Michael-5 said:
Viktor said:
Michael-5 said:
| Viktor said:
Was it really that great of an idea to give WiiU all this freedom this year in Japan?
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Had Sony not focused on USA & Europe, XBO might have sold better in USA. USA is twice the size of Japan, and a much more competetive market, I think it's a priority for Sony to top MS in Microsoft's main territories. Since PS4 is selling better then XBO in USA/UK/Europe, I think Sony made the right move.
If Sony released the PS4 in Japan this fall, it could have done more harm then help. Without any major Japanese oriented exclusives, the PS4 would come out with a bad image.
Plus, no matter how well WiiU does, PS4 has a different audience in Japan, and this is deomonstrated by strong PS3 sales (which aren't much lower then Wii's).
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First of-all how does this help building a PS4 userbase in Japan in a significant manner (the question in the opening post)? While some publishers actually try to differentiate the demopgraphics, it´s quite obvious why Sony went from a userbase of 22m PS2 to 9-10m with PS3. Of course some are in denial and love to ignore the competition. But looking at the availbale data we get a less subjective picture of what actually happened.
PS2 22m + GC 4.5m ->26.5m
PS3 9.5m + Wii 12.5m -> 22m
Sony down 12m while Nintendo UP 8m
The difference of 4m between the two compared generations can be attributed to the rising popularity of handhelds last gen. Seeing this data it´s quite obvious that Sony actually lost mind and marketshare to Nintendo last generation.
It also seems you really haven´t kept up with the thread. If you didn´t know, PS4 launched not only in Europe and US this year but also in far less important markets than Japan. Instead of releasing the PS4 in the already mentioned (read opening post) less important markets. They could have simply shipped those units to Japan instead if they hadn´t had other plans in Japan (PSV2000+PSTV). US and Europe wouldn´t have been affected this way.
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Japanese gamers are just shifting to handheld devices, that's why PS3 sold less then PS2. Compare Japanese handheld sales
GBA - 17 million
DS + PSP - 53 million
Yea Sony lost some market share to Nintendo, but that's only because Nintendo dominates handhelds.
Releasing the PS4 in Japan late doesn't help PS4 sales, but it doesn't harm it either. Releasing a PS4 in Japan, without any Japanese oriented games, could hurt the consoles image, and do as much harm as an early release could help. So why not release it in small European markets and secure the lead in NA/EU?
We all know the PS4 will dominate in Japan, and I think it's a more pressing concern to focus on Vita in Japan. Vita TV didn't boost sales that much, but it was something. Releasing PS4 in Japan would only take attention away from Vita.
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The direct comparison between PS2+GC and Wii+PS3 shows that the userbase for stationary consoles has been been nearly the same actually, namely 26m vs 22m.
I already mentioned that the small difference of 4m units can be easily attributed to the rising popularity of handhelds last gen. But obviously the more significant and noticeable difference between those two generations, are the huge losses from PS2 to PS3 and the big gains on Nintendos part from GC to Wii.
