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.

Isn't the PS4 around the Nw Years fo4 Japan as well?

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.

Probably already been said, WiiU has already been out a year a few mknths makes no real difference and Christmas is not as big a deal there. Sony needed to support the markets in which Xb one actually had a shot at coming out on top. Sony probably figured launching in all the major markets was not feasible but launching in the key Xb one competing markets and a bunch of small markets was doable. Strategically that was the right call.

26 - 22 million is nearly a 20% drop, that's not the same. Anyway what's your point?

releasing PS4 in Japan a bit late won't affect overall sales really, and that's what matters the most. Plus Sony does need to focus on Vita right now in Japan.

The drop actually is just 16%. And if we would also consider Xbox/X360 it would be even less than that. The point is quite simple PS2 to PS3 lead to 12m less units down by 57%, while their competitor gained 8m units compared to its predecessors. If you can´t admit the correlation I really don´t know what your problem is.

That PSV was the main reason for the PS4 next year release date in Japan is an argument that I already mentioned several times in this thread. PSV is also a very recent example of how letting your competitor too much time to sort things out can lead to losing marketshare and that Nintendo and Sony systems actually are direct competition and not living in a vacuum.

So what's your point? Wii did better last gen, and PS3 did worse. Sony released the PS3 nealy at the same time as Wii, so how does this have anything to do with PS4 releasing a few months late in Japan? Do you think people are just going to buy WiiU's because there is no PS4 around? Would that be any different if there were a PS4 around with only western style games? I don't think so.

Do you really think that your last posts in which you tried more than once to deny Sony losing marketshare in the stationary console market largely due to Wii haven´t been ridiculous?

Also I was just responding to some who for some unknown reason think that WiiU and PS4 won´t affect each other and that it won´t matter if the competition gains an advantage for example due to not beeing on the market in Japan. In a market where Sonys own IPs aren´t really relevant in the grand scheme and even the newest entry of their biggest franchise Gran Tourismo 6 is beeing easily outsold by 3D World.

Another point is that in those 2 extra months there haven´t been relevant changes in PS4s launch window lineup (Yakuza would have still been one, even if PS4 had launched mid Dec. like in other Asian countries).

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.

If the market for home consoles in Japan is 22 million and Wii U has sold 1.3 million units then Wii U has "tied up" only 5% of the market during more than 1 year (2 holiday seasons).  Also in terms of software market Wii + PS3 sold over 133 million game units.  Wii U is at 2.9 million units - only 2.1% of the software market.  There is still lots of market to be had by the PS4.

People who would have bought in November are likely to still buy it in Feb.  Those sales from Nov to Feb aren't 100% lost.

Long term the availability of popular titles will be a much more important factor than launching a few months early.  Titles like Killzone and the current multiplats on PS4 aren't popular in Japan.  Take a look http://www.vgchartz.com/game/33543/killzone-3/.  Same goes for the other PS4 day 1 titles.  The current titles are statistically insignificant in Japan.

In February there will be 3 or 4 titles that have some popularity in Japan.  In March there's MGS5: Ground Zeroes.  That is what matters.