| Viktor said: First of all I´m talking just about the Japanese market and how it will directly affect the Japanese console market, so anything regarding PS4 shipments in other regions this year in Saudi-Arabia, East-Asia, Brazil etc. is off-topic. Looking at this and last weeks hardware sales in Japan this holiday season is completely dominated by two systems, namely 3DS and WiiU. PS3 basically was bascally a non-factor this past two weeks selling roghly 25k units. While WiiU sold 75k units last week and over 115k this week units according to Famitsu. Was it really that great of an idea to give WiiU all this freedom this year in Japan? Because it seems quite obvious to me that Sony tried this year to give the PSV more time in the spotlight (PSV and the new launched PSTV) and expected a far better performance of Gran Tourismo 6 which by is Sonys biggest franchise in Japan and PS3. A strategy that backfired on both fronts so far. |
You're asking two questions:
1) What effect does Sony's decision have on the Japanese market
2) If Sony's decision was a good one.
As everyone else has said:
1) In the short term, releasing the PS4 in Japan would have resulted in the Wii U potentially selling less (how much who knows, we'll need a researcher/economist to answe that) and the PS4 getting a toehold now.
2) But it seems like a good trade off. Like everyone said, there's virtually no big Japanese games in the lineup so the initial launch and the momentum it would create would be small.
You also seem to be implying that there's a network effect with the Wii U and that Sony forgoing sales now would result in greater market share for the Wii U in the long run. Like everyone else said, this probably is not a concern. The Wii U has a different lineup and is more centered around single player/local multiplayer games, and is also targeting a younger demographic. There's little overlap so the people who want a Wii U and a PS4 would get both eventually.
In a nut shell, Sony's marketshare in Japan seems to be guaranteed. The Wii U is not seen as a direct competitor and the Xbox One isn't focusing on Japan either.
On the other hand, it's more important for Sony to get market share in the non-Japanese markets, because those markets do have a network effect factor. Both the PS4 and Xbox One are more focused on online competitive multiplayer games, and most people would want to buy the same consoles their closest gaming friends have.
Does that answer your question? Yes, there is a small negative cost to not releasing in Japan, but that's outweighed by the gain from other countries.
