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NathanSSSS on 09 June 2020
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padib said:
NathanSSSS said:

I dont think Switch sale can prove anything since Japanese are heavily handheld focused, just check out the top 3 hardware of all time in that region, they are all undoubtedly handheld console, I've always seen handheld consoles different to traditional home consoles, and for Switch I bet 90% of ppl buying it for use on go, with that in mind, and Xbox always being irrelevant in Japan, we can see an obvious decline on sales of PlayStation consoles generation by generation in there, PS2 used to perform extremely strong in the region, followed by og PlayStation which seems fair, but that's 2 decades ago if you recall, then PSP, again handheld, then PS3 with just above 10 million units sold, and in this gen, PS4 cannot even sell more than 10 million even the total shipments wordwide topped 110+ million, that's the situation of home console in Japan. I don't know you guys, but if I were SONY, why would I bother prioritizing in such a market like this?

It's a great question. Let me try to give a few reasons.

1) Sony can release a hybrid or handheld in Japan. This isn't so far-fetched, as they already released the PSP and Vita worldwide. This way, they could tap into the selling power of gaming on the go.

2) Japan is the motherland of modern gaming after the crash of 1983, even in the West. This means that having games cater to and originate from Japan is a spice to keep your brand alive, where the West and its style of handling the gaming market has been fickle.

3) Nintendo is making a lot of money in Japan, and Sony has already stolen the market from them before with the PS1 and PS2, and even in some cases the PSP. If Nintendo has been able to rise from the ashes in certain cases, why not Sony?

4) There is another approach to the "if there is no money there, then exit" strategy. If Nintendo had taken that position, they would never have made a home console after the gamecube. But they made the Wii and it was a worldwide phenomenon. In other words, even if something is not making money now, it doesn't mean that something can't be done to make things profitable.

First, I don't think SONY will again make a handheld after the failure of Vita, I don't have the source but I remember there's some statement from SONY before saying the same, the failure of Vita is largely caused by the trend of mobile gaming right then in early 2010s, I think SONY quit the market of handheld and then turned to invest on mobile games instead, the successful FGO by SONY music segement is a good example, and that made SONY a bunch of money, so I think the odd SONY release a handheld or hybrid is very low(even though I would definitely welcome if they do it). For the approach you mentioned, I don't think SONY quit the market in Japan, it's still one of the most important market for SONY even with the declined performance in hardware sale, just no more reason to prioritize on it, that makes sense right?