Anyone else surprised by Sony's focus on Japanese partnerships? Whats next?

P

Psycho_Mantis

Banned
With the recent announcement of Star Ocean 5 for PS3/4 and insight that Sony are helping with it, is anyone else surprised by the amount of collaborations SCE are conducting with Japanese third parties? I can't remember much from the PS3 era (demon souls, folklore, WKC....) and I guess with the PS2 era most of it was exclusive by default.

To list:

From Software
- Bloodborne ( co-developed/funded)

Capcom
- Dragons Dogma Online
- Deep Down (development of next gen engine help)
- SFV (funding)

SE
- DQH (I'm sure there was some nudging by Sony here)
- FF Dissidia (?)
- SO5

Konami
- Silent Hills (?)

We also have NIS commenting that SCE helped them with marketing budget (suggesting they are at least aware of niche devs) and L5 are making a PS4 game to be announced at E3 (SCE has had a history in making stuff with L5 so its a possibility). Note how its all for PS4/3.

Question is, at a time where console gaming is declining in Japan and where Western franchises are a more dominant, why is SCE aggressively going for these partnerships? How successful can these partnerships be for both companies? Also, from what we see right now, what can we expect in the future?

I understand that certain factors have it made it far easier for them to acquire them, most notably PS4's success.
 
Probably trying to revitalise the Japanese console market by trying to ensure the biggest games are exclusive to (PlayStation) consoles.
 
Bloodborne thing isn't new.
Things like SF V, DD and Dissidia are, hope they continue with this to avoid publishers going full mobile.
 
Psycho_Mantis said:
With the recent announcement of Star Ocean 5 for PS3/4 and insight that Sony are helping with it, is anyone else surprised by the amount of collaborations SCE are conducting with Japanese third parties? I can't remember much from the PS3 era (demon souls, folklore, WKC....) and I guess with the PS2 era most of it was exclusive by default.

To list:

From Software
- Bloodborne ( co-developed/funded)

Capcom
- Dragons Dogma Online
- Deep Down (development of next gen engine help)
- SFV (funding)

SE
- DQH (I'm sure there was some nudging by Sony here)
- FF Dissidia (?)
- SO5

Konami
- Silent Hills (?)

We also have NIS commenting that SCE helped them with marketing budget (suggesting they are at least aware of niche devs) and L5 are making a PS4 game to be announced at E3 (SCE has had a history in making stuff with L5 so its a possibility). Note how its all for PS4/3.

Question is, at a time where console gaming is declining in Japan and where Western franchises are a more dominant, why is SCE aggressively going for these partnerships? How successful can these partnerships be for both companies? Also, from what we see right now, what can we expect in the future?

I understand that certain factors have it made it far easier for them to acquire them, most notably PS4's success.
Click to expand...

Suprised? SUPRISED?

BEST NEWS EVER!!!

Bloodborne, Street Fighter V, Star Ocean 5, Dragons Dogma Online, Deep Down, etc.
I LOVE IT!

I hope we will see Bloodborne 2, more JRPGs and more titles directly from the internal SCE Japan Studio teams (right now, KNACK is the only Japan Studio game).
Good job, SCEJ. Good start. Now it's time to shine :)
 
Keeping their home market alive while providing a unique proposition for western gamers (Microsoft doesn't have much and Nintendo's mostly first-party on home consoles). Makes perfect sense to me.
 
I'm not really surprised. Sony has to work with these companies to ensure support and keep consoles viable for them otherwise the alternative is mobile gaming swallows the market, something that would not benefit Sony.
 
Pankratous said:
Probably trying to revitalise the Japanese console market by trying to ensure the biggest games are exclusive to (PlayStation) consoles.
Click to expand...

So you are saying SCE has faith that the Japanese console market can be revitalised or at least prevent declining?

I used to think that they did this to get exclusive games that do well in the West..... but with stuff like DDO and Deep Down they seem to be concentrating on Japan.
 
It has me interested because there was such a Western focus in the first year and I'm generally not too into Western games. This new emphasis on Japanese publishers is making me slowly warm up to the prospect of buying a PS4.

Will still probably wait for a model revision and price drop though. I still have a shitton of games left to finish on my Vita, 3DS, and Wii U, so I'm in no hurry.
 
It's a pleasant surprise since last generation was basically a disaster for PS in terms of its Japanese support. It got better toward the end of the generation, but it's nothing like fans of PS consoles have come to expect. The support for the PS4 is looking much more like people expect when they get a PS console. It's obviously not going to be like it was with the PSone or PS2 just because no region has output of that volume anymore. But it's still looking pretty damn great.
 
I think Sony realized that they need third parties to succeed. In the PS2 days, their platform was THE platform to make games on. Third parties needed the PS2. Sony knew it and used it to their advantage.

Times have changed though. The XBox 360 kicked Sony in the butt, and suddenly, third parties don't need the PS3. Mass Effect, Bioshock, and others showed Sony that third parties were no longer reliant on their platform to make successful games.

So this leads to a paradigm shift. And I think this is why the PS4 has been so successful. They are realizing that the power lies with the developers, not the platform holder. Especially in an age where the PC platform has grown by leaps and bounds, and mobile gaming is coming into it's own. They realize that developers hold it, and are courting them accordingly with partnerships, monetary incentives (pubfund), third party productions, self-publishing, etc.
 
Psycho_Mantis said:
With the recent announcement of Star Ocean 5 for PS3/4 and insight that Sony are helping with it, is anyone else surprised by the amount of collaborations SCE are conducting with Japanese third parties? I can't remember much from the PS3 era (demon souls, folklore, WKC....) and I guess with the PS2 era most of it was exclusive by default.

To list:

From Software
- Bloodborne ( co-developed/funded)

Capcom
- Dragons Dogma Online
- Deep Down (development of next gen engine help)
- SFV (funding)

SE
- DQH (I'm sure there was some nudging by Sony here)
- FF Dissidia (?)
- SO5

Konami
- Silent Hills (?)

We also have NIS commenting that SCE helped them with marketing budget (suggesting they are at least aware of niche devs) and L5 are making a PS4 game to be announced at E3 (SCE has had a history in making stuff with L5 so its a possibility). Note how its all for PS4/3.

Question is, at a time where console gaming is declining in Japan and where Western franchises are a more dominant, why is SCE aggressively going for these partnerships? How successful can these partnerships be for both companies? Also, from what we see right now, what can we expect in the future?

I understand that certain factors have it made it far easier for them to acquire them, most notably PS4's success.
Click to expand...

Sony and NIS have had a long relationship. So of course they are " aware " of them.

Sony sees where things are headed in Japan and they are doing all they can to atleast remain relevant in that region. What they really need to get on PS4 is Monster Hunter and Youkai Watch. We'll see if they are able to pull that off this gen with no one else being an option for the developers in the console space.

Don't forget though that they are also working with a ton of western devs this gen as well. You got the creator of Rayman, Michel Ancel, working on WiLD exclusively. You have Sean Murray working on No Mans Sky exclusively. You have Volume, from creator of Thomas Was Alone, being made for the PS4. You have Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid, working on the PS4 exclusives for The Witness ( console exclusive anyway ). You have the partnership with Tequilla Works and Santa Monica Studios in development with Rime. They also work with The Chinese Room for Everybody's Gone to Rapture. And Santa Monica's external development studio worked alongside Honeyslug and team for Hohokum. Then you have the partnership with Housemarquee for games like Resogun, Super Stardust and the upcoming Alienation.

So yeah, when you really think about it the videogame development / collaboration currently going on within Sony is pretty unprecedented and extraordinary.
 
I love it. I am not the biggest fan of Japanese games, but I do like them. I love how Sony is pushing that market and willing to bring those crazy games to the west.
 
Psycho_Mantis said:
With the recent announcement of Star Ocean 5 for PS3/4 and insight that Sony are helping with it, is anyone else surprised by the amount of collaborations SCE are conducting with Japanese third parties? I can't remember much from the PS3 era (demon souls, folklore, WKC....) and I guess with the PS2 era most of it was exclusive by default.

To list:

From Software
- Bloodborne ( co-developed/funded)

Capcom
- Dragons Dogma Online
- Deep Down (development of next gen engine help)
- SFV (funding)

SE
- DQH (I'm sure there was some nudging by Sony here)
- FF Dissidia (?)
- SO5

Konami
- Silent Hills (?)

We also have NIS commenting that SCE helped them with marketing budget (suggesting they are at least aware of niche devs) and L5 are making a PS4 game to be announced at E3 (SCE has had a history in making stuff with L5 so its a possibility). Note how its all for PS4/3.

Question is, at a time where console gaming is declining in Japan and where Western franchises are a more dominant, why is SCE aggressively going for these partnerships? How successful can these partnerships be for both companies? Also, from what we see right now, what can we expect in the future?

I understand that certain factors have it made it far easier for them to acquire them, most notably PS4's success.
Click to expand...
oprah_happy_tears.gif



And you forget some titles ported to PS4 such as Persona 5, God Eater.
 
It does seem like Japanese devs need extra incentive to stay in console gaming now so I'm glad someone is helping provide it. And its not just new game development, I'm so happy they seemed to have facilitated getting Yakuza 5 released over here as well. Sega wouldn't have done it on their own.
 
I don't think there's a particular focus on Japanese partnerships?


Japanese publishers have generally speaking always put quite some degree of importance on development on games on PlayStation systems.

And SCE Japan and Asia and SCE Japan Studio have always partnered with other Japanese developers. SCEJ wants PlayStation to be popular in Japan as well of course. Nothing new, really.

Sony Computer Entertainment is a multinational company representing a global brand (PlayStation). So of course you'll have games from all kind of regions. I don't think there's a particular focus on Japanese partnerships.
 
IAmRandom31 said:
Sony and NIS have had a long relationship. So of course they are " aware " of them.

Sony sees where things are headed in Japan and they are doing all they can to atleast remain relevant in that region. What they really need to get on PS4 is Monster Hunter and Youkai Watch. We'll see if they are able to pull that off this gen with no one else being an option for the developers in the console space.

Don't forget though that they are also working with a ton of western devs this gen as well. You got the creator of Rayman, Michel Ancel, working on WiLD exclusively. You have Sean Murray working on No Mans Sky exclusively. You have Volume, from creator of Thomas Was Alone, being made for the PS4. You have Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid, working on the PS4 exclusives for The Witness ( console exclusive anyway ). You have the partnership with Tequilla Works and Santa Monica Studios in development with Rime. They also work with The Chinese Room for Everybody's Gone to Rapture. And Santa Monica's external development studio worked alongside Honeyslug and team for Hohokum. Then you have the partnership with Housemarquee for games like Resogun, Super Stardust and the upcoming Alienation.

So yeah, when you really think about it the videogame development / collaboration currently going on within Sony is pretty unprecedented and extraordinary.
Click to expand...

They definitely do have Western partnerships but they are clearly of a smaller scale. Not that its unexpected since Western games have proven user bases (skewed far less as well) on XB1 and PC as well.
 
its a win win apart from sf nothing is too expensive i assume. keeps the japanese game fans ww happy and gives jap games an incentive to try out ps. (xbox is dead there anyway and console gaming may be too soon.)
 
Good news for me, barring Naughty Dog I find Sony's western dev stable make some of the most bland games around so it's good that they're giving Japanese devs a push
 
I think it's more to do with MS not focusing on Japanese partnerships, so that makes striking deals with Japanese publishers/developpers easier (no one to outbid).
 
Japanese 3rd party games on a Playstation home console? Is this real life?

No, I'm happy about some of the recent announcements but it is expected. WiiU is a failure and the Xbox isn't relevant, of course games will be developed for the best selling console right now. Especially when Sony doesn't have a problem if the games hit PS3 and or Vita as well.

Most of the stuff is more or less expected, if they can get DQ11 or something as big as an exclusive though...uuh.
 
Psycho_Mantis said:
Question is, at a time where console gaming is declining in Japan and where Western franchises are a more dominant, why is SCE aggressively going for these partnerships?
Click to expand...

I feel like this question answered itself in asking. It seems like the only way Sony is going to get these kinds of Japanese games on the PS4 is if they MAKE them happen. I think it's less about preventing them from being on other consoles and more making it so they come out at all. We'll have to see how it plays out in Japan, but I'm maybe a bit skeptical.
 
Really happy to see Japanese developers on PS4 already. Thought it gonna it take years till we see AAA Japanese efforts on PS4 but guess PS4 success took them by a surprise.
 
Hey, as long as Sony is helping these guys find work, right? I keep thinking about a console space without Japanese devs and it makes me really depressed. Anything that keeps them making what they want, how they want, is a great thing in my book. If it is on Sony's dime all the better; I give them enough money as is so investing it in Japanese developers is fine by me^^
 
bigjig said:
Good news for me, barring Naughty Dog I find Sony's western dev stable make some of the most bland games around so it's good that they're giving Japanese devs a push
Click to expand...

Have you played Ratchet & Clank, Tearaway? Sly Cooper, Journey, The Unfinished Swan, Wipeout 2048, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift etc? I don't know how you could call a game like Tearaway or Ratchet & Clank bland. To me those two especially are like the antithesis of bland.

Those games are really great in my humble opinion. :)


And outside of Uncharted 2 (still need to play TLOU though), most Naughty Dog games weren't that amazing in my humble opinion. I mean still, great games, but certainly not god-tier above the rest. I'd consider Uncharted: Drake's Fortune much close to being 'bland' than Tearaway, Ratchet & Clank etc.
 
Psycho_Mantis said:
Question is, at a time where console gaming is declining in Japan and where Western franchises are a more dominant, why is SCE aggressively going for these partnerships? How successful can these partnerships be for both companies? Also, from what we see right now, what can we expect in the future?

I understand that certain factors have it made it far easier for them to acquire them, most notably PS4's success.
Click to expand...

Eh, most of these partnerships are pretty old. Even last generation Sony worked a lot with Capcom it just didn't seem that way since Microsoft's ventures with Capcom were far more successful. Probably just seems more aggressive since the current gen console release schedules are so much lighter than the previous gen.
 
Kyoufu said:
I'm not really surprised. Sony has to work with these companies to ensure support and keep consoles viable for them otherwise the alternative is mobile gaming swallows the market, something that would not benefit Sony.
Click to expand...

Never looked at it like that but it makes sense. Its in their priority to ensure PS4 gets as many games as it can.

What about the niche devs though? Are they worth partnering with even though their games sell <250k or like that? Would you be surprised if SCE did a collab with NIS?
 
This is sony's competitive advantage by working with these japanese companies. Who do offer a very unique experience compared to western developed games. Also maybe its easier to negotiate exclusives with them as well.
 
stryke said:
Just because a PS4 version is there doesn't automatically mean it required SCEJ intervention in order for it to exist.
Click to expand...

Your talking about the guys who launched Person 4 exclusive to PS2 in June of 2008. Plus, between Adam Boyse favoriting the "Persona 5 on PS4 please" tweets not too long after the initial reveal and then breaking the localization announcement at Playstation experience, it is fairly likely at least a phone call was made. 3rd party relations and all that^^
 
old said:
No, that's always been sony's angle. What is this your first console generation?
Click to expand...

Like I said, PS2 era they had exclusives by default. PS3 they had several (DeS, WKC, can;t think of many more tbh) but looking at PS4....its more common. I'm talking about the partnerships, not necessarily third party Japanese exclusives which happen without any intervention.
 
I'm really happy to see that sony try to do like the ps2, create a unique content for the console. During the PS3 era there where so little exclusive on both side, Microsoft tried to conquer the JRPG fan, it work for me, but after 2 years they let down that idea and go back to publish generic shooter.

I think Sony with PS4 want to take back the niche fan of JRPG/RPG and they cleary conquer a lot of nostalgia heart.
 
I vastly prefer Japanese games over Western ones, so I'm really happy about this approach. I hope it will continue.
What's next? I hope something about Dino Crisis :p
 
Zero surprise. Expected as hell. What else would they do than this? Hometurf needs games. They have a hugely popular console. 1+1=Japan.
 
Yeah, I didn't expect the SO5 announcement at all.

Wonder if they'll be doing this for other series going forward. Whatever keeps the games coming (and not on mobile) I guess I'm in favour.

dofry said:
Zero surprise. Expected as hell. What else would they do than this? Hometurf needs games. They have a hugely popular console. 1+1=Japan.
Click to expand...

It's not hugely popular in Japan though. It's only in recent months it has actually been seeing good sales in fact. It was selling pretty rubbish for much of last year there.
 
I'm ecstatic that they're forging these alliances and initiating these projects. It's a massive improvement over their largely western pursuits from last gen, and the approach they looked to be prioritising at the beginning of this one.
 
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