Sony Japan Studio director Keiichiro Toyama, and 2 other veterans, leave to form new studio, Bokeh

[Nautilus]

twintail said:

Nautilus said:

Regarding the Silent Hill part I agree.

But about Sony sidelining Japan... how many Japan developed games have Sony (internally) developed in recent years? Couple that with the fact that Sony feels more like a western company than ever, and that the PS5 japanese shipments are abysmal (to say the least), and it"s pretty clear that Sony focus is not in Japan. It's still an important market for Sony, there is no doubt about that, but they clearly aren"t giving as much attention as they are giving the US and Europe, for example. At least compared to previous gens.

I mean, it makes financial sense, but that could bring long term problems for Sony.

I understand where you are coming from. but I can't say I fully agree.

SCEJA internally made games are like a drop in the ocean to their overall portfolio, and has been so ever since they began making games. I think their first truly internally developed title was Ape Escape in 1998. By that point they were probably already like 30 games deep. Many of us seem to forget that externally developed games are the bread and butter of SCEJA.

But they have been moving to solidifying themselves alongside the studios in SCEA and SCEE, who have become well-established in making critically and commercially successful titles on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, SCEJA haven't been able to copy this.

By making the external development side of their business a separate division now, they can focus on their internal stuff too. And I would imagine that they are focusing on bigger and better stuff. The PS5 gen is really where all the hard work of restructuring since the end of the PS3 gen will start to show. It sucks that Toyama is leaving, but in reality it's not like he has been providing SCEJA the level of success they are looking for anyways.

As for PS5 shipments, I believe they pretty much sold out what they sent. And honestly, I think it's time ppl started seeing Japan for what it is: a mobile major demographic. It's been like this for the last 2 gens (PS3 and PS4). Sony isn't giving Japan the cold-shoulder: they have merely recalculated how much focus the region should be getting. And that makes sense. The PS4 isn't even at 10 million units sold in Japan and realistically, the PS5 ain't going to hit 10 million either.

tldr: Sony isn't shifting away from Japan. Hardware wise they know what they can realistically sell. Software wise, SCEJA is being primed for better success while continuing their external development output. SCEJA is going to be fine unless there are mass layouts (which could happen, who kows)

Regarding the part about game development, you are probably right. Won't fight you there.

But about ther rest: Sony sold all the shipment it sent because it sent almost nothing. It would be the same as Nintendo or Xbox celebrating that it sold all it's 50k units it sent for launch week. It may be sold out, but it's only sold out because there was barely no stock there. That's not a win. That's a clear admission that they don't expect much from Japan.

And Japan is not a mobile-centric demographics. If that was the case, the Switch Lite would be the best selling SKU of the Switch. It isn't, and it's not even close. If it was a mobile centric country, games like Ring Fit wouldn't sell, because it only works in the Switch home console mode. It's been sold out for more than a year there, and it has recently passed the 1 million mark if I'm not mistaken. Switch wouldn't be breaking records left and right either, and wouldn't have the potential to be the best selling console there.

People should stop making excuses for Sony poor performance in Japan.Sony is doing bad there because their product dosen't appeal to them anymore. It's not because the demographic had "grown" over games. It's because that, compared to competitors like Nintendo, Sony dosen't make the cut anymore. It's seen as an "inferior" product for them. Sony hasn't adapted their product to Japan's growing needs, so they were cast out. That's all there is to it.