Why is PS3 dead in Japan?

[NJ5]

Xiru said:

NJ5 said:

Xiru said:
Wow, did you even read the article? It was a whole MONTH. And I was basing it off the sales on Vgchartz from Nov-Jan. Way to be ignorant.

Well, actually I just checked and it was three weeks. It was also the three weeks after PS3 got:

- a price cut

- the new 40 GB model

- Dualshock 3

- the new White color model

- several new games

Even during those weeks, software didn't sell that great. It seems the enthusiasm during those weeks was more about the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, which is further evidenced by PS3's lousy attach rate in Japan (much worse than the Wii's and the 360's).

To put it bluntly and sarcastically - congratulations to PS3 for beating the Wii in a totally meaningless context during three weeks, after getting outsold for a year.

 

"Sony’s PlayStation 3 has outsold Nintendo’s Wii in Japan over a four week period for the first time since the systems launched last year."

Thats the quote from the article, but if you say 3 weeks, then I guess you would know. :) But back to the PS3 sales. Its been 2 weeks since sales have really started to decline. Yes, I believe they will stay low for awhile but still everyone is jumping to conclusions. The PS3 will never sell as well as the Wii in Japan because of its casual appeal. In fact, PS3 will probably always be behind Wii in hardware sales everywhere. The argument here is not about PS3 outselling Wii, but the PS3 sales in Japan. I believe the PS3 needs an influx of JRPGS. I wouldn't mind having more over here in the US as well. I remember that was the main reason I loved my PS1. Sony just needs to make more games that appeal to the Japanese market. I think a lot of Japanese people are still waiting for the big games like FF13. Every so often there is a poll of what Japaenese gamers are looking forward to the most, and around 50% of the most wanted games are for PS3.

There's a subtle but important difference between winning over a four week period and winning four single weeks. In any case, it doesn't do much difference, the context of that "victory" is much more important, and that was what I wanted to highlight.

I truly believe that the PS3 is in trouble in Japan, not just because of low hardware sales, but also because people just aren't buying games for it. The mass of Japanese oriented games isn't going to happen if it keeps going like this (why did Capcom move Monster Hunter 3 to the Wii?).