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Forums - Sony - Sony admits PS4 is a tough sell in Japan

Raven316 on 11 July 2014

Wiiu is barely outselling ps4 in japan and ps4 has no games. Sony was smart to focus in North America and Europe. You really don't need too much from the Japanese market. It's a weak overall market. Xbox1 has outsold wiiu most of the weeks it's been out and it hasn't even been released in japan. NA and Europe are the most important markets



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MoHasanie on 11 July 2014

That's okay. Sales in other territories will make up for the low sales in Japan.



    

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Maraccuda on 12 July 2014

It needs Japanese games for it to sell well....
... or a new Miku or Idolmaster game.



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binary solo on 12 July 2014
celador said:

Why PS4 is struggling in Japan

The PlayStation 4 is struggling in Japan. But why?



"There was a comfort level around PS3 that was playing into that. There was a slight level of concern around the viability of the console market in Japan. But we've really turned a corner on that and demonstrated that if you're a publisher that wants to reach a global market with good and immersive games then the PS4 is definitely the place to be."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-07-11-why-ps4-is-struggling-in-japan

You didn't highlight one of the most interesting statements, and an understatement perhaps. And still very much a concern for the Japan market.



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Squeezol on 12 July 2014

I wonder if this is really the developers' fault or if Sony screwed up somehow..



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A203D on 12 July 2014
outlawauron said:
A203D said:
Rafux said:
Sadly the best Japanese games are coming on handhelds and only in Japan.

Err... Don't know if you heard of this company called Nintedo, really small company, well they have this console called the Wii U, well the Wii U is a home console. Not sure if you knew that.

The Wii U isn't a example of good sales in any region. It has software that has sold well, but the hardware has done poorly everywhere.

No one is saying the Wii U is a good example of sales, although its doing okay in Japan.

In terms of quality, the Wii U has an excellent array of games, especially those made in Japan. This is the point that Rafux completely failed to pick up on. Changing the discussion to sales won't change the high calbre of games released on the Wii U console.



nitekrawler1285 on 12 July 2014
celador said:

Why PS4 is struggling in Japan

"We're conscious of the fact we have not had yet the sort of groundswell of Japan native content from Japanese publishers and developers," House said. "I view that as temporary. -- I don't see this as temporary. PS3 lost alot of games from PS2 for cost reasons. Sony may well have priced themselves out of every Japanese pubisher and developer except the few large ones.  

So why did Japanese publishers and developers fail to get behind the PS4?

"For whatever reasons, when we were evangelising around the platform, we were having a tougher sell with Japanese publishers and developers," House admitted. -- Because they can't afford to make games that expensive.  Especially when consumers wont be at home to play them.   

"There was a comfort level around PS3 that was playing into that. There was a slight level of concern around the viability of the console market in Japan. But we've really turned a corner on that and demonstrated that if you're a publisher that wants to reach a global market with good and immersive games then the PS4 is definitely the place to be." -- It's not a comfort level.  It's a profitability threshold.  PS3 only really got smaller developers on board because they made a free engine for them. Japan has something with games they can play while commuting around and it's mobile phones.  As astounding as PS4's success maybe in the west it does not eclipse that of iOS and Android making their chosen platform a lower investment, commuter friendly platform, and far more global than any Sony platform can ever hope to be.  

At the Tokyo Game Show in September 2013, senior Sony executives told Eurogamer that they decided to launch PS4 in February because that was when Sony expected more games to be ready for its home market.  -- Capcom and SE alone do not an appealing Japanese console software market make.  I'm not sure at this rate PS4 will ever be ready for the home console market in Japan.





Snoorlax on 12 July 2014

There are many good reasons to why it's not selling that well.

1. NO GAMES
2. NO JAPANESE GAMES
3. XBONE



outlawauron on 12 July 2014
A203D said:
outlawauron said:
A203D said:
Rafux said:
Sadly the best Japanese games are coming on handhelds and only in Japan.

Err... Don't know if you heard of this company called Nintedo, really small company, well they have this console called the Wii U, well the Wii U is a home console. Not sure if you knew that.

The Wii U isn't a example of good sales in any region. It has software that has sold well, but the hardware has done poorly everywhere.

No one is saying the Wii U is a good example of sales, although its doing okay in Japan.

In terms of quality, the Wii U has an excellent array of games, especially those made in Japan. This is the point that Rafux completely failed to pick up on. Changing the discussion to sales won't change the high calbre of games released on the Wii U console.

But this is a sales thread on a sales forum. What games the Wii U has  or how good you think they are isn't relevant to what we're talking about.



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overman1 on 12 July 2014
kupomogli said:
overman1 said:
kupomogli said:
PS4 has no games. It's a tough sell everywhere.


Dude, the console is selling pretty well. if the PS4 is a tough sell what would you call the X1?

A very tough sale?  The Wii U has a much better line up than both consoles combined and it's selling worse.  Just because it's selling doesn't mean its line up is good which was my point entirely.


that doesnt change the fact that the PS4 is doing way better than the competition and its sales are way better than the PS3 during its first year. 

There are games coming out this year for bother systems and people will still buy these games. 

Dont know why people keep trying to downplay everything...