resident Evil) have turned fully western in the last couple of installments cause that's where their lions share of sales came from.
 
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Fbh

Member
I'd argue their current approach isn't too different. What has changed is japan being more into mobile and handheld stuff and consoles in general sharing like 90% of their library.

Look at the Ps1 era. What Sony made games were we actually getting from Japan? Gran Turismo, Legend of Dragoon and PaRappa the Rapper?
Almost all of the big games associated with that era from Playstation were third party: Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Resident Evil, etc. Hell, one of the multiple reasons that Playstation Smash clone sucked was because Sony owns almost none of the iconic "playstation characters" from their early days. It wasn't until the Ps2 and Ps3 that they started getting fully owned unique characters and even then most of them were coming from the west (Kratos, Ratched, Nathan Drake, etc)

Sony seems to have decided that paying for timed exclusive deals is probably more cost effective than fully investing in new games and studios, and personally I think it's working. Hell ,half the reason I want a Ps5 instead of a Series X is that I want to play games like FFXVI and FF Remake part 2 at launch.
 
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What is weeb about gran turismo 7 and elden ring which dominating sales the last few weeks

Nothing. Those would fall outside the realm of the "so much" in the thread title that led to my comment. So much of the other Japanese output is garbage weeb nonsense, I find their newer focus on western style games to be vastly superior these days.
 

Nezzeroth

Member
They are not neglecting anything. They killed an incredibly unproductive studio that took forever to make anything only to release it to lukewarm reception.

Sony has always cared more about third party studios in Japan anyway, that never changed.
 
Spartacus could be huge. Think of all those legacy IP from Japan that could be prominent in that offering. Maybe the data used there could spark discussions about bringing some of those back as remakes or remastering.
 

Holammer

Member
Sony is doing the right thing.
Japanese weeb games don't sell as popular Japanese themes and tropes translate poorly to western audiences, like googly eyed 12 year old genius generals with over-designed costumes and other dumb shit? That is niche outside Japan. Normal people find 'little sister' characters constantly whining about "onii-chan" super weird.

Tales of, Atelier and Disgaea will never be mainstream, but some companies like FROM and Capcom break the mold and manage to appeal to a wider market.
 
I wouldn't say they're neglecting Japanese games. At this point Sony (SIE) is just shifting its identity into something different to fit the new trend. Consequently, that means less emphasis on Japanese output and market. It is sad how they practically halted production on Japanese flavored and focused games like they once used to do though.

Most Japanese games aren't big sellers like they used to be.
 
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Closer

Member
Which games have they neglected? Which publishers? Devs?

Sony published games? Sony devs?

Edit: Oh, now I know what you talking about. Didn't pay attention to OP. We are getting way less japanese games in general, maybe 'cause there are way too many western devs out there doing games and japanese games are not the hot thing anymore. I think this is a problem of perception, as more western games are getting the spotlight instead of japanese games.
 
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yurinka

Member
So yeah, as everyone know and notice Sony has been neglecting a lot Japanese games in the recent years, what make this even weirder is that iconic japanese devs, games and IPs are the main ones that build and defined the Playstation brand since decades.

So in gaf members opinions why do you think Sony are neglecting so much Japanese gaming industry so much specially recently?
Bullshit. Sony consoles continue being the ones with the biggest amount of Japanese games, both exclusive and multi.

In recent years they published Astro, Demon's Souls, Death Stranding Director's Cut and Gran Turismo 7 and got a ton of Japanese 3rd party exclusives like the ones from ARC System Works, Platinum, Kadokawa, Sega, Tango and specially Square Enix to name a few.

They killed an incredibly unproductive studio that took forever to make anything only to release it to lukewarm reception.
They didn't kill it, they restructured it changing its leadership, firing some people, rebranding it to Team Asobi and branching off their XDEV local 2nd party publishing side to make it report to their global XDEV team instead of to a local gamedev team.

This branching off of their XDEV team was also previously done in USA (as I remember they were in Sony Santa Monica) and many years ago in Europe (as I remember they were in SCE Liverpool offices). As of now XDEV is a single global team with delegations in every region that continue doing the local publishing of 2nd party games. This Japanese team after being separated from Japan Studio did publish Death Stranding Director's Cut.

These resulting two teams, Team Asobi and their XDEV Japanese team, have been hiring a lot since the restructuring as they also did in all their SIE teams.
 
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Seems similar to PS4 for me. Recently enjoyed Atelier Ryza 2, Atelier Sophie 2, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires and Neptunia Reverse, so there's games out there if your taste goes beyond AAA
 

Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Because most Japanese games are terrible on the tech side of things, and only cater to Japan. Sony is going for a larger, world wide approach
 

TidusYuna

Member
Outside of Japan Studios (R.I.P/Long live queen Kat), Playstation still gets all the japanese games unless it is a Nintendo exclusive like Triangle Strategy. Nothing has really changed in terms of Japanese support on playstation. All the japanese games still come out on Playstation.
 
Yeah, I’m just unfortunately having to come to the realization that Sony is a Western company now as much as Microsoft. Sony to my knowledge only has Team Asobi, Polyphony and maybe Kojima Productions(???) for their Japanese developers while literally all their other many developers are Western and it’s growing. I think that speaks volumes about the direction they are heading in and who they favor.

They even claimed that Japan is still very important to them. Their recent and not-so-recent actions imho does not even remotely indicate that. I understand that Western games typically sell more than Japanese games and it’s business, but a good amount of Japanese games still sell really well and are desired worldwide. I saw it coming from a country mile, but PlayStation moving to California imo was not a good move.
 
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Lognor

Banned
But Kojima is making a game for Sony. Platinum is in the gutter, they are done.

Have you considered that maybe there are no devs worth acquiring from Japan, and it would take Sony aquiring an entire japanese publisher.
No. Platinum is not in the gutter. They made a great game with Nintendo. Sony has abandoned Japan. Sad but true
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
So yeah, as everyone know and notice Sony has been neglecting a lot Japanese games in the recent years, what make this even weirder is that iconic japanese devs, games and IPs are the main ones that build and defined the Playstation brand since decades.

So in gaf members opinions why do you think Sony are neglecting so much Japanese gaming industry so much specially recently?

I don’t think Sony is ignoring the japanese market. However, PlayStation absolutely is. Ever since their move to California as their base of operations, they have been going increasingly heavy handed with censorship and demonization of the Japanese industry. From forcing devs to speak in English, even if they are small indie teams in Japan, to making obscene demands in how the game is structured and what can be shown (even when companies like NINTENDO allow complete creative freedom for games that aren’t rated AO).

PlayStation has been acting like a right bunch of cuntwaffles since 2016 and I am waiting on the day they get their arse handed to them and realize they are getting too cocky.
 
Because most Japanese games are terrible on the tech side of things, and only cater to Japan. Sony is going for a larger, world wide approach
They still have imo by far the best, most enjoyable gameplay and creativity though. A little boost from Sony’s budget can propel their games to the next level. Imagine a Bloodborne or a Yakuza sequel for example with a Horizon budget behind it.
 

theclaw135

Banned
Sony has a wellspring of neglected Japanese brands. Whether they're reaching out to interested studios to no avail, or have turned down proposals unreasonably, I don't know.
 
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Who says they're neglecting them? They have a partnership set up with XDEV, they're investing into a few big Chinese games (Project EVE, potentially Black Myth Wukong), and they still "essentially" have Japan Studio in the form of Team Asobi.

Outside of that, they have support from practically every moderate-to-big Japanese publisher. I think you guys are just taking Nintendo gaining so much Japanese support with the Switch as some kind of sign Sony losing Japanese support, when it really just means Nintendo's gained a lot. There doesn't have to be a correlation. Same with Microsoft, who have (somewhat) improved relations with a few Japanese devs and pubs the past couple of years.

I think the days where practically every major Japanese AAA game being a PS exclusive, or PS just hoarding up all the Japanese development due to competitors screwing things up massively one way or another, those days aren't coming back. It's not like the PS1 or PS2 gens anymore, but that's okay. They still have a lot of things going with other Japanese devs and pubs, they're still working on exclusives with multiples of them, etc.

All the big Japanese IP that helped define PS generations ago...are still on PlayStation, and a decent number are still exclusive to it console-wise. Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest. Monster Hunter. Devil May Cry. Persona. Street Fighter. Dark Souls. The list is pretty extensive. If it's more about the quirkier Sony 1P Japanese games, well I just hope this new Spartacus service will be a means for those games to probably proliferate it. Maybe it can help make a case for a new Parappa/UmJammer, or a new Tomba, or maybe work something out with translations/fan translations of Japan-only PS1/2/3 games to go into the service officially.

Stuff that maybe wouldn't have a big retail presence on its own, but could be incentives to draw more people to the service, maybe paired with digital versions at launch or shortly afterwards.

Because most Japanese games are terrible on the tech side of things, and only cater to Japan. Sony is going for a larger, world wide approach

Then that makes cultivating relationships for more big Japanese content even more important, TBH.
 
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