Japan - Was it really that great of an idea to delay PS4s to 2014?

[Michael-5]

Viktor said:

Michael-5 said:

So what about Sony loosing console marketshare with the PS3 in Japan? Sony lost marketshare in all regions, they had a terrible console (initially), and Nintendo made a really really good one.

What does this have to do with PS4 releasing a few months late? It's not like PS3 sold less then Wii because of when it released. Sure Wii hurt PS3 sales, but it had nothing to do with when PS3 released.

PS4 releasing late won't hurt sales, especially since there would be no Japanese priented games at launch. It could hurt the image if anything, make it appear to be a more Western oriented console in Japan. I think because of Super Mario 3D World, if PS4 released in Japan now, it would look like crap in comparision.

Like I already said I was just responding to a user that said PS4 and WiiU won´t affect each other, the same thing was said about Wii and its competitors, looking at the available Japanese data it obviously was. In the last posts you have also been one of those who were trying to deny the obvious, that last gen Sony lost a good part of the market share to Nintendo, for whatever reason you didn´t want to acknowledge this and instead you tried to excuse PS3s performence in Japan solely on the general popularity of handhelds.

I think the surge of handheld gaming was a big reason why PS3 didn't sell well in Japan. Instead of buying PS3 consoles, I feel a lot of PS2 owners got a PSP instead. Wii likely did hurt sales, but my original comment was that releasing the PS4 now, without games, would hurt the system as much as it would help. So talking about Wii has nothing to do with my comment.

It doesn't matter when Sony releases the PS4, Super Mario 3D Worlds is out in Japan, there is nothing Sony could do to prevent people from buying a WiiU over a PS4 because of thise game. Releasing PS4 now without games, vs. releasing PS4 in February with a good lineup will likely "save" the same number of potential buyers.

All Sony can really do is publish as many exclusive PS4 games as they can, and do their best to make the best system possible in Japan.

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On a side note, it is interesting to see sony fall apart so much in Japan lately. Vita is dead compared to 3DS, and I don't think PS4 will do that well, even if WiiU flops.