Switch overtakes total PS4 sales in Japan, in less than half the time

[0D0]

Naum said:
Why does it bother some people so much that Nintendo has a succssesful console...

I doesn't. It's still fun to discuss the reasons behind it.

linkink said:

RolStoppable said:

Nobody is underselling the hardware here. It's only perceived that way by you because you are greatly underselling the software. Switch is better hardware than the PS4 and it has better software than the PS4, hence why it sold so much faster than the PS4. The counter-arguments presented to that all aim for Switch is only better hardware than the PS4, although even that might not be conceded when it's put that way. That's the impression I get from your posts, because you keep talking about traditional consoles, as in, the way Switch is doesn't make its success legitimate in comparison to PlayStation.

Nobody here has said that it's all about the software, so that use such a straw man argument is a sign of desperation in this ongoing discussion. At the end of the day, people buy consoles to play video games - that's especially true for Nintendo consoles, because they only play games. Since that is how consoles are used, software is more important than hardware.

Handhelds have only sold better in Japan since the DS and PSP, before that home consoles sold more every time. That shift goes hand in hand with handhelds outclassing home consoles in quantity of worthwhile games.

The reason why the Vita's sales are so lopsided in Japan's favor is that third party support in Japan was actually decent for several years while American and European publishers called it quits after a couple of years. There was a higher number of interesting games to buy for Japanese gamers than for American and European gamers, so hardware sales followed accordingly.

You're really jumping off the deep end here. Of course switch is a  legitimate success, but it's not a traditional home console, or stationary console if that makes you feel better. Anyway Wii U first year line up was damn solid, it had tons of third-party support and 2D Mario which was up there with Nintendo biggest franchise at the time, i wonder what did WIIU sell it's first year in japan, oh yea it sold like crap. Anyway i know i'm not convincing you, and you are not convincing me. you will always have some straw man excuse, well those games didn't come out as fast as  they did on switch, of course they didn't switch is getting old ports of wiiu games, and it's doing wonders on switch. While those on games on Wii U being totally brand new didn't even move to the needle because it's obvious Japan prefers handhelds heavily this is well known, just ask any gamer that lives in japan, it's cultural thing.   

Whatever other reasons, Switch got a lot of Wii U content early on and that what made Switch sell so much early on. Nintendo almost used every big franchise they have on the first 12 months. I reckon it's unprecedented.

MasonADC said:

linkink said:

I don't see what's so funny about it. it launched with the sequel to one of the best selling games ever in japan, it had  good third party support early on. a year later it had a amazing Mario 3d world, then a few months later Mario kart 8, followed by smash. This is all within 2 years of launch, these games we also a gigantic leap in graphics over the wii, a much fresher experience then Wii U ports. 4 massive franchises  in 2 years span, but Wii u was already dead at that point regardless of Nintendo franchises, if was handheld i would eat my own shorts if in those 2 years if it didn't sell 6 million.

Waiting months for games isn't exactly ideal

Wii U was a bit too much in this regard, but except NSW, that's how things work with Nintendo. When it's not like this on the first 12 months, it gets pretty boring after 24 months or so.

Bofferbrauer2 said:

RedKingXIII said:

New Super Mario Bros. U - December 8, 2012
New Super Luigi U - July 13, 2013
Wind Waker HD - September 26, 2013
Super Mario 3D World - November 21, 2013

If your next big game is coming 5 months after your console released, that's just bad. This was a problem during the entire life cycle of Wii U, months of software droughts. Even if it was a interesting hardware (for Japan, at least), and even if it had good software, that doesn't matter if they are released months apart of each other, killing any momentum that Wii U needed to have to succeed.

It didn't fail in Japan for being a home console - it failed because of terrible software droughts. Just like it did everywhere.

Add to that that despite all this, the Wii U was still initially outselling the PS4. And again, the reason wasn't because the PS4 ain't portable, but because Sony had neglected Japan so much that Knack was pretty much the best thing they got for over a year over there. No console sells without games.

Had the Wii U better software support, especially early on, I'm sure it would have outsold the Gamecube WW and the PS4 would have had a much harder time to overtake the Wii U in Japan.

But here's another problem with Japan and videogame sales: Games that cater to Japanese gamers are increasingly niche games and not produced by the big publishers, even Japanese ones. You get less than a handful of AAA games that do well in Japan each year as the whole industry is turning to the western markets, leaving Japan to mobile - and increasingly PC (still niche in Japan, but constantly growing numbers).

Since the games the Japanese people want to play are generally more niche, they get released on handheld devices as the production costs on these devices are much lower than on a home console, meaning the chances of recouping the costs are higher. As a result, handheld gaming exploded in Japan while consoles falter; and handheld already had a big advantage there because of the work and living culture (long transits and work hours, small homes with limited space for consoles).

In other words, Japanese play handheld mostly because they are always mobile and because the big consoles shunned the games they are playing. But if those games would come back to consoles, the consoles also would sell better again, though the still have the cultural disadvantage.

Yes. All you say about Japanese market and niche games makes a lot of sense.