| Agente42 said: The problem of argumentation is contamination, the Japanese market declined, no problem we have the west. Realy? Losing a big market, the size of the Japanese market has consequences. Sony now losing East Asia markets. The transition in East Asia, Ps4 to Ps5, is more difficult now. Another problem is software sales, Sony lumping together the data of PS4 and PS5 and we can see the numbers, only accumulate. And physical software, in Japan, demonstrate this trend going down, East Asia will follow this trend. When a console is not a good distribution is more easily take down this dominance. Microsoft and Xbox are good examples of this. When Microsoft loses the UK and US, Xbox tends to lose market shares drastically, easier for competition, and Microsoft is a behemoth with loads of cash. The true power of Sony, besides the third-party exclusivities and the constant cut-price strategies, is the equilibrium in all big markets. With this equilibrium, Sony arranged more third-party exclusivity and harvest more market positions all around the globe. Losing the Japanese market may share drastically impacts the position in the global market. Elden Ring maybe was the big Ps5, but have minors impact in sales because of this. |
To add to this and what I posted earlier when a competitor has solved the issue in a region it kind of undermines the whole forget Japan we have the West narrative, Switch's form factor ensures that no matter who releases a game on the platform in the region they have access to the full range of consumers whether home or portable which has resulted in the software sales equaling or surpassing other platforms for third parties in the region as seen in the sheer domination of the top 30. To put it simply the Switch is heading for like 30m in the region alone that's what giving up Japan with out trying means and if future hybrid platforms continue to average 20-30m in the region it becomes a farce to think home developers and publishers will choose to overlook the region because it won't be a case of consoles not doing well it will only be a case of a certain kind of console not doing well.
This is why the whole the is the west argument feels more like a flawed excuse as picture a Switch successor within power range of PS5 and efficient architecture also selling 25-30m in the region developers can still focus on the west while pushing things back home.
