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PlatinumGames says it doesn’t expect Japanese creators to shun PS5, recent report accused Sony of "not taking Japan seriously" amid low launch figures

ps5.jpg


PlatinumGames has dismissed suggestions that Japanese creators could lessen their support for PlayStation 5, following low launch sales and reports Sony was ‘side-lining’ its home region to place more focus on the US market.

A recent Bloomberg report claimed Sony’s home territory was being excluded from promotional planning for PS5 and had seen its development teams slashed as the company placed more importance on the West.

Following the report, PS5 recorded PlayStation’s lowest ever launch numbers in Japan due to few consoles being made available. Its Japan Studio also saw several high-profile departures including Demon’s Souls producer Teruyuki Toriyama, and Gravity Rush creator Keiichiro Toyama.

Currently, Nintendo is dominating Japanese hardware sales, with Switch accounting for 87% of all consoles sold last year.

Speaking to VGC in a new interview, Nier Automata developer Platinum played down suggestions that Japan was being overlooked with PS5.

Studio head Atsushi Inaba said: “To be honest, we don’t feel it that much, or at least I haven’t felt the impact of it myself yet. That being said, I do understand that the console industry in Japan is not what it used to be and when that happens the priorities of these big console makers will change, and that makes perfect sense to me.”

He added: “I don’t know if this is an opinion that’s out there, and I don’t have any personal investment, but just because PlayStation is from Japan doesn’t mean it should focus on the Japanese market. I don’t feel that way. At the same time, I don’t think it’s American now either: I think it’s international and doesn’t really belong to any country. That’s how I feel as a developer.

“However, I understand from a user perspective that if we start seeing release schedules prioritising the US over Japan, then that will be frustrating I’m sure. I’m not going to tell Japanese fans, ‘that’s how it is, deal with it’.”

Platinum’s other co-founder Hideki Kamiya – the designer behind Devil May Cry and Okami – shared more passionate comments about Sony’s decision to break with tradition for PS5’s default controls.

“Maybe you’re aware that up until PS4 the default confirm button in Japan has always been circle, where as it was always X in the US,” he explained. “But for PS5, Sony has unified this and made X the default select button in Japan like the US.

“To me, this doesn’t feel like a Japan versus US thing – my pride isn’t hurt as a Japanese person – it’s just more that there are two camps who had two ways of doing things, and I think they’ve short-sightedly leaned one way. I don’t understand the reasoning behind that.”

Kamiya claimed that had the situation been the other way around, with the US having its default controls switched, he would’ve felt the same.

“It’s just a little bit of disrespect towards the gaming cultures that have existed for decades now as part of so many peoples’ lives,” he said. “I feel like PS5 has disrupted that and I don’t know if it was meaningful to do that.”

Earlier this month, a damning report from a Japanese analyst group claimed that the PlayStation brand was “in decisive decline” in the country and suggested that many consumers felt Sony had shown disregard to Japanese players.

Ace Economic Research Institute analyst Hideki Yasuda said PS5 sold some 240,000 units in Japan in its first six weeks of availability – less than every other PlayStation console during the same timeframe, barring PSP.

However, Platinum’s Kamiya said he felt it was far too early to jump to conclusions on how PS5 would perform in Japan.

“Like I said, to me it’s not a Japan versus the US situation, but more about ‘culture A’ and ‘culture B’,” he told VGC. “One was chosen over the other, but I don’t think that means Japan is going to break away – I don’t see that.

“I don’t see a shunning of Sony from the Japanese makers at all. And really it’s so hard to get a PS5 right now that I feel we don’t have enough accurate data on how it will ultimately fare in Japan yet.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has called claims the company is marginalising Japan’s role “inaccurate”.

In a statement released in late November, Sony suggested that globally, PS5 had enjoyed the biggest console launch in history following “unprecedented” demand.

 
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Woopah

Member
Some of the small to mid tier companies may not support the PS5 but for the majority of the large ones they will follow a multiplatform strategy supporting PS5 and Switch.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
Why should they? Playstation has always had a rock solid Japanese third party support, and will continue to have so, despite declining sales in Japan. It's a global business, developers aren't gonna miss out potential big sales by not putting it on the world's leading platform.
 
Some of the small to mid tier companies may not support the PS5 but for the majority of the large ones they will follow a multiplatform strategy supporting PS5 and Switch.
So who will they support then, Xbox? Best send Phil on another business trip.
 

Majukun

Member
So who will they support then, Xbox? Best send Phil on another business trip.
small and mid tiers company don't have the budget for high production values so they can easily put their game on switch iif they wanna caer to tha japanese market.

big companies that pump a lot of money into graphic and cutting edge tech would find the switch limiting though, so the next best thing remains the ps5 since microsoft is a non factor in japan
 

SNG32

Member
Some of the small to mid tier companies may not support the PS5 but for the majority of the large ones they will follow a multiplatform strategy supporting PS5 and Switch.
Don’t forget PC either. I think PC is a better option in getting into the Microsoft ecosystem then the Xbox. Least you don’t have to worry about there being not enough Japanese titles and you still get all the Xbox exclusives.
 

JimboJones

Member
I don't think they will completely abandon PS in Japan, at worst I think it will probably mean a few more years of PS4 support from smaller studios with backwards compatibility taking care of the PS5 version.
So just high res/framerate ps4 games for a while until the install base is high enough.
 

yurinka

Member
Not Sony, the whole Japanese home console market shrinked over years, moving into handhelds and specially mobile. At the same time, the western home console market continued growing, so obviously the primary focus of home console manufacturers and game publishers shifted from Japan to the west.

But obviously Sony and both the western and Japanese devs will continue supporting PS5 in Japan, because Japan continues being a decent market and PlayStation will continue being the clear market leader of the high end consoles, as PS4 has been during its generation.

PS5 is having record gaming history launch window worldwide sales, but it launched in more countries at the same time than previous console. This means they had less consoles available than before for each country that isn't a top market for them, because they obviously prefer to focus on their main markets.

The demand is insane and even if they are producing in gaming history record levels too, every new shipment gets sold out in minutes everywhere (in Japan too). They are producing all the units they can, so can't ship more units so can't sell more units on Japan.

So no, Sony isn't ignoring Japan. They are only sending less units than before there because it's a less important market and they can't send more units there because they are getting record sales worldwide, so prefer to send more units to their top markets, where MS is also a bigger competition so Sony will want to secure their market share there instead of in Japan where MS never had an important market share so they don't need to worry about it.

In addition to this, the games they released until now for PS5 are more focused to a western market because the west is the main market of the home consoles. It doesn't feature a traditional big seller in Japan, so doesn't make sense to expect sales from people who maybe bought a game before being able to buy a console (and well, most people won't buy games for a console they can't buy because it's sold out).

This is just something temporal. As Sony gets enough time to ship several millions of consoles to fit the insane worldwide demand that is there for PS5 and the situation goes back to normal, sales will come back to normal numbers.

No company will switch from making games on PlayStation to make them on Switch. First because high end games will need the powerful hardware of PS5 and can't run on Switch. And because low end games than can run in smaller hardware will still prefer PS4+PS5 during several years because its install base is like twice as big as the Switch one, and taking into consideration that PS4 is the best selling console ever at this lifetime point and PS5 is the best selling console ever at its lifetime point doesn't make sense to leave PS.

Edit: look at this other thread to see if Japanese are interested on PS5 or not:
 
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Elios83

Member
Why should they do it?
Japanese developers fully know about the state of the japanese market unlike certain Nintendo fans who live in a bubble in the media create threads.
They all look at the international picture and Sony offers the best platform there to make modern AAA software for a worldwide audience and it's continuing to break records there.
I don't see the issue with small japanese developers as well since PS5 also acts like a superpowered PS4 so they can continue to make games on PS4/Switch (there is no sense in going Switch only and ignore the PS4 installed base) and they will already be compatible to run on PS5 with very little extra costs. It's only a matter of a patch to formally turn a PS4 game into an ''official'' native PS5 game.
 
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I said one time here and people laughed at my face...
Better Sony do something FAST about their marketing and partnerships in Japan.

This is a HUGE opportunity to MS turn the game. Im not even joking.

I love my PlayStation consoles because of tons of jp support, if PS5 don't bring me those games, i will follow the console that has more jp games.

I love PlayStation, but i love games more...
 

Woopah

Member
So who will they support then, Xbox? Best send Phil on another business trip.
Switch will be the main platform for the smaller companies that are still focused on the domestic market (and maybe PS4 when it is still relevant). I think they'll wait until PS5 has built up a sizeable userbase before moving over fully, and that could take some time depending on supply/software lineup
Don’t forget PC either. I think PC is a better option in getting into the Microsoft ecosystem then the Xbox. Least you don’t have to worry about there being not enough Japanese titles and you still get all the Xbox exclusives.
My understanding is that the PC gaming market is still very small in Japan. PC will be better for those larger companies looking at international sales (we're seeing Sega/Atlus starting to do this and hopefully they continue).
Not Sony, the whole Japanese home console market shrinked over years, moving into handhelds and specially mobile. At the same time, the western home console market continued growing, so obviously the primary focus of home console manufacturers and game publishers shifted from Japan to the west.

But obviously Sony and both the western and Japanese devs will continue supporting PS5 in Japan, because Japan continues being a decent market and PlayStation will continue being the clear market leader of the high end consoles, as PS4 has been during its generation.

PS5 is having record gaming history launch window worldwide sales, but it launched in more countries at the same time than previous console. This means they had less consoles available than before for each country that isn't a top market for them, because they obviously prefer to focus on their main markets.

The demand is insane and even if they are producing in gaming history record levels too, every new shipment gets sold out in minutes everywhere (in Japan too). They are producing all the units they can, so can't ship more units so can't sell more units on Japan.

So no, Sony isn't ignoring Japan. They are only sending less units than before there because it's a less important market and they can't send more units there because they are getting record sales worldwide, so prefer to send more units to their top markets, where MS is also a bigger competition so Sony will want to secure their market share there instead of in Japan where MS never had an important market share so they don't need to worry about it.

In addition to this, the games they released until now for PS5 are more focused to a western market because the west is the main market of the home consoles. It doesn't feature a traditional big seller in Japan, so doesn't make sense to expect sales from people who maybe bought a game before being able to buy a console (and well, most people won't buy games for a console they can't buy because it's sold out).

This is just something temporal. As Sony gets enough time to ship several millions of consoles to fit the insane worldwide demand that is there for PS5 and the situation goes back to normal, sales will come back to normal numbers.

No company will switch from making games on PlayStation to make them on Switch. First because high end games will need the powerful hardware of PS5 and can't run on Switch. And because low end games than can run in smaller hardware will still prefer PS4+PS5 during several years because its install base is like twice as big as the Switch one, and taking into consideration that PS4 is the best selling console ever at this lifetime point and PS5 is the best selling console ever at its lifetime point doesn't make sense to leave PS.

Edit: look at this other thread to see if Japanese are interested on PS5 or not:
Its more to do with the performance of Sony rather than the performance of the console market. In Japan, Sony is seeing decline as they heavily rely on third parties there, and third parties have not been doing a job of making popular software in the domestic market in recent years. In the West however, Sony is growing even thought the console market as a whole is shrinking (how big the shrink is depends on whether you include the Wii or not).

If you're a small Japanese company (one for who porting costs are a big deal) that is focused on domestic sales, then Switch is your best bet. If you're larger and also want good Western sales that PlayStation and Switch should be your focus (with ports to Xbox and PC if there's no platform holder involvement).
 
They say japanese people dont like PS 5 anymore and then you get this


This doesn’t prove anything, though. You have of course still people buying consoles in Japan, but the decline over the years has been real.

Compare PS2 and 3 with PS4, then look at how the market has developed overall. Japan is slowly moving from consoles to PC while still buying handhelds. The PC especially has been growing at ridiculous rates over the past 5 years according to Famitsu.
This is also the reason why Japanese devs have started to embrace PC.

It’s going to be interesting to see what’s going to happen over the next 5 years. I doubt that the PS5 will sell as much as the PS4 did.
 
I said one time here and people laughed at my face...
Better Sony do something FAST about their marketing and partnerships in Japan.

This is a HUGE opportunity to MS turn the game. Im not even joking.

I love my PlayStation consoles because of tons of jp support, if PS5 don't bring me those games, i will follow the console that has more jp games.

I love PlayStation, but i love games more...
I just don't see it happening for Microsoft. Maybe the Xbox brand will see some success on the PC through GamePass, but as far as the consoles are concerned, it's really just between Nintendo and PlayStation.
 

MagnesG

Banned
And because low end games than can run in smaller hardware will still prefer PS4+PS5 during several years because its install base is like twice as big as the Switch one, and taking into consideration that PS4 is the best selling console ever at this lifetime point and PS5 is the best selling console ever at its lifetime point doesn't make sense to leave PS.
Switch is like 18m now in Japan.
Where did you get this notion that PS4+PS5 is around twice the Switch in install base?

Last time I check PS4 is around 9.5m~, PS5 less than 500k.
 
Either Sony will respond to this opinion mid cycle generation and have a big campaign In Japan or Nintendo can double up their likability with Switch 2 / Switch Pro and dominant.
 
I just don't see it happening for Microsoft. Maybe the Xbox brand will see some success on the PC through GamePass, but as far as the consoles are concerned, it's really just between Nintendo and PlayStation.

Yeah, but can happen if they want.
They have the money to invest, just need a visionary leader.
 

yurinka

Member
Switch is like 18m now in Japan.
Where did you get this notion that PS4+PS5 is around twice the Switch in install base?

Last time I check PS4 is around 9.5m~, PS5 less than 500k.
I was talking in worldwide numbers, because most game companies release their games worldwide: PS4 is 113.6M and Switch is 68.3M as of September 30th, the most recent numbers we have. PS4 also was released around mid November and sold as of Dec 28th 4.2M worldwide, and PS5 oulsold it.

As you can see comparing Japanese vs worldwide numbers, Japan is an important part of the worldwide sales for Nintendo, but not that much for Sony.


Switch will be the main platform for the smaller companies that are still focused on the domestic market (and maybe PS4 when it is still relevant). I think they'll wait until PS5 has built up a sizeable userbase before moving over fully, and that could take some time depending on supply/software lineup

My understanding is that the PC gaming market is still very small in Japan. PC will be better for those larger companies looking at international sales (we're seeing Sega/Atlus starting to do this and hopefully they continue).

Its more to do with the performance of Sony rather than the performance of the console market. In Japan, Sony is seeing decline as they heavily rely on third parties there, and third parties have not been doing a job of making popular software in the domestic market in recent years. In the West however, Sony is growing even thought the console market as a whole is shrinking (how big the shrink is depends on whether you include the Wii or not).

If you're a small Japanese company (one for who porting costs are a big deal) that is focused on domestic sales, then Switch is your best bet. If you're larger and also want good Western sales that PlayStation and Switch should be your focus (with ports to Xbox and PC if there's no platform holder involvement).
PC market grew a bit in Japan in the recent years, but mostly its F2P side. As happens worldwide, F2P gaming market is bigger than the paid games one. But the difference in Asia in F2P vs paid is bigger, and particularly in China, Korea or in a bigger scale, Japan (not only due to PC, but also due to mobile).

But for the paid game market consoles are bigger than PC in Japan. Basically all big and small Japanese companies who make games for consoles that aren't Nintendo make their games for PlayStation because it has a bigger worldwide market and many of them sell their game worldwide. Unless we're talking about a series for portables or it's a game paid by Nintendo to make it exclusive, obviously. Other than that yes, there are a some exceptions of small companies, or big companies with a few specific series targeting local market only who moved from home console to Switch, but the majority continue on PS.

The decline isn't only on Sony side, it's also in Xbox and in all home console game publishers. Basically only Nintendo had a decent growth in Japan during the recent years. Basically all the other ones keep doing more or less the same numbers or declined in Japan but saw a growth in the western market, so in the recent years they also shifted more their focus from Japan to the western market.
 
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Woopah

Member
PC market grew a bit in Japan in the recent years, but mostly its F2P side. As happens worldwide, F2P gaming market is bigger than the paid games one. But the difference in Asia in F2P vs paid is bigger, and particularly in China, Korea or in a bigger scale, Japan (not only due to PC, but also due to mobile).

But for the paid game market consoles are bigger than PC in Japan. Basically all big and small Japanese companies who make games for consoles that aren't Nintendo make their games for PlayStation because it has a bigger worldwide market and many of them sell their game worldwide. Unless we're talking about a series for portables or it's a game paid by Nintendo to make it exclusive, obviously. Other than that yes, there are a some exceptions of small companies, or big companies with a few specific series targeting local market only who moved from home console to Switch, but the majority continue on PS.

The decline isn't only on Sony side, it's also in Xbox and in all home console game publishers. Basically only Nintendo had a decent growth in Japan during the recent years. Basically all the other ones keep doing more or less the same numbers or declined in Japan but saw a growth in the western market, so in the recent years they also shifted more their focus from Japan to the western market.
You're right about Xbox declining in Japan too, I should have mentioned that. The issue for many Japanese third party publishers is that recently they have believed they have to focus on either Japan or the West (we've seen this in comments from Harada). In reality, its perfectly possible to make games that are popular in Japan, the rest of East Asia, and the West.

Nintendo has shown this is possible and I think the Japanese third parties which are going to be most successful in the coming years are those that follow this strategy (such as Capcom).
 

sunnysideup

Banned
Ive said it before. But sony need to normalise gaming for grown ups.

This is the main difference when you look at the software that sells. Most of the games in the sales chart are aimed at kids and family.
 
Switch is like 18m now in Japan.
Where did you get this notion that PS4+PS5 is around twice the Switch in install base?

Last time I check PS4 is around 9.5m~, PS5 less than 500k.
And with almost double the userbase, the Switch moves less 3d party software than the Ps4, with the games that are published on both platforms usually selling about the same on both of them. Many titles has seen decreasing sales passingvfrom the Vita to the Switch . I really don't understand why people seems to think that Nintendo can be the saviour of japanese 3rd party developers
 
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MagnesG

Banned
And with almost double the userbase, the Switch moves less 3d party software than the Ps4, with the times that are pugliese on both platforms usually selling about the same on earth of them. Many titles has seen decreasing sales passivi from the Vita to the Switch . I really don't understand why people seems to think that Nintendo can be the saviour of japanese 3rd party developers
Give me examples of 3rd party software selling less than PS4 day to date in Japan.
 

onesvenus

Member
Why should they? Playstation has always had a rock solid Japanese third party support, and will continue to have so, despite declining sales in Japan. It's a global business, developers aren't gonna miss out potential big sales by not putting it on the world's leading platform.
Why are you talking about the Switch in a PS5 thread? Of course japanese third parties will support the switch 😜
 

Woopah

Member
And with almost double the userbase, the Switch moves less 3d party software than the Ps4, with the times that are pugliese on both platforms usually selling about the same on earth of them. Many titles has seen decreasing sales passivi from the Vita to the Switch . I really don't understand why people seems to think that Nintendo can be the saviour of japanese 3rd party developers
The Switch by itself won't save Japanese third parties (game direction and game quality are also very important) but the general argument is that publishers are leaving a lot of money on the table if they don't take advantage of its large install base. As you said yourself, when games come out on both PS4 and Switch, the Switch versions usually sells a significant amount. A few examples:

Trials of Mana PS4 - 133,593
Trials of Mana NSW - 100,451

eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 NSW -207,757
eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 PS4 - 174,299

Dragon Quest Builders 2 NSW - 295,237
Dragon Quest Builders 2 PS4 - 250,316

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 PS4 - 131,315
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4NSW - 117,954

These games would have sold much less if they were PlayStation only.

Edit: MagnesG MagnesG just seen your post and think this will be relevant to you.
 
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Ten_Fold

Member
AA developers can thrive much better on the switch imo, still I think Japanese devs can make some cool games for the ps5 that shouldn’t cater to just 1 or 2 markets.
 

yurinka

Member
Nintendo has shown this is possible and I think the Japanese third parties which are going to be most successful in the coming years are those that follow this strategy (such as Capcom).
The only difference between Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in Japan is that Nintendo now has the handheld monopoly and Japan is maybe the only market in the world where they always prefered portables over home consoles and that difference became larger over time. Handhelds always have been very important in Japan, but now they are way more.

This means that now Nintendo has a big market in Japan under almost their monopoly (home consoles are smaller part of it), so a few small Japanese companies who made small games more focused to Japan than to a global audience see Switch as an appealing market.

Bigger companies chase a more global market typically release their big games on PS+Xbox+PC because that is a bigger global market than Switch. Some of them see Switch as appealing because it's getting a good install base, but if they make big games for the other platforms typically can't adapt them to fit it on Switch. If they are smaller games like indies sometimes they can release them on Switch, to.

Regarding Microsoft and Japan, MS's market share in Japan is so small after several failed attempts trying to appeal that market in the past with projects like Blue Dragon or Lost Oddysey that they stopped trying it again, specially after seeing the whole home console market had a declining trend during these years. Not only for consoles sold, but also for game sales of the big publishers, specially the western ones.

Trials of Mana PS4 - 133,593
Trials of Mana NSW - 100,451

eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 NSW -207,757
eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020 PS4 - 174,299

Dragon Quest Builders 2 NSW - 295,237
Dragon Quest Builders 2 PS4 - 250,316

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 PS4 - 131,315
One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4NSW - 117,954

These games would have sold much less if they were PlayStation only.
These are the sales for Japan only, but 3 of these 4 games are games sold/focused to a worldwide market so instead of looking at their Japanese sales we should look at their global sales.

Worldwide PS4 has almost 2X the installbase than Switch, so very likely if we look at the global sales of these games the amount of units sold on PS should be way higher than on Switch, as it is shown when publishers (now I remember Ubisoft, but doesn't fit here very well because isn't Japanese) split their sales by platform on their financial reports, or when a PS4+Switch game appears in a USA or EU sales ranking.

But yes, if they have resources to release their games on Switch too, and the game can fit well on the Switch hardware limitations, it's a good idea to release it there too.
 
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DrAspirino

Banned
Why should they? Playstation has always had a rock solid Japanese third party support, and will continue to have so, despite declining sales in Japan. It's a global business, developers aren't gonna miss out potential big sales by not putting it on the world's leading platform.
And that's where you're wrong.

PlayStation "has always had a rock solid Japanese third party support" because the console itself has always been strong in japan. Sony brand is a japanese brand, and japanese people prefer their own brands. If Sony sends less units to Japan, and keeps its PlayStation headquarters in California, the message sent to japanese developers is loud and clear: "we don't care".

Sure, we will still get western games for western audiences, and japanese developers will make games for us, BUT you can bet that smaller japanese studios, as well as smaller franchises, won't reach the PS5 simply because there isn't enough PS5s in Japan to begin with.

I'm betting we'll see a lot more japanese games on Nintendo Switch than we will ever see on PS5/Xbox.
 

Woopah

Member
The only difference between Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in Japan is that Nintendo now has the handheld monopoly and Japan is maybe the only market in the world where they always prefered portables over home consoles and that difference became larger over time. Handhelds always have been very important in Japan, but now they are way more.

This means that now Nintendo has a big market in Japan under almost their monopoly (home consoles are smaller part of it), so a few small Japanese companies who made small games more focused to Japan than to a global audience see Switch as an appealing market.

Bigger companies chase a more global market typically release their big games on PS+Xbox+PC because that is a bigger global market than Switch. Some of them see Switch as appealing because it's getting a good install base, but if they make big games for the other platforms typically can't adapt them to fit it on Switch. If they are smaller games like indies sometimes they can release them on Switch, to.

Regarding Microsoft and Japan, MS's market share in Japan is so small after several failed attempts trying to appeal that market in the past with projects like Blue Dragon or Lost Oddysey that they stopped trying it again, specially after seeing the whole home console market had a declining trend during these years. Not only for consoles sold, but also for game sales of the big publishers, specially the western ones.
The form factor plays a part, but software is a much more important factor. After all 3DS, DS, Vita, PSP and the Switch all have handheld form factors, but their sales curves and total sales are very very different due to their very different software release schedule.

I also don't think its true that Japan has always preferred handhelds. Afterall the PS2 was selling quite similar to (and for a while better than) the GBA when they were both on the market. Likewise the Wii started off selling better than the PSP, and its only later when the PSP got Monster Hunter and better Japanese third party support that it started to do very well.

From my perspective the only Japanese third parties capable of putting out big AAA games that can't run on the Switch are Capcom and Square Enix, and even they are both putting effort into making money from the Switch.

If you're Sega, Atlus, Koei Tecmo, Marvelous or Bandai Namco, you should be aiming to have your games run on Switch and PlayStation first, then PC and Xbox as well if you have the resources.
 
If Japanese gamers are choosing the switch as their main gaming platform I see no problem in them moving down the priority list.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Why would japanese developers not just make games for the west then anyway? no point in making games for a death market.
 

Woopah

Member
Why would japanese developers not just make games for the west then anyway? no point in making games for a death market.
It's exactly that kind of thinking that has led Japanese third parties astray. You don't have to choose between the West and the East when you can make games for both (plus any assumptions that Japan will become a death market have also been proven wrong).
 

Kenpachii

Member
It's exactly that kind of thinking that has led Japanese third parties astray. You don't have to choose between the West and the East when you can make games for both (plus any assumptions that Japan will become a death market have also been proven wrong).

I dunno what there market looks like atm. but if it declines on the console space on user base and it becomes increasingly difficult to get games going for the remaining players why not just drop it into the western markets focus on it and have all the people that will buy your game without problems and just say farewell to japan.

Focusing on a market that does't care anymore is kinda pointless in my eyes.

It's what made sony and Nintendo big to start with.

And frankly a simple search on google gives you this as most successful japanese games. All western democratic focused games. when i played mario or zelda or pokemon or street fighter, or final fantasy not a single second i though i was playing a japanese game.

  1. Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. ...
  2. Space Invaders. Space Invaders. ...
  3. Pac-Man. Pac-Man Credit: Rex Features. ...
  4. Pokémon. ...
  5. The Legend of Zelda. ...
  6. Street Fighter. ...
  7. Sonic the Hedgehog. ...
  8. Final Fantasy
 
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Rikkori

Member
The japanese game market is split into either gacha waifu makers or kiddie games. Those who seek to make a more thoughtful product are few and far between. But I don't blame the devs - that's what that market wants, so that's what that market gets.
 

zedinen

Member
The largest part of video game revenues in Japan are generated in the mobile game market.

Nintendo sales in Japan ¥301B (FY19)
Japanese market ¥1.5T (FY19)

Nintendo dominates the J2 League.
PlayStation will never change its successful global strategy.

Sony Music mobile gaming business is better suited than PlayStation to compete in the domestic market.

Sony Music mobile gaming revenue surpassed ¥43B last quarter (Jul - Sep)

Gone are the days when millions of japanese gamers were in line to buy Final Fantasy , Resident Evil, Gran Turismo, Tekken + PS1/PS2.
 

Woopah

Member
I dunno what there market looks like atm. but if it declines on the console space on user base and it becomes increasingly difficult to get games going for the remaining players why not just drop it into the western markets focus on it and have all the people that will buy your game without problems and just say farewell to japan.

Focusing on a market that does't care anymore is kinda pointless in my eyes.

It's what made sony and Nintendo big to start with.

And frankly a simple search on google gives you this as most successful japanese games. All western democratic focused games. when i played mario or zelda or pokemon or street fighter, or final fantasy not a single second i though i was playing a japanese game.

  1. Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. ...
  2. Space Invaders. Space Invaders. ...
  3. Pac-Man. Pac-Man Credit: Rex Features. ...
  4. Pokémon. ...
  5. The Legend of Zelda. ...
  6. Street Fighter. ...
  7. Sonic the Hedgehog. ...
  8. Final Fantasy

The Japanese market has been growing steadily since 2017 and is now in a fairly healthy shape. The series you mentioned in your post were some of the most popular ones in the 80s and 90s rather than now, but they do support the the point I'm making. What is popular in Japan and the East can also be popular elsewhere.

If we look at the top 10 best selling games in Japan there is only one which is Japan-specific:

1. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 6,378,103 / NEW
2. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 1,591,366 / 2,087,005
3. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa Heisei Reiwa mo Teiban! – 1,233,023 / NEW
4. [PS4] Final Fantasy VII Remake – 949,379 / NEW
5. [NSW] Pokemon Sword/Shield – 892,456 / 3,880,590
6. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 798,174 / 3,457,183
7. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 560,122 / 4,013,174
8. [NSW] Minecraft – 556,982 / 1,702,921
9. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – 519,649 / NEW
10. [NSW] Super Mario 3D All-Stars – 492,620 / NEW

Everything else is not a game built just for Japan or just for the West, but for all markets.

The japanese game market is split into either gacha waifu makers or kiddie games. Those who seek to make a more thoughtful product are few and far between. But I don't blame the devs - that's what that market wants, so that's what that market gets.
This is like saying that the American games market is split into either sports simulators or kiddie games. It's not remotely true.
 

Rikkori

Member
This is like saying that the American games market is split into either sports simulators or kiddie games. It's not remotely true.
It's close to true for western markets too, it's just that it's not as severe here yet for various reasons, and for us the mobile market didn't overtake traditional markets, it's just in addition (but still bigger). Just check how much money mobile makes vs consoles/PC, then discount COD & sports & minecraft/robolox and let's see how much is left. Bet you it's not that much either, but again - not as severe as Japan.
 

Woopah

Member
It's close to true for western markets too, it's just that it's not as severe here yet for various reasons, and for us the mobile market didn't overtake traditional markets, it's just in addition (but still bigger). Just check how much money mobile makes vs consoles/PC, then discount COD & sports & minecraft/robolox and let's see how much is left. Bet you it's not that much either, but again - not as severe as Japan.
Tried to find those numbers to do a calculation but many of them are behind a paywall unfortunately.

I think in both countries the mobile market is in addition to the traditional market, rather than replacing it. It's true that in Japan the mobile market is quite mature and large, but it hasn't prevented the traditional video game market from doing well too. In 2020 many of the games that did well on dedicated video game devices in Japan (Mario Kart, Smash Bros. Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy, Ghosts of Tsushima and Ring Fit) also did very well in the US so its not like the software each market likes is completely different.
 
The big name developers (SEGA, Capcom, Square-Enix, etc) will obviously keep making games for PS5

The question was never if big japanese companies would keep developing for Playstation, but if mid to small-sized japanese developers would do so, because they're the ones that will suffer in the long term.

I assume most japanese devs will keep releasing games for the Switch in the short term (3~5 years), because the user base is bigger there, also because PS5 is low in stock. This could also result in a increase in PC releases as well.
L O L you guys crack me up, care to post examples of said companies?
 
L O L you guys crack me up, care to post examples of said companies?

This has happened before with the PS3, but it was not due to censorship but to it being hard to develop for. Japanese developers mostly decided to make games for consoles that were popular in Japan at the time and that were easier to develop for, such as the DS, PSP and Wii.

If PS5 ends up selling as bad as the PS3, along with the lack of Sony's support for Japan and censorship, I wouldn't be surprised if mid to small-sized japanese developers would migrate entirely to Switch and/or PC.

This is not about console wars, it's about companies choosing the most favorable market for their audiences so that they'll be able to survive.
 
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