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Forums - Gaming - Japan is the second best selling country for the ps4

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Lawlight on 30 November 2017
Mnementh said:
Kyuu said:

Meh, Sony just doesn't care much about Japan anymore, which may hurt them in the long run. They left it on their brand power and Nintendo's blunders to do a lot of the work for them..

Those "niche" Japanese games that some love to disregard and trivialize when it's convenient, play their part in making Playstation such a reputable brand, even when they don't seem to sell all that well on paper. When the average gamer frequently hears that "PS4 has more and better games!!! IT'S THE BEST PLACE TO PLAY!!" they'll subconsciously want to get the system, without necessarily realizing or caring that their purchase wasn't really too different from Xbox, seeing as north 95% of the games they'll buy are also available on Xbox. So those excellent games that are setting PS apart from Xbox, end up boosting hardware sales via pure reputation, without them necessarily selling gangbusters (they mostly serve to add to that narrative that it has MORE and BETTER games!) A consumer wants the console with the more options and potential regardless of whether or not these options are right up their alley. This little extra something makes a difference.

With Switch being a huge success, it may not only double or triple PS4's install base in Japan, but potentially, a large group of the third party Japanese crowd who are typically associated with Playstation, might migrate to Switch as more multiplats are made for the system, resulting its becoming the lead platform for many Japanese third parties. And that could play such a big role in building Switch's and Nintendo's reputation not only in Japan, but worldwide, while Playstation gradually loses some of what made it an exceptional platform.

One thing that went wrong with Sony is that -unlike Nintendo- apart from Gran Turismo (and Crash?), they never developed or published a series that did exceptionally well in both Japan and the west. If IPs like PaRappa The Rapper, Arc The Lad, Everybody's Golf were as successful in the west -during the PS1 generation- as they were in Japan, Sony may have ended up being a lot more Japanese than it is right now!

Sony's lack of Japanese-ness is the long term result of their Japanese titles consistently failing to please or reach players outside of Japan.. they couldn't expand their Japanese studios or the budget of their Japanese IPs because of that frequent failure.

"Not caring for Japan" is a lot more critical to Playstation's growth and brand power than people think.

Exactly. I think Sony is aware of that, that's why they secured Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter. Also smaller titles like Code Vein could be have Sony behind to push more games that let them stay relevant in Japan.

I don’t think they secured anything. Capcom and SE know that it makes sense to have their games on the PS4, along with other platforms. Keep in mind that Sony systems lost franchises like DQ and MH during the PS3 era and later on the Vita.

Japan is a country set in their ways which is why evem great western titles fail there. They mostly care about existing Japanese IPs established a long time ago or ones that get popularised by a fad.



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Farsala on 30 November 2017
zorg1000 said:
Farsala said:

I would argue it is harsher since Nintendo relies more on sales from Japan than Sony. In addition the % change doesn't matter as much as raw number change. Nintendo and Sony both lost 19m in HW sales so far. It was harsh enough that Sony and Nintendo completely abandoned the Vita and Wii U for other prospects. But that is more of a WW issue.

Another thing to consider though is that DS+Wii was much higher than any previous generation for Nintendo and that 3DS+Wii U is around what previous generations did.

NES+G&W-32m

SNES+GB-28m

N64+GBC-27m

GC+GBA-21m

Wii+DS-46m

WiiU+3DS-27m

Since Gameboy was the primary handheld for the entire duration of the SNES & N64 generations i split it up as April 1989-March 1996 & April 1996-March 2003.

 

So outside of Wii/DS, Nintendo has been relatively stable.

I chose that time because it was Japan peak for both Sony and Nintendo with both of them having a handheld and a home console out. The market always expanded or stayed fairly stable until that gen iirc. Since then it has been pure decline for both.



zorg1000 on 30 November 2017
A_C_E said:
zorg1000 said:
Dont just look at the number, look at the size of the market.

PS4 accounts for over 1/3 of all hardware sales in the UK since 2014.

PS4 accounts for about 1/2 of all hardware sales in Germany since 2014.

PS4 accounts for under 1/4 of all hardware sales in Japan since 2014.

PS4 may have sold more in Japan than any individual European country but it represents a much smaller percentage of the overall market.

I hope this post isn't an attempt to indicate Japan's relevancy. In your post it clearly shows that Japan is much more important than those European countries considering PS4's small percentage  of Japan outsells PS4's large percentage of everywhere else, except US. US reigns supreme in relevancy and Japan is second and that's that. 

It's funny how people think Japan's importance is slipping when it IS the second biggest country right now. The biggest form of arguement these days seems to be to misrepresent statistical data. Quite odd but I guess it's all they have.

Im just trying to show that there is more than just raw numbers to consider when talking about a consoles standing in a particular country.

Basically PS4 should by all means be stomping UK, Germany & France in terms of sales instead of selling slightly higher.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

A_C_E on 30 November 2017
zorg1000 said:
A_C_E said:

I hope this post isn't an attempt to indicate Japan's relevancy. In your post it clearly shows that Japan is much more important than those European countries considering PS4's small percentage  of Japan outsells PS4's large percentage of everywhere else, except US. US reigns supreme in relevancy and Japan is second and that's that. 

It's funny how people think Japan's importance is slipping when it IS the second biggest country right now. The biggest form of arguement these days seems to be to misrepresent statistical data. Quite odd but I guess it's all they have.

Im just trying to show that there is more than just raw numbers to consider when talking about a consoles standing in a particular country.

Basically PS4 should by all means be stomping UK, Germany & France in terms of sales instead of selling slightly higher.

Yeah, I read further down and realized you weren't stating that Japan was irrelevant, my apologies!



Mnementh on 30 November 2017
Lawlight said:

Japan is a country set in their ways which is why evem great western titles fail there. They mostly care about existing Japanese IPs established a long time ago or ones that get popularised by a fad.

Errm.... suuuuure.

They're set in their ways, that's why they follow fads. Fads like Professor Layton. You should post more while drunk, it is really fun.



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zorg1000 on 30 November 2017
Farsala said:
zorg1000 said:

Another thing to consider though is that DS+Wii was much higher than any previous generation for Nintendo and that 3DS+Wii U is around what previous generations did.

NES+G&W-32m

SNES+GB-28m

N64+GBC-27m

GC+GBA-21m

Wii+DS-46m

WiiU+3DS-27m

Since Gameboy was the primary handheld for the entire duration of the SNES & N64 generations i split it up as April 1989-March 1996 & April 1996-March 2003.

 

So outside of Wii/DS, Nintendo has been relatively stable.

I chose that time because it was Japan peak for both Sony and Nintendo with both of them having a handheld and a home console out. The market always expanded or stayed fairly stable until that gen iirc. Since then it has been pure decline for both.

But if Switch sells 25m give or take (which seems highly likely) that every non-DS/Wii generation did than wouldnt that just mean that DS/Wii were inflated and they returned to their original baseline?

That would be 6/7 generations that sold similar numbers with one selling significantly higher.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

Lawlight on 30 November 2017
A_C_E said:
zorg1000 said:
Dont just look at the number, look at the size of the market.

PS4 accounts for over 1/3 of all hardware sales in the UK since 2014.

PS4 accounts for about 1/2 of all hardware sales in Germany since 2014.

PS4 accounts for under 1/4 of all hardware sales in Japan since 2014.

PS4 may have sold more in Japan than any individual European country but it represents a much smaller percentage of the overall market.

I hope this post isn't an attempt to indicate Japan's relevancy. In your post it clearly shows that Japan is much more important than those European countries considering PS4's small percentage  of Japan outsells PS4's large percentage of everywhere else, except US. US reigns supreme in relevancy and Japan is second and that's that. 

It's funny how people think Japan's importance is slipping when it IS the second biggest country right now. The biggest form of arguement these days seems to be to misrepresent statistical data. Quite odd but I guess it's all they have.

It is the second biggest country in hardware sales due to sheer population size. And even then that's only with regards to hardware. When it comes to software, if we look at vgc, in 2016, the UK, France and Germany all sold on par with Japan. Including digital, PS4 software sales in the these EU countries far exceeds Japan, despite having a much lower population and lower installbase. On top of that, Sony first party games sell better in the west, which means more revenue for them.

Conclusion, Japan isn't th second biggest country for them. Probably 5th.



Paul on 30 November 2017
AngryLittleAlchemist said:
Coincidentally it's the country they're getting their ass kicked in

True that, only the xbox ass kicking in japan is worse.



Jranation on 30 November 2017
Kerotan said:
Jranation said:

The topic was on whether Japan is not important to sony then you showed the PS4 numbers. But Sony isn't just the PS4. Last gen they had the PS3 and PSP. This gen they have PS4 and Vita. 

Wrong. 

 

The topic is on whether ps4 is important to Sony in Japan. If you want to go off topic make your own thread. 

"Let this kill the myth that Japan is not important to Sony" 



Pocky Lover Boy! 

Lawlight on 30 November 2017
Jranation said:
Kerotan said:

Wrong. 

 

The topic is on whether ps4 is important to Sony in Japan. If you want to go off topic make your own thread. 

"Let this kill the myth that Japan is not important to Sony" 

Why are you bringing the PS3 and PSP now? He's clearly talking about now and this generation.