| TheMisterManGuy said: For the most part, PlayStation as a brand for the PS1 and PS2, was distinctly Japanese with many of its well known titles being third party games from Japanese developers, and a fair share of first party games were also Japanese such as the Ape Escape series and Team Ico games. This echoed the Japanese origins of the company behind it, Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc., which was headquartered within Sony's main Tokyo offices at the time. But starting with the PlayStation 3, things were changing. Microsoft helped revolutionize the market with its focus on Online services and Western AAA titles in the Xbox 360. With the PlayStation 3 struggling, Sony needed to combat it by moving PlayStation towards a more western focused direction. It started with SCE placing more focus on its western studios like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica. Then by bringing in Mark Cerny to architect what would be known as the PlayStation 4, and by making a bunch of deals with western third parties for exclusive content in multi-platform titles. This all culminated into Sony's decision to merge Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment, into Sony Interactive Entertainment, and relocate the whole division to San Mateo, California, under the oversight of Sony Corporation of America. The only thing that PlayStation has Japan related now, is the fact that they have a studio in Tokyo. I get Sony's need to make PlayStation more a more western-oriented brand in order to keep up with Microsoft, and in a lot of ways, that's a good thing. But do you think that Sony may have went too far in that direction? And if so, should Sony move SIE back to its original home in Tokyo? |
Westerners in high consumption and highly industrialized nations buy more games, so Sony wants to make money.
