I've talked to several people from Japan in my Twitter* feed and they are mostly annoyed and insulted at this point. The recent "Japanese" PS4 commercial certainly did not help ease this. If anything, I think it enraged them even more. *former and current NeoGAF members

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.

First things first, "anything regarding PS4 shipments in other regions this year in Saudi-Arabia, East-Asia, Brazil etc. is off-topic". No, it's really not. Japan does not exist in a vacuum and Sony is an international company that needs to consider what it prioritises. You cannot expect to discuss sales in any region if some of the factors concerning the sales in that region are because of other regional concerns.

Yes, you where very clear... and no-one is listening because insisting that we all look at Japan as though it's in a bubble is just plain stupid. Japan is not seperate from the rest of the world and it's also not the only concern for the company in question. What you're asking for doesn't make sense because you're asking us to treat the Japanese games market as a closed system when it most definitely isn't.

Here's the real answer though. Yes, Sony did the right thing. With Sony currently in financial stress they need to prioritise. Japan is basically a sure thing for Sony because, while the Wii U is a genuine competitor for market share, the games offered are actually different. You can't get a Japanese person to buy a Microsoft console without first threatening the safety of their family. Japan doesn't care about Xbox One. Because of this Sony new their ACTUAL competitor would be largely ignoring Japan too. The smaller growing markets, and the major markets of North America and Europe, these where battlegrounds. Remember as well that Sony has limited cash and production capabilities, it can only make so many consoles and ship to a select number of countries simultaneously. Organising a Japanese release would have been expensive and would have diverted resources.

At present Sony have set themselves up with market dominance in Europe, a leading market share in North America and a recognisable presence in outlaying regions such as Saudi Arabia, Brazil, South Africa, and the "Asia Pacific" regions (Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Malasia, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand). This means they're a global threat to Microsoft now as all those regions are contested. The regions where Microsoft does poorly in however (or simply has no official presence), namely Japan, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia have been left till early 2014 because they're less important for market dominance. It's also why India, a previously unconsidered market is being tackled before these three because it's a huge undertaking that requires Sony to focus it's resources.

Now, one thing that is true, is unlike most "Asia Pacific" regions, Japan has a long history with video games, a massive market potensial, a strong ecconomy, and a notable cultural bias. Releasing a PS4 in say Singapore or Taiwan with only 13 launch game at retail works, (remember, PSN changes by region and cannot be relied upon outside of USA, Canada, Japan and UK); there's little competition as support in these regions is spotty and only a recent thing (much like how Europe was back in the late 80's). Releasing in Japan with this line-up though would be suicide. There are no strong narative games, no real platformers, no RPGs, nothing that Japan in general wants. Remember, Japan doesn't give a scuttering fuck about first person shooters, which means 3 of those 13 are worthless over there. Waiting for Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends, Drive Club, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, Doki Doki Universe, Yakuza Ishin and the Final Fantasy 14 beta will give it a strong enough line up that people will actually care. Having a strong launch matters greatly in Japan, if you present yourself as a "western console" which is how PS4 looks at the moment, with endless FPS and American sports games, you lose your target audience.

Now, had this move meant that the Wii U has had an uncontested holiday period. Yes, but it's already been out for a while so I doubt it's a big issue. If anything I believe the Wii U sold well in Japan largely because of Super Mario 3D World and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and that was going to happen regardless of what Sony did. It is true that Sony have likely sacrificed market dominance in Japan now, but losing Japan in order to gain market supremecy in both Europe and 10 currently under-developed markets; yes it was a good move for Sony. I'd also like to claim it was a good move for gaming. By allowing Nintendo to take Japan, they've ensured that the Wii U is revitalised, which means that we've still got a strong three-way competition going. If Sony had market dominance in Japan, they would become an unofficial monopoly and that would be bad for the industry as a whole. While I like Sony and the Playstation brand, I most definately want to see both Nintendo and Microsoft doing well as more competition bolsters the industry.

That's my take on this anyway, by all means, everyone is free to disagree and I'd welcome new ideas.

Yes. Because now Sony is dominating in Xbox One's homeland when everyone knows that Xbox One has no chance in Japan.

Sounds pretty great for Sony. Anger and disappointment shows high demand.

Well that settles it, PS4 super doomed in Japan.

LOL @ super doomed. This should be a thing^^