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[Keihart]

I must have hallucinated the countless hours playing all these on PS4. Excuse me, I need to go see a doctor ASAP.

(also Dragon Quest XI, Monster Hunter World, Dragonball FighterZ, Tekken 7, Nioh 1 and 2, Trials of Mana, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, etc.)

Yes, that is the last generation of that "old" PS.
Everything after PS5's launch can be put into the new management and restructuring.
I doubt big japanese multiplats with big publishers will ever stop coming to all possible platforms, smaller devs or the ones looking for a publisher might not be arriving on PS anymore and instead steam.
I also don't see any more second party japanese productions for PS any time soon, the closest would probably be something like DS or some SE exclusive.

You are missing an important one tho:

 

[SSfox]

Thinking about this a bit more, also one of my issue with modern Sony also recentlly, is that i feel they're following too much Microsoft footsteps, and personally i don't like nothing that Microsoft has ever done and still do since post Xbox 360 Kinect, so yeah WTF why follow somebody that you always been better, weird.

I must have hallucinated the countless hours playing all these on PS4. Excuse me, I need to go see a doctor ASAP.

(also Dragon Quest XI, Monster Hunter World, Dragonball FighterZ, Tekken 7, Nioh 1 and 2, Trials of Mana, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, etc.)

And yes, i'll say it again and again, some western games are amazing, but overall japanese games are always the best. And all those gif are still just a tiny testament of it.

 

[TheTony316]

What games are they neglecting? The vast majority of japanese titles are still releasing on Playstation. The only difference now is that those games are also on Switch and PC instead of being exclusive to PS. Japan Studios closure sucks but the Studio was horribly missmanaged for over a decade before it shut down. Team Asobi is expanding and currently working on a new platformer.

 

[AmuroChan]

What do you mean by neglect? Are they many Japanese pubs and devs that don't release their games on PlayStation? The console market in Japan is not what it used to be. PlayStation is a global brand now, and western games have higher earning potential than Japanese games in general. It shouldn't be surprising that Sony is prioritizing their resources on western devs and games. It's just business.

 

[Rocco Schiavone]

This sucks and I demand a new Ape Escape game.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Yes

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

They just released Gran Turismo 7 and Astroboy was a very big part of the PS5 launch. Not only that, but Sony often secures major exclusives from Japanese developers... So I don't really know what they're neglecting tbh.

I think they're basically being the equivalent of old-school SEGA fans who ignore all the successful IP they have now (Yakuza, Sonic, Football Manager, Total War, Persona (Atlus) etc.) simply because they want games like Skies of Arcadia, Panzer Dragoon, Shining Force, Jet Set Radio etc. to come back.

Which, hey, I want some of those to come back in a big way, too. Just like how I'd love Sony to make a new UmJammer and Tomba. And maybe all of those games WILL come back in a notable way in the future. But I guess this is just the way some in the Sony fanbase are going to view the brand, between the "Old Era" and "New Era" where the difference comes down to amount of Japan-centric/developed 1P content and legacy IP that may have since gone dormant.

I do think companies like Sony & SEGA could do more with their classic IP and maybe having a better balance of Japan-developed 1P titles (or doing development deals with smaller studios to bring out new entries to those IP), and I think they have been gradually doing that in one way or another. But it's also foolish to deny that they're doing better now in their "New Era" incarnation than they've ever done, especially in Sony's case, when it comes to software sales and cultural mindshare (tho on this 2nd point I'm not necessarily sure that holds as true for SEGA only because you can never have as much mindshare as a 3P publisher versus being a 1P platform holder, the way they used to before 2002).

And ultimately, it's a business. But I think the OP is being a bit hyperbolic; if they were neglecting Japanese games then they wouldn't be getting any. They wouldn't be securing Japanese exclusives, whether that's through exclusivity deals or co-development partnerships. Again, they could be doing more with some of their classic IP from Japan Studio, like Parappa/UmJammer and Tomba (I keep bringing these up because they're personal favorites of mine ), but so could a lot of other companies , again like SEGA, and also like Capcom, Konami, Nintendo etc.

We'll see how that goes in the future, hopefully for the best.

 

[Dr. Claus]

I must have hallucinated the countless hours playing all these on PS4. Excuse me, I need to go see a doctor ASAP.

(also Dragon Quest XI, Monster Hunter World, Dragonball FighterZ, Tekken 7, Nioh 1 and 2, Trials of Mana, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, etc.)

And yet we still have the absolute least amount of JPN titles on Playstation consoles in decades with developers actively stating that the current leadership of PlayStation has pushed them to publish on other platforms.

Hell, half of those games were in development prior to PlayStation’s corporate HQ change to California. Since then we have seen constant censorship, insulting treatment of Japanese developers, and an active push to homogenize things in a western style. This isn’t stuff that can be debated.

 

[Popup]

Japanese game development is far from where it used to be. I used to import consoles from Japan just to play those games. I'm not talking about the manga stuff. Where have all the highly innovative, quirky, and original titles gone? It's like they lost their way, lost interest or got drowned by all the largely unoriginal and predictable AAA blockbuster games that try to emulate movies over using the platform for original concepts or any form of risk taking due to the bigger budgets most likely.

I suppose we have the Indy devs for that. I do wish though, that many of these smaller Devs with big ideas were offered the budget to realise their ambition from big players like MS and Sony instead of them spending billions on a couple of blockbuster IPs.

 

[Ladioss]

Japanese game development is far from where it used to be. I used to import consoles from Japan just to play those games. I'm not talking about the manga stuff. Where have all the highly innovative, quirky, and original titles gone? It's like they lost their way, lost interest or got drowned by all the largely unoriginal and predictable AAA blockbuster games that try to emulate movies over using the platform for original concepts or any form of risk taking due to the bigger budgets most likely.

I suppose we have the Indy devs for that. I do wish though, that many of these smaller Devs with big ideas were offered the budget to realise their ambition from big players like MS and Sony instead of them spending billions on a couple of blockbuster IPs.

What you are describing here is the state of Japanese game dev ten years ago. The situation has got a lot better since then - which makes it especially ironic for PS/Sony to not capitalize on it as much as they should.

 

[cireza]

Japanese Third Parties discovered that their games sell more in the West than in Japan, and that in the West the entire market is not on PS but also on Xbox and PC. So they naturally started releasing their games on these platforms as well.

Sony want to appeal to the Western audience as much as possible, so in-house their focus has been on Western developers and they slowly gave up on their Japanse devs. Only thing that remains, and I suppose that this is the actual point from OP, is why aren't they preventing more Xbox and PC players from playing Japanese Third Party games ?

Well they are still doing it, by basically paying to prevent the games to be released day-one on Xbox. But they can't do this for all big Japanese games. Back then, Japanese developers would simply put their games on PS and call it a day, not even wondering if it would be interesting to go for other platforms. So you had the illusion of exclusivity brought by Sony, but it wasn't the case actually. It was simply the most natural course of action, as it is nowadays to release these games on as many platforms as possible.

So all that remain are the money hatted exclusive deals. A shit practice indeed, and a practice that became super obvious in recent years. Hopefully Sony will eventually give up doing this.

 

[Ghost of Caelid]

Does non Nintendo Japanese based games sell thst well? Even ER which is a Japanese game has a more wester design philosophy and sells a ton. Japan doesn’t seem to be a primary gaming market like it used to be vs US, Europe, SA etc…focusing on those seem to be bigger money makers than more niche Japanese games.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Japanese game development is far from where it used to be. I used to import consoles from Japan just to play those games. I'm not talking about the manga stuff. Where have all the highly innovative, quirky, and original titles gone? It's like they lost their way, lost interest or got drowned by all the largely unoriginal and predictable AAA blockbuster games that try to emulate movies over using the platform for original concepts or any form of risk taking due to the bigger budgets most likely.

I suppose we have the Indy devs for that. I do wish though, that many of these smaller Devs with big ideas were offered the budget to realise their ambition from big players like MS and Sony instead of them spending billions on a couple of blockbuster IPs.

What you are describing here is the state of Japanese game dev ten years ago. The situation has got a lot better since then - which makes it especially ironic for PS/Sony to not capitalize on it as much as they should.

I think you're both right in the end.

If we look back at the PS2 days, there were so many more (japanese) developers out there creating all sort of bizarre games. They were not simply trying to make games that all felt the same, they were really trying their best to do something that would stand out.

The result is the giant library of PS2 games. But sure, this was only possible due to Sony's domination of the market during that period.
Having to make games only for a specific set of hardware made things more straightforward for devs

With all the western propaganda that was spread in the PS360 days that "japanese games are dead", japanese devs had little choice but to:
1) Make games that had a more western appeal
2) Make games that would sell only in Japan (probably for NDS, Wii and PS3)

And this weakened japanese developers presence in the global market. It was mostly big companies (like Capcom, SEGA, Nintendo...) that managed to do well on both ends.
Your average developer would likely disappear from the market, be acquired/merged or struggle surviving.
Plus, having to make games for multiple consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3) was not a task suited for smaller companies.

What we started to see around 2016 or so, is a rise of consumer interest in japanese games again.
Not that "japanese games got better" or anything. It's just that Xbox One failed, PS4 and Switch thrived and the anti-japanese propaganda had died.

We are at a point that cross platform games became the norm, and game engines don't need to be created from scratch anymore.
Mobile games also became increasingly popular. Multiplayer games too.

With that said, consumers expectations increased too. The bar has been raised considerably, especially regarding graphics.
A lot of content is outsourced and not done internally to handle increasing costs of production.

Right now, big companies are taking much less risks than in the PS2 days.
So what we see now is that most big developers are designing games by checklist.

Games must have popular appeal, must have romanceable waifus/harem, must be open world, must have side quests, must have "story choices", must have real time action combat, and so on.

While things have improved in some ways, it probably also feels more overwhelming for smaller and medium-sized developers to make a game that will do well.

 

[Ladioss]

While things have improved in some ways, it probably also feels more overwhelming for smaller and medium-sized developers to make a game that will do well.

The comparison with the state of the industry back during the PS2 era is the root of the misunderstanding, I believe.

If people frame the japanese game dev issue as a return to a framework of AA gaming and physical releases on the latest PS platform, then yes, the recovery is nowhere to be seen. Problem is, the Japanese market has profundly evolved during the last ten/fifteen years, with the adoption of modern game engines, Pc gaming, dematerialization or even Nintendo 's return to favour as a leading market platform. Everything add up to a situation where Japanese game devs' good health is not apparent if you focus only on the PS5... and thriving if you take into account the Switch, jp indies on the PC/Switch/PS4 new holy trinity, and mobile gaming.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

The comparison with the state of the industry back during the PS2 era is the root of the misunderstanding, I believe.

If people frame the japanese game dev issue as a return to a framework of AA gaming and physical releases on the latest PS platform, then yes, the recovery is nowhere to be seen. Problem is, the Japanese market has profundly evolved during the last ten/fifteen years, with the adoption of modern game engines, Pc gaming, dematerialization or even Nintendo 's return to favour as a leading market platform. Everything add up to a situation where Japanese game devs' good health is not apparent if you focus only on the PS5... and thriving if you take into account the Switch, jp indies on the PC/Switch/PS4 new holy trinity, and mobile gaming.

Unfortunately Sony is really not moving an inch to improve things for Japan.

Vita and PS4 still had a lot of japanese developers interested in making games for them.
Now they'll likely move to Switch and whatever Nintendo releases next.

 

[ShirAhava]

I basically only care about Japanese games

Its like playstation doesn't even exist anymore

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Yes, Japanese games do still come to PlayStation courtesy of third party developers with some being timed exclusives. Honestly though, XBOX gets a healthy amount of these same third party Japanese games as well especially this generation. I’m probably in the minority , but I wouldn’t mind seeing more first party Japanese games and studios from Sony with a NICE budget and high production values as crazy and ambitious as that may sound.

Sony probably didn’t even look at Platinum Games when it was rumored that they wanted to be acquired, but Sony rushed in to purchase Haven studios who aren’t really even proven yet to my knowledge. I find that quite interesting. Yes, I know Japanese games will come to PlayStation anyway, but I just don’t think Sony takes them as serious because they aren’t doing 20 million units per game. Again, it is business.

 

[SSfox]

I basically only care about Japanese games

Its like playstation doesn't even exist anymore

Yes, Playstation is almost nothing without Japanese games, i say almost cause there are exceptions, like God Of War which is one of my favorite franchise and games of all time, Uncharted franchise, or recently Ghost Of Tsushima.

For now Sony are lucky they can get most Japanese third party games with no efforts, but if things change or somehow tomorrow somebody acquire some of the best Japanese devs, the Playstation brand will become just a name of the past.

 

[Mike Zhang]

Because SIE becomes a western centric company. As a long ps supporter since ps1, I stopped buying ps console and sony games.

 

[Perrott]

The real question is... why are you continuing to push so hard this nonsensical "Sony has abandoned Japan" agenda of yours?

Sony's investments in the Japanese games industry are at an all-time high this gen.

 

[Chronicle]

Which games have they neglected? Which publishers? Devs?

Came to say this

 

[Varteras]

No. Platinum is not in the gutter. They made a great game with Nintendo. Sony has abandoned Japan. Sad but true

They are an incredibly inconsistent studio whose games have a hard time selling. The last game they made that anyone really cared about was Nier: Automata in 2017. And that game was directed by someone who doesn't even work for them. Astral Chain was good but no one cared. Their last few games have been middling or, in the case of Babylon's Fall, a complete disaster. They fucked up Scalebound so bad that Microsoft canceled the project. I can almost guarantee you that if Bayonetta 3 releases and it isn't outstanding, they are going to downsize very heavily, sell to a larger company (which sounds like they're looking to do already), or close shop.

 

[ArtHands]

They ain’t neglecting. Its just that Nintendo killed Sony there

 

[TheTony316]

The real question is... why are you continuing to push so hard this nonsensical "Sony has abandoned Japan" agenda of yours?

Sony's investments in the Japanese games industry are at an all-time high this gen.

People love to be hyperbolic. By that logic Sony has abandoned Europe aswell since we get even less consoles than Japan atm. Sony will continue to get japanese games just like always. Only difference now is that these games will also be on other platforms instead of being exclusive.

 

[64bitmodels]

When he says japanese games he's not talking about resident evil or dark souls, he is talking about those weird obscure weebo and anime games the japanese like, and the answer is simple, because the average western gamer doesn't care about that

so the average gamer doesn't care about guilty gear, persona, or tekken?

 

[Plantoid]

so the average gamer doesn't care about guilty gear, persona, or tekken?

Exactly

 

[Lognor]

They are an incredibly inconsistent studio whose games have a hard time selling. The last game they made that anyone really cared about was Nier: Automata in 2017. And that game was directed by someone who doesn't even work for them. Astral Chain was good but no one cared. Their last few games have been middling or, in the case of Babylon's Fall, a complete disaster. They fucked up Scalebound so bad that Microsoft canceled the project. I can almost guarantee you that if Bayonetta 3 releases and it isn't outstanding, they are going to downsize very heavily, sell to a larger company (which sounds like they're looking to do already), or close shop.

Astral Chain sold over 1 million copies as of March 2020. So I wouldn't say "no one cared." It exceeded expectations and Platinum is probably working on a sequel.

I agree that Platinum is inconsistent, but I think with the right guidance and leadership they are still very talented. With Nier Automata they had the leadership of Yoko Taro and that game turned out very well. Same with Astral Chain and Nintendo. With Babylon's Fall I put the blame on Square.

Now we know Bayonetta 3 has had some development issues with some folks leaving Platinum, but Nintendo is still overseeing it, I believe. So I expect it to turn out very well. And that further supports the fact that Platinum needs leadership and can't be left to their own devices.

 

[Varteras]

Astral Chain sold over 1 million copies as of March 2020. So I wouldn't say "no one cared." It exceeded expectations and Platinum is probably working on a sequel.

I agree that Platinum is inconsistent, but I think with the right guidance and leadership they are still very talented. With Nier Automata they had the leadership of Yoko Taro and that game turned out very well. Same with Astral Chain and Nintendo. With Babylon's Fall I put the blame on Square.

Now we know Bayonetta 3 has had some development issues with some folks leaving Platinum, but Nintendo is still overseeing it, I believe. So I expect it to turn out very well. And that further supports the fact that Platinum needs leadership and can't be left to their own devices.

I would argue that selling a million copies on Switch isn't that big of deal. It also didn't get any fanfare, significant coverage, nor long lasting conversations post release. It just came and went.

I absolutely agree with you. They need good leadership. In fact, they need new management. But that's the problem. They've had years to get that under control and they haven't. Their reputation isn't one of high quality. Theirs is a reputation of being a crap-shoot. You can't blame anyone but them. SE is not responsible for them shitting the bed with Babylon's Fall nor were they responsible for their success with Nier. Because SE had nothing to do with Transformers and yet PG fucked that up. Who was directing that? Kenji Saito. Who also directed Metal Gear Rising. Who also directed Babylon's Fall. Who also produced Astral Chain. Eiro Shirahama did Legend of Korra and Ninja Turtles. Both were bad. Bayonetta 2 was directed by Yusuke Hashimoto, who then went on to help direct Star Fox Zero with Yugo Hayashi. That game was bad, too. And it was with Nintendo so was that their fault? I think we can both agree it was not. At the end of the day, the terrible inconsistency of PG is their fault alone and something they have yet to fix. Way too many middling or garbage games to overlook the handful of times they made something impressive.

 

[adamsapple]

so the average gamer doesn't care about guilty gear, persona, or tekken?

Kinda, lol.

This coming from a guy who has platinumed the last couple of Persona releases. I can safely say those games aren't for the average gamer.

Tekken is the only one out of those three I can say being on an 'average' gamers radar, the other two, nowhere close.

 

[Lognor]

I would argue that selling a million copies on Switch isn't that big of deal. It also didn't get any fanfare, significant coverage, nor long lasting conversations post release. It just came and went.

I absolutely agree with you. They need good leadership. In fact, they need new management. But that's the problem. They've had years to get that under control and they haven't. Their reputation isn't one of high quality. Theirs is a reputation of being a crap-shoot. You can't blame anyone but them. SE is not responsible for them shitting the bed with Babylon's Fall nor were they responsible for their success with Nier. Because SE had nothing to do with Transformers and yet PG fucked that up. Who was directing that? Kenji Saito. Who also directed Metal Gear Rising. Who also directed Babylon's Fall. Who also produced Astral Chain. Eiro Shirahama did Legend of Korra and Ninja Turtles. Both were bad. Bayonetta 2 was directed by Yusuke Hashimoto, who then went on to help direct Star Fox Zero with Yugo Hayashi. That game was bad, too. And it was with Nintendo so was that their fault? I think we can both agree it was not. At the end of the day, the terrible inconsistency of PG is their fault alone and something they have yet to fix. Way too many middling or garbage games to overlook the handful of times they made something impressive.

A few things:

One million copies sold for a new IP, even if it's a Nintendo IP, is good. Xenoblade Chronicles did about a million units on the Wii which was considered a success, and is why we are continuing to get Xenoblade games. And even Platinum said the game exceeded expectations. And I don't know what you're comparing it to in terms of fanfare, significant coverage, etc. but there was a following for the game. Not on the same level as something like Elden Ring, but it definitely was well received.

How did Platinum fuck up Transformers? IT has a 77 on metacritic, if I'm looking at the correct game. That's good! Maybe not an amazing game, but it's good, even great for an IP like Transformers.

With Starfox Zero, you gotta put the blame on Miyamoto. He required the game to use the Wii U pad exclusively and he was the director. From what I read Star Fox Zero was in development internally at Nintendo for years before they brought on Platinum to help with.

But yeah, they are inconsistent. And they do deserve some of the blame for that, but I don't think we can lump all these together and say they are responsible fully for each of them. When they're given too much leash they seem to fuck things up.

 

[yurinka]

Everything after PS5's launch can be put into the new management and restructuring.
I doubt big japanese multiplats with big publishers will ever stop coming to all possible platforms, smaller devs or the ones looking for a publisher might not be arriving on PS anymore and instead steam.
I also don't see any more second party japanese productions for PS any time soon, the closest would probably be something like DS or some SE exclusive.

The new management was promoted in 2019 and PS5 got released in 2020. Games take several years to be developed, and 2020 was the covid year. Games like Miles Morales, Sackboy, Astro, Demon's Souls, Destruction All Star, Returnal, Ratchet, Uncharted Collection, PSVR2, Horizon 2 or GT7 and the released PC ports, etc plus the big 3rd party AAA exclusives released until at least 2021 or 2022 were greenlighted/signed by the previous managment. Even upcoming games like GoWR, TLOU remake, TLOU2 factions, Firewalk's game, Guerrilla's unannounced project directed by the R6 Siege guy, etc were also greenlighted by the previous management since they started before 2019.

The new management did the Kadokawa deal, acquisitions of Housemarque, Firesprite (+Fabrik), Blue Point, Nixxes, Valkyrie, Bungie, Lasengle or Haven, increased the already existting hirings of all internal development teams (after restructuring -not killing- Japan Studio), increased a lot the budget for 2nd party games and seems they are also increasing signing of 3rd exclusives (Jimbo said PS5 will have more exclusives than their previous consoles, and always 3rd party exclusives are the majority of the exclusives).

The new management also greenlighted Ghost of Tsushima DLC/DLC, Death Stranding Directors's Cut (2nd party Japanese production after their Japanese publishing team released Demon's Souls remake, even if developed in the west), the new IP of Bend Studio (Days Gone 2 never was pitched from Bend ot SIE/PS Studio management, internal Bend studio management blocked it. The new IP is the only pitch SIE/PS Studios got from Bend), Haven's 2nd (now 1st) party new IP, Deviation 2nd party new IP, Spider-Man 2, Wolverine and more stuff I may forget or that we don't know if started before 2019 (current Sucker Punch project, probably SSM new IP, current Sony London game, next Housemarque, game, next Bluepoint game, next Kojipro game (Death Stranding 2 according to Norman Reedus), multiple Firesprite projects, several 2nd party PSVR2 games, current Pixel Opus project etc).

The new management did a lot of things in 2 years and a half or so, including having the best console launch for a console ever even they got severly impacted by chips shortage, which later impacted them in a stronger way and prevented them to continue gaming history records in hardware sales.

Regarding 2nd party Japanese games, Hermen said that with the Japan Studio restructuring it branched off to become a their own office/team, after that team published Death Stranding Director's Cut and according to Hermen will continue publishing 2nd party games. But looking at the current Japanese market we can forget small average or bad games targeted to Japan only, instead more likely they will focus on games with a global appeal, as the ones made by From Software or Kojipro.

We also have to consider that as budgets grow every generation, 3rd party companies need more revenue so they prefer multiplatform games over exclusives, timed console exclusives over full exclusives, and to keep themselves the IP instead of giving the IPs to the platform holder which is what happens with Sony 2nd party games. It's also a safer and cheaper investment for the platform holder, in this case Sony, because for the same money they get more exclusives even if it's a 3rd party timed console exclusive instead of a full 2nd party exclusive.

 

[Keihart]

The new management was promoted in 2019 and PS5 got released in 2020. Games take several years to be developed, and 2020 was the covid year. Games like Miles Morales, Sackboy, Astro, Demon's Souls, Destruction All Star, Returnal, Ratchet, Uncharted Collection, PSVR2, Horizon 2 or GT7 and the released PC ports, etc plus the big 3rd party AAA exclusives released until at least 2021 or 2022 were greenlighted/signed by the previous managment. Even upcoming games like GoWR, TLOU remake, TLOU2 factions, Firewalk's game, Guerrilla's unannounced project directed by the R6 Siege guy, etc were also greenlighted by the previous management since they started before 2019.

The new management did the Kadokawa deal, acquisitions of Housemarque, Firesprite (+Fabrik), Blue Point, Nixxes, Valkyrie, Bungie, Lasengle or Haven, increased the already existting hirings of all internal development teams (after restructuring -not killing- Japan Studio), increased a lot the budget for 2nd party games and seems they are also increasing signing of 3rd exclusives (Jimbo said PS5 will have more exclusives than their previous consoles, and always 3rd party exclusives are the majority of the exclusives).

The new management also greenlighted Ghost of Tsushima DLC/DLC, Death Stranding Directors's Cut (2nd party Japanese production after their Japanese publishing team released Demon's Souls remake, even if developed in the west), the new IP of Bend Studio (Days Gone 2 never was pitched from Bend ot SIE/PS Studio management, internal Bend studio management blocked it. The new IP is the only pitch SIE/PS Studios got from Bend), Haven's 2nd (now 1st) party new IP, Deviation 2nd party new IP, Spider-Man 2, Wolverine and more stuff I may forget or that we don't know if started before 2019 (current Sucker Punch project, probably SSM new IP, current Sony London game, multiple Firesprite projects, several 2nd party PSVR2 games, current Pixel Opus project etc).

That's why i said "after launch", maybe i should've of said "after launch lineup"
GoT was Yoshida's baby as so it was Demon's Souls remake, both games pushed and talked about without revealing them for years.

The Jimbo squad effects are just starting, which is not really encouraging all things considered, the brand has only gotten worse to me at least. Not a fan of any of the moves under JIm, all the things i'm excited about PS probably started way before PS5's launch like the PSVR2 and GoW Raknarog.

 

[Varteras]

A few things:

One million copies sold for a new IP, even if it's a Nintendo IP, is good. Xenoblade Chronicles did about a million units on the Wii which was considered a success, and is why we are continuing to get Xenoblade games. And even Platinum said the game exceeded expectations. And I don't know what you're comparing it to in terms of fanfare, significant coverage, etc. but there was a following for the game. Not on the same level as something like Elden Ring, but it definitely was well received.

How did Platinum fuck up Transformers? IT has a 77 on metacritic, if I'm looking at the correct game. That's good! Maybe not an amazing game, but it's good, even great for an IP like Transformers.

With Starfox Zero, you gotta put the blame on Miyamoto. He required the game to use the Wii U pad exclusively and he was the director. From what I read Star Fox Zero was in development internally at Nintendo for years before they brought on Platinum to help with.

But yeah, they are inconsistent. And they do deserve some of the blame for that, but I don't think we can lump all these together and say they are responsible fully for each of them. When they're given too much leash they seem to fuck things up.

Astral Chain is a forgotten game. It never had much conversation surrounding it. Xenoblade sold a million copies on a console that sold about 14 million units. AC sold a million on a device that has over 100 million. It also has the Xeno name which has a solid following. One game sold a million and continues while generating hype and the other sold a million and no one talks about it with no sequel in sight. Clearly, there is a reason for the disparity. Selling the same number of copies doesn't put you in the same boat.

You're right about Transformers. I misremembered the score. Not bad but still mid overall. Not a shining example of their work. Still a point to the inconsistency, albeit less so.

Nintendo didn't twist PG's arm over StarFox. They were approached to assist in development and PG accepted. Knowing full well what Nintendo was trying to achieve and couldn't on their own. PG failed with it, too. They took on the challenge and they failed. Stop making excuses for them. That same year they pushed out Ninja Turtles, which was fucking terrible.

They are responsible for their failures. Korra, Ninja Turtles, StarFox, Babylon. All terrible games. Many of the others are middling. Scalebound? Canceled. GranBlue? Taken away and given to another studio. You are completely right about their leadership. Because even in their lesser games you see flashes of brilliance. But their management has screwed them over. Their absolute biggest problem is that they take on way too many simultaneous projects and they clearly can't handle it. These guys are trying to be the Insomniac of Japan and it's just not working.

By the way, my apologies if I'm seeming combative in this discussion. It's not my intent.

 

[Bryank75]

What are you talking about?

Jim is mad into the Japanese games.... he plays JRPG's all day. Plat'd every Persona game twice and plays the Japanese language version of every game he can.

 

[tmlDan]

These forums are interesting, people think Japanese games have any sort of levity in the industry.

A lot of people got it right on the nose, the asian market has largely transitioned to mobile games, the console gaming space has either become hybrid (mobile/console) causing the quality to suffer greatly or they have been largely weeb games that have such low quality and production its an absolute joke. This is coming from me, a weeb as well lol.

The only publishers that really make slightly better quality games are Capcom, Kadokawa (fromsoft), Square. Konami is useless and even with those three the quality is sub par many times.

If i were Sony i would abandoned them as well, they can't invest in companies that have such low standards of quality, people LAUGH at Japanese games in the state of play - it's a joke regardless of the niche it hits within this community.

 

[Keihart]

What are you talking about?

Jim is mad into the Japanese games.... he plays JRPG's all day. Plat'd every Persona game twice and plays the Japanese language version of every game he can.

I wonder if Jim plays video games at all? maybe that's why he is so out of touch.
Happens in most companies when they become too big tho, gotta bring in the suits to do suits stuff with some graphs handed to them.

 

[ReBurn]

What are you talking about?

Jim is mad into the Japanese games.... he plays JRPG's all day. Plat'd every Persona game twice and plays the Japanese language version of every game he can.

I heard he has multiple PSN accounts and they're all Japanese region

 

[Masterri]

The real question is... why are you continuing to push so hard this nonsensical "Sony has abandoned Japan" agenda of yours?

Sony's investments in the Japanese games industry are at an all-time high this gen.

Apparently now closing Japan Studio and moneyhatting Square-Enix games = investments in Japan.

 

[JaksGhost]

I wonder if Jim plays video games at all? maybe that's why he is so out of touch.
Happens in most companies when they become too big tho, gotta bring in the suits to do suits stuff with some graphs handed to them.

Jim Ryan has been with PlayStation since 1994...

 

[Bryank75]

I wonder if Jim plays video games at all? maybe that's why he is so out of touch.
Happens in most companies when they become too big tho, gotta bring in the suits to do suits stuff with some graphs handed to them.

He probably plays mobile games and thinks it's all the same stuff....
He definitely doesn't seem to understand where the average PlayStation fans head is at!

I heard he has multiple PSN accounts and they're all Japanese region

PSN: JimwantsAwaifU

 

[Keihart]

Jim Ryan has been with PlayStation since 1994...

Did he ever play a video game tho?
AFAIK he is a much of a suit as suits can get, always on the bussiness division and whenever interviewed, he always said some dumb shit about games like if you were interviewing a grandpa that knows about the existence of games but hasn't touch one ever.

Ofcourse i might be wrong, but the dude doesn't scream passion or knowledge about games when interviewed.

 

[yurinka]

These forums are interesting, people think Japanese games have any sort of levity in the industry.

A lot of people got it right on the nose, the asian market has largely transitioned to mobile games, the console gaming space has either become hybrid (mobile/console) causing the quality to suffer greatly or they have been largely weeb games that have such low quality and production its an absolute joke. This is coming from me, a weeb as well lol.

The only publishers that really make slightly better quality games are Capcom, Kadokawa (fromsoft), Square. Konami is useless and even with those three the quality is sub par many times.

If i were Sony i would abandoned them as well, they can't invest in companies that have such low standards of quality, people LAUGH at Japanese games in the state of play - it's a joke regardless of the niche it hits within this community.

You are right, but forgot the biggest (console) Japanese publishers: Nintendo, Bandai Namco and Sony. Them, with Square Enix, Capcom, and depending on the game but not as big as before a few others like Konami, Sega, Koei Tecmo keep being relevant worldwide.

But weird small Japan focused games, JRPG, mussou, fighting, loli lewd or anime-like stuff, and overal mid-low tier Japanese stuff are pretty irrelevant to the point that many of these companies are refocusing them to mobile or to games with a more global appeal.

Did he ever play a video game tho?
AFAIK he is a much of a suit as suits can get, always on the bussiness division and whenever interviewed, he always said some dumb shit about games like if you were interviewing a grandpa that knows about the existence of games but hasn't touch one ever.

Ofcourse i might be wrong, but the dude doesn't scream passion or knowledge about games when interviewed.

Yes, he played games but doesn't need to. But that isn't required to do well his job, and btw his job isn't either to be a good PR guy.

He's an executive that in the past was in charge of European marketing and sales and did an stunning job there getting record numbers (and doesn't need to know about games to do that), and now he's a CEO in charge of making their business successful and he's also getting many record numbers too (and doesn't need to know about games to do that), growing all their areas and investing more than ever in both internal and external games.

He doesn't need to know about games since he doesn't decide or greenlight them: Hermen Hulst is in charge of 1st and 2nd party games, Yoshida is in charge of supportting indies and there's another team in charge of 3rd party deals.

He didn't make a big change on SIE's main strategy: he only made it more successful and invested more in all the areas they already were investing on, which are all growing. 1st and 2nd party games, 3rd party exclusives, PS5 launch, PSVR2 development, a bigger invesment on MP/GaaS, to make late PC ports, bringing PS IPs to movies, tv shows and mobile games and reworking their game subs for the next gen. All these things already existed before he was promoted.

He analyzed what their potential customers want and worked to give it to the players. And as a result they are more succesful. Regarding to the specifics of what or how the games, hardware or services have to be to sell more and to be more awarded or better reviewed, he delegates that to people who is in charge of that.

 

[AJUMP23]

Name a good game made in Japan for Sony.

 

[tmlDan]

Did he ever play a video game tho?
AFAIK he is a much of a suit as suits can get, always on the bussiness division and whenever interviewed, he always said some dumb shit about games like if you were interviewing a grandpa that knows about the existence of games but hasn't touch one ever.

Ofcourse i might be wrong, but the dude doesn't scream passion or knowledge about games when interviewed.

He also publicly stated that he's an introvert and is not good at public speaking.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.ne...ryan-fireside-chat-humanizes-playstation-ceo/

 

[Bryank75]

Name a good game made in Japan for Sony.

Well I enjoyed Astrobot and GT7 a lot.... even with the always online stuff and DRM, the underlying game is excellent and so addictive, wish the campaign was bigger too though.

Astrobot was incredibly endearing and fun and had so much diversity in its gameplay.

 

[Keihart]

He also publicly stated that he's an introvert and is not good at public speaking.

https://www.playstationlifestyle.ne...ryan-fireside-chat-humanizes-playstation-ceo/

That must be why, surely.
Bussines division guy doesn't know how to speak in public, surely.

 

[Lognor]

Astral Chain is a forgotten game. It never had much conversation surrounding it. Xenoblade sold a million copies on a console that sold about 14 million units. AC sold a million on a device that has over 100 million. It also has the Xeno name which has a solid following. One game sold a million and continues while generating hype and the other sold a million and no one talks about it with no sequel in sight. Clearly, there is a reason for the disparity. Selling the same number of copies doesn't put you in the same boat.

You're right about Transformers. I misremembered the score. Not bad but still mid overall. Not a shining example of their work. Still a point to the inconsistency, albeit less so.

Nintendo didn't twist PG's arm over StarFox. They were approached to assist in development and PG accepted. Knowing full well what Nintendo was trying to achieve and couldn't on their own. PG failed with it, too. They took on the challenge and they failed. Stop making excuses for them. That same year they pushed out Ninja Turtles, which was fucking terrible.

They are responsible for their failures. Korra, Ninja Turtles, StarFox, Babylon. All terrible games. Many of the others are middling. Scalebound? Canceled. GranBlue? Taken away and given to another studio. You are completely right about their leadership. Because even in their lesser games you see flashes of brilliance. But their management has screwed them over. Their absolute biggest problem is that they take on way too many simultaneous projects and they clearly can't handle it. These guys are trying to be the Insomniac of Japan and it's just not working.

By the way, my apologies if I'm seeming combative in this discussion. It's not my intent.

I think you're confused.

Xenoblade sold a million copies on a console that sold over 100 million units. Xenoblade was on Wii. Are you thinking of Xenoblade Chronicles X? That was the game on Wii U. And at the time of Astral Chain's release, the Switch was not at 100 million units sold. I'm sure it has continued to sell since the last figures were released. And don't forget that in the most recent Bayonetta 3 trailer they included that dumb dog costume from Astral Chain. So while AC may have been forgotten by you, it has not been forgotten by Nintendo or Platinum.

It is well reported that Miyamoto had a very specific vision for Star Fox Zero. PG was just hired help. Doing what was told of them. So no, I don't blame Platinum for that. That's Miyamoto's doing.

And I think Scalebound is an example of what happens without the proper hand holding they need. Microsoft was hands off on that project. They dumped a ton of money into it and PG couldn't figure it out so they had to cut the cord. So yeah, PG NEEDS that guidance from the publisher. Or it could backfire like with Starfox Zero.

I don't love their games so I don't even know why I'm defending them so much here. LOL. Maybe because they have made some good games and don't deserve all the blame for some of the misfires.

 

[fart town usa]

Sony gave the money hat treatment to Ghostwire, that is the type of game I refer to as "Turbo-Japanese"

Unfortunately alot of people in the biggest gaming market are writing it off.

So basically, we as gamers help create these droughts by not supporting certain things. Obviously not everyone can afford to buy everything and not all games will appeal to everyone but still, so many people write things off based on someone else's opinion. It's one thing if it's the 4th entry in a series but another thing entirely if it's a brand new IP. The least people can do is temper their 2nd hand negativity and maybe pull back from the conversation if you haven't actually played the game.

 

[fart town usa]

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.

I'm being a total fanboy but the side missions in Ghostwire are this 100%, enemy descriptions too.

From my limited understanding, ghosts/curses over there are formed from extreme stress and deep-seated anger that isn't dealt with or resolved. The enemies you fight are basically elements of society that were mistreated, vain shallow people, cops who lost their way, businessmen/women who only focus on work, etc.

The side missions mostly deal with similar issues and provide great little sub plots. It's great social commentary and feels real, no woke bullshit or Hollywood style drama. Just stuff that everyone can relate to even if you aren't from Japan.

 

[Pejo]

I think at least part of this is the difference in management styles. Layden wanted a broad spectrum of games and genres on PS during his years, and Jimbo basically said "fuck that, we want the big high quality shit that makes us lots of money".

I guess you can't fault either of them, they're just different, but personally I liked Layden's style. I don't play sales charts and acquisitions like 70% of GAF, I play games.