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GamingBolt: Sony and PS5's performance in Japan is becoming a grave concern

Marty-McFly

Marty-McFly

Banned
Wow this is getting a lot of exposure. The internet is on fire regarding PS5's troublesome hardware and software sales in their native territory, and the damage it's doing to Sony's worldwide marketshare.

This (PS5's performance in Japan) is honestly shocking, because even though Nintendo has traditionally done very well in Japan, Sony has always held the lion’s share of software sales in the country. The PS1 and PS2 were absolute monsters, the PSP was where most Japanese games migrated to even as the industry struggled with the transition to HD; the PS3 eventually managed to rally most of the Japanese industry behind it, with the PS3, PSP, and PS Vita forming a combined ecosystem that saw a lot of Japanese publishers continue to prioritize and emphasize PlayStation systems for their projects. Once the PS4 came on to the scene, it took a while to get going, but even while it was finding its footing, the PS3 and PS Vita held up the fort, and eventually, the PS4 and Vita continued that ecosystem further.
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"So between Sony’s consistent sidelining of Japan, and Nintendo finally getting a system out that checks all the boxes, what has happened? We have ended up with a situation where a PlayStation system is no longer the default, where at the very least a lot of the Japanese support it commanded as de facto exclusive (because, again, where else would those games go?) has become at least multiplatform (such as with long running PlayStation exclusive franchises such as Atelier), or outright exclusive (such as with Disgaea). We’ve ended up at a point where Japanese games sell more on Switch – not just in Japan, but worldwide now."
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"There’s a reason that where once, smaller games would become huge on PlayStation before maybe migrating over to other systems, the opposite is happening now – there’s a reason that Hollow Knight and Hades were big on Switch before they were on any other console, and that reason is that Nintendo has created an ecosystem where developers and customers alike are likelier to have an affinity for broad, varied software across the spectrum, rather than just sticking to the next big blockbuster".
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More at the jump

Sony And PS5’s Performance In Japan Is Becoming A Grave Concern

The Japanese market's story culminates in the most obvious outcome - but it was a…
gamingbolt.com gamingbolt.com

The Japanese market is very important because Nintendo has sold 20 million Switch's there and is on track to be the best selling platform of all time.




Also, while Sony broke records for profit in 2020, Nintendo nearly doubled them worldwide because of the strong presence they have in every region:

(Japanese companies WORLDWIDE profits for 2020)
L9NzCFY.png
 
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Duchess

Duchess

Member
There was something I read a while back:

In Japan, the young people have the time for games, but not the money. The older generation have the money for the games, but not the time.

Hence why mobile games and the Switch are now so popular. It ticks a lot of boxes: it can be used on the go, features high quality games (gameplay, graphics, and audio), and is less expensive than the main consoles. The gamers aren't tied to their TVs and sofas, and can just chuck the system into their bags to play on the way to school, work, etc.

Again, I seriously think that Sony need to rethink their handheld PlayStation strategy. They might have problems cracking that Nintendo citadel, however.
 
Abriael_GN

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
I see Gamingbolt hasn't stopped courting console warriors with ludicrous "articles." 😂

Oh my god! Franchises that were Playstation exclusives before now are going multiplatform and the Switch is getting them!

But what about franchises that were Nintendo exclusives before and now are going multiplatform like Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water? It's funny that they cite Atelier, but not this that comes from the same company? Talk about citing only what supports your misguided point. What about Ace Attorney? Inazuma Eleven? Yo-Kai Watch?

Oh my god! Disgaea 6 is Switch exclusive!

Not in Japan. Weren't we talking about Japan?

There are still a ton of Japanese games that aren't launched on Switch at all, like Relayer, Tales of Arise, King of Fighters XV, Scarlet nexus, Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Idolmaster, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, Code Vein, Guilty Gear Strive, Oneechanbara, and many, many others.

The simple reality is that Japanese mid-tier developers haven't suddenly started to love Nintendo and hate PlayStation. They have simply understood that going multiplatform means more money, in both directions. And for many, it's still a lot more convenient to go multiplatform for PS, PC, and Xbox leaving the Switch aside because downporting stuff for the weakest console isn't cheap.

Marty-McFly said:
New news. New thread.
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But this isn't news. It's a poor website that has been pushing console warring flamebait for a decade trying to get some clicks by posting a poorly informed and misinformative "opinion" based on skewed points. 😂

You may want to check a dictionary for the meaning of "news" because opinion pieces don't fall in that category.
 
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Marty-McFly

Marty-McFly

Banned
Abriael_GN said:
I see Gamingbolt hasn't stopped courting console warriors with ludicrous "articles." 😂

Oh my god! Games that were Playstation exclusives before now are going multiplatform and the Switch is getting them!

But what about games that were Nintendo exclusives before and now are going multiplatform like Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water? It's funny that they cite Atelier, but not this that comes from the same company? Talk about citing only what supports your misguided point. What about Ace Attorney? Inazuma Eleven? Yo-Kai Watch?

Oh my god! Disgaea 6 is Switch exclusive!

Not in Japan. Weren't we talking about Japan?

Fact is that there are still a ton of Japanese games that aren't launched on Switch at all, like Relayer, Tales of Arise, King of Fighters XV, Scarlet nexus, Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Idolmaster, Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, Code Vein, Guilty Gear Strive, and many, many others.

The simple fact isn't that Japanese mid-tier developers have suddenly started to love the Switch and hate PlayStation. They have simply understood that going multiplatform means more money, in both directions. And for many, it's still a lot more convenient going multiplatform for PS, PC, and Xbox leaving the Switch aside because downporting stuff for the weakest console isn't cheap.



But this isn't news. It's a poor website that has been pushing console warring flamebait for a decade trying to get some clicks by posting a poorly informed and misinformative "opinion" based on skewed points. 😂
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Calm down bro. Sony's performance in Japan has been absolutely terrible. Especially on the software side with the PS5.

Of course people are going are going to write articles about it considering it's their home territory.
 
Abriael_GN

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Marty-McFly said:
Calm down bro. Sony's performance in Japan has been absolutely terrible. Especially on the software side with the PS5.

Of course people are going are going to write articles about it considering it's their home territory.
Click to expand...

And yet, plenty of Japanese developers keep making their games for PS consoles and not for Switch.

Of course, this "article" completely ignores that, on top of ignoring facts that go opposite to its manufactured point, like franchises historically exclusive to Nintendo going multiplat, including PS consoles.

No need to calm down. It's quite hilarious that someone would mistake or misrepresent (depending on whether the writer is simply ignorant or disingenuous, you choose) a general and very healthy trend of going multiplatform in all directions for some imaginary exodus away from PlayStation. For someone who actually knows the Japanese market, this "article" is a barrel of laughs. 😂

Imagine describing the fact that more people on all platforms get to play more games and developers make more money overall on more platforms as a "grave concern." 😂

Who the hell is "gravely concerned" really? 🤣
 
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G

Godot25

Banned
Airbus Jr said:
When youre looking at the big picture PS5 is still doing fine

And id consider Switch is a handheld system not console

33ahmBI.jpg

And dont wory sony will make a comeback sooner or latter in Japan after supply shortage is over

Have a nice day
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You mean comeback like PS4? Which sold less then PS3 in Japan?
PS - 18,8 million
PS2 - 21,4 million
PS3 - 10,4 million
PS4 - 9,3 million

Sony would be glad if they would come close to PS4 numbers in Japan. But i can't see a reason why. They are not making games for that market and many IP's that are popular there are finally coming to other platforms (Yakuza, Persona) so incentive to buy a PS5 is even lesser.

Primary targets for Sony are NA and EU. It's clear as a day. Japan is just an afterthought at this point and they are selling on brand recognition alone.
 
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yurinka

yurinka

Member
This fiscal year PlayStation made worldwide almost twice the amount of money than Nintendo. This proves that the ranking of the best selling boxed games in Japan doesn't mean anything.

This generation PS4 got or will get at least an exclusive of basically all known Japanese 3rd party publisher or gamedev studio. PS4 sold over 1500 million games until now breaking the gaming history record of the biggest amount of games sold for a console, which record had the PS2. Way more than the ones sold for Switch both overall and proportionally.

Jimbo said they will have more exclusives on PS5 than in their previous consoles, and that they are strenghtening their bonds with Japanese publishers to get more games from them.

Japanese console market is moving to portables and specially mobile way more than in the western countries, where also happens but console and PC is growing more than in Japan. This is the reason of why all Japanese console game publishers are reducing their amount of games focused only on Japan and instead are making games with a more global appeal that may appeal westerns too.
 
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Marty-McFly

Marty-McFly

Banned
yurinka said:
This fiscal year PlayStation made worldwide almost twice the amount of money than Nintendo. This proves that the ranking of the best selling boxed games in Japan doesn't mean anything.

This generation PS4 got or will get at least an exclusive of basically all known Japanese 3rd party publisher or gamedev studio. Jimbo said they will have more exclusives on PS5 than in their previous consoles, and that they are strenghtening their bonds with Japanese publishers to get more games from them.
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They "generated" twice the revenue.

They "made" half the profits of Nintendo, and that was a world record of profits for Sony. Half of Nintendo's.

To be clear.
 
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yurinka

yurinka

Member
Marty-McFly said:
They "generated" twice the revenue.

They "made" half the profits of Nintendo, and that was a world record of profits for Sony. Half of Nintendo's.

To be clear.
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Sony made a lot of money, which is revenue generated. Sony genrerated way more revenue than Nintendo. Then they decide which part they reinvest or not.

Nintendo decides to reinvest less money and to get profit. Sony decides to reinvest more of it on making more exclusive games both internal and external, games that also are more expensive, and also invest more on acquisitions or even in more expensive hardware like PS5 or PSVR2 or services like securing PSN or PS Now content, and also decided to grow their workforce a lot.

If Sony wanted to have more profit than Nintendo only needed to reduce some of their investments on these areas. But like many big companies they reinvest most of their revenue.
 
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G

Godot25

Banned
yurinka said:
This fiscal year PlayStation made worldwide almost twice the amount of money than Nintendo. This proves that the ranking of the best selling boxed games in Japan doesn't mean anything.

This generation PS4 got or will get at least an exclusive of basically all known Japanese 3rd party publisher or gamedev studio. PS4 sold over 1500 million games until now breaking the gaming history record of the biggest amount of games sold for a console, which record had the PS2. Way more than the ones sold for Switch both overall and proportionally.

Jimbo said they will have more exclusives on PS5 than in their previous consoles, and that they are strenghtening their bonds with Japanese publishers to get more games from them.

Japanese console market is moving to portables and specially mobile way more than in the western countries, where also happens but console and PC is growing more than in Japan. This is the reason of why all Japanese console game publishers are reducing their amount of games focused only on Japan and instead are making games with a more global appeal that may appeal westerns too.
Click to expand...
PlayStation fans are special kind of breed.

When Xbox posts 15bn revenue, it does not matter because they are not as important as profits.
But when conversation shifts to Sony vs. Nintendo, suddenly revenue are more important metric, because Nintendo have higher profits.

Best selling boxed games in Japan does not mean anything (because Nintendo is beating the shit out of Sony), meanwhile PS vs. Xbox ratio in boxed sales in UK matters.

"Jimbo said they will have more exclusives on PS5 than in their previous consoles, and that they are strengthening their bonds with Japanese publishers to get more games from them." - yeah. But Jimbo also said shit like "we believe in generations" and "we are not abandoning japan market" while closing Japan Studio and clearly prioritising NA/EU with stocks of new consoles. He is a business guy and he clearly sees, that Japan is Nintendo land now and he would need big investment in Japanese content to reverse that. Unfortunately for him, even former exclusives that appeal to Japanese audience are now going multiplatform, so there is even less reason to buy a PS5.
 
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GymWolf

GymWolf

Member
Is the concern scripted or dynamic tho?!

Imagine taking anything that comes out from gaming fucking bolt seriously...
 
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phil_t98

phil_t98

#SonyToo
Gameplaylover said:
Depends on how they use the switch and how good the Lite sold. Would be interesting to know how many people use the mobile part only.
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Back in the day we used to get a lot of fighting games and odd games from japan but it doesn’t seem to be the case these days, I think japan market shifted to mobile more than anything
 
Marty-McFly

Marty-McFly

Banned
yurinka said:
They made a lot of money, which is revenue generated. Sony genrerated way more money. Then they decide which part they reinvest or not. Sony decides to reinvest more of it on making more exclusive games both internal and external, games that also are more expensive, and also invest more on acquisitions or even in more expensive hardware like PS5 or PSVR2 or services like securing PSN or PS Now content, and also decided to grow their workforce a lot.

If Sony wanted to have more profit than Nintendo only needed to reduce some of their investments on these areas. But like many big companies they reinvest most of their revenue.
Click to expand...
Do you know what revenue is?

You do realize Sony get X more dollars of revenue per PS5 sale (even though they are probably making less on the hardware) just by virtue of it being way more expensive right?

That's not money made. It's money generated.
 
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Gameplaylover

Gameplaylover

Member
phil_t98 said:
Back in the day we used to get a lot of fighting games and odd games from japan but it doesn’t seem to be the case these days, I think japan market shifted to mobile more than anything
Click to expand...
Still hard to tell how the japanese people use the Switch. Most of them own tvs (Statista says 95% in 2018) and could dock it.
 
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