Shu Yoshida: Sony doesn't consider Nintendo competition anywhere except in Japan

They do though. Sony knows this hence it's big sale during the Switch 2's launch window.


Sony has this 'Days of Play' sale every single year during Spring.

Sony also has their E3-ish/SGF State of Play stream late May / early June, around a week or so away from their Business Segment Meeting.

Sony did the same thing they do every year in this part of the year. It's Nintendo who decided to release their console in this period, Sony didn't change their plans at all.

As Nishino said, Sony didn't give a fuck about Switch 2's release and don't consider it something concerning because it doesn't have the horsepower needed to properly show new games with high end visuals in big tvs, which is what PS5 does.

I dont think the Switch consider the PS5 as a competitor either, considering the sales gap
Yes, PlayStation is a distant market leader in the consoles market (including Nintendo).

But Nintendo is perfectly happy with the amount of Nintendo consoles and first party games they sell. The many records broken by PS and huge success in many areas doesn't negatively affect Nintendo. Nintendo keeps performing perfectly well in the area where they focus: to sell Switch devices and first party games.
 
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This reminds me of when Xbox said their real competition was Amazon and Google. Yep. You don't compete with the ones spanking you I suppose.

Sony is getting spanked in Japan and that's where Yoshida says Sony does consider them to be competition.
 
Interesting comment. When MS inevitably bow out of the hardware game, that will give Sony 100% market share of the 'high performance' gaming market.

Could be interesting regulatory ramifications.
 
Interesting comment. When MS inevitably bow out of the hardware game, that will give Sony 100% market share of the 'high performance' gaming market.

Could be interesting regulatory ramifications.
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It's an accurate statement for me.

I've owned every generation of PlayStation console but if you gave me a free Switch, I wouldn't even open the box.
 
Sony is playing the long game because that population decline is hitting Japan the strongest first.
 
Err... as much I like Shu I don't think he is right.

Sony do compete with Nintendo. Even so Sony is making a handheld PS6.

Are you waiting games like CoD to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 to get this conclusion?
 
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Of course they are in competition. Everyone is in competition for people's limited time and money.

I recently watched an interview with Shawn Layden who spelled out that you now even have to consider TikTok as the competition, because that's where the younger generation are really spending their time:

Even when you hear that gaming revenue went up 23 percent during the pandemic, it wasn't from new people, necessarily. It was more money from the same people, and this is the existential threat I talk about when I'm meeting with developers and publishers - that you're just getting more money off the same people. It's a business model I understand, and you understand, and that's fine. But we're not growing the next generation. We're losing the next generation to TikTok. The competition for gaming isn't Xbox and Nintendo. It's everything else in the freaking zeitgeist that can take your time away from your gaming activity.

It's easy to compartmentalize the market and say "well PS5 and Switch cater to different crowds so we're not stepping on each others toes", but hours and dollars spent playing Switch, or watching TikTok, or a new Netflix series, or jerking it to hentai, or whatever else degenerate shit this forum gets up to (I won't judge you), is time NOT spent on PlayStation. That is a threat to their business.
 
With 100% market share they will come under more regulatory scrutiny for console pricing, access to Sony games, PSN pricing, pricing of digital games, etc.
'High performance market share' is just arbitrarily defined. You can't define a market in a way that excludes Nintendo who owns a significantly large portion of it, if we're discussing the wider industry. And there will never be regulators involved in some silly sub-market like that unless it's economically meaningful, which it isn't.
 
Obviously yeah since they have to pull millions of PS2 sales out of their ass Brazil to avoid admitting Switch is the best selling system of all time.
Let me ask something, does Switch Lite counts as Switch Sales or they are a different sales since the system is full portable ? Isnt a little sus to have a portable counting for the main console ? Isnt this trying to increase sales numbers by any means ?
 
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Beating Nintendo is not difficult, you just need to break the bond between Nintendo consumers and Nintendo by attacking the supposed quality of Nintendo products with a campaign. Just get this one and everything will fall like a hanafuda castle.

Sony has no interest in Nintendo losing relevance as they are both Japanese companies.
The fuck you smoking? You mean Sony should try to gaslight Nintendo fans into thinking Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing aren't fun games?

My man....

Is Shuhei on tour or something?
He's showing his ass constantly and letting us all know why Sony reshuffled him into irrelevancy.

Sony is playing the long game because that population decline is hitting Japan the strongest first.
But if only kids play Nintendo games and grown men play Playstayion, why is Playstation nearly irrelevant in Japan whereas Nintendo is a defacto monopoly?
 
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Top 5 best-selling first-party games for Sony and Nintendo in Japan

PS5 hardware - 7m
1. GT7(mostly sold from free bundle) - 378k
2. Marvel Spider-man(mostly sold from free bundle) - 324k
3. Horizon Forbidden West(mostly sold from free bundle) - 166k
4. Rise of Ronin - 144k
5. Stellar Blade - 137k



Nintendo Switch hardware - 36m
1. Animal Crossing - 11.3m
2. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet - 8.2m
3. MK8D - 8.1m
4. Smash Ultimate - 7.5m
5. Splatoon 3 - 7.1m
 
'High performance market share' is just arbitrarily defined. You can't define a market in a way that excludes Nintendo who owns a significantly large portion of it, if we're discussing the wider industry. And there will never be regulators involved in some silly sub-market like that unless it's economically meaningful, which it isn't.

It was the CMA that made the distinction, not me.
 
It was the CMA that made the distinction, not me.
I highly doubt the CMA even alluded to the idea that Nintendo wasn't a competitive market player because of their hardware proposition. If they made that distinction it would've been related specifically to the evaluation of that investigation.
 
I highly doubt the CMA even alluded to the idea that Nintendo wasn't a competitive market player because of their hardware proposition. If they made that distinction it would've been related specifically to the evaluation of that investigation.
I mean, this was their wording ...

"We found that Nintendo's consoles compete less closely with either of Xbox or PlayStation, generally offering consoles with different technical specifications, and with its most popular titles tending to be more family- and child-friendly."
 
As usual, I think a lot of people go out of their way to misunderstand pretty benign statements.

Microsoft and Sony exist within the same space. Even if Sony outsells Microsoft, they run 95% the exact same software and with almost the exact same experience.

These are competitors regardless of Sony's marketshare or Microsoft's.

Sony isn't worried about losing EA FC or CoD sales to Switch in Europe or the US, but what they do lose out on is sales of games like Dragon Quest in Japan.

Also Sony is well aware that higher prices will reduce sales, not sure why people think they don't know this. Sony is uninterested in heavily subsidizing the price of the PS5 in Japan. They want market share, but not at any cost. You're looking at diminishing returns in terms of unit sales vs P&L.

I do think Sony will try to be more competitive with the PS Handheld and we'e seeing an increase in what they're doing again in Japan with Astro Bot (first party), Rise of the Ronin and Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls (3rd party) and even what they're doing out of country with Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei.

Ultimately, we'll see if Sony makes further investments in Japan.
 
I mean, this was their wording ...

"We found that Nintendo's consoles compete less closely with either of Xbox or PlayStation, generally offering consoles with different technical specifications, and with its most popular titles tending to be more family- and child-friendly."


I can't believe that native speakers can't understand these words.


Nintendo and Sony barely overlap. That's it.
 
They only compete in the country they get destroyed in? Seems backwards.
Game Over I Give Up GIF by Ocean Park


Nintendo destroys everyone in Japan. But Shu and Sony have to claim Nintendo is their competition in Japan to save face. If they admit defeat in home turf Japan it looks bad. But actions speak louder than words and Sony some reason gave up Japan to Nintendo long time ago.

Right off the bat, you can tell they didnt bother competing with Nintendo in Japan since they havent bothered making a dedicated handheld since Vita despite Japan always being big in handhelds. And then Sony focused a lot of their big budget and games on western studios and IPs, not Japan focused like past generations. Things majorly changed with the PS4 gen 10 years ago.
 
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I mean, this was their wording ...

"We found that Nintendo's consoles compete less closely with either of Xbox or PlayStation, generally offering consoles with different technical specifications, and with its most popular titles tending to be more family- and child-friendly."
Sure, competing less closely, but that doesn't mean they aren't part of the competitive landscape. Just targeting difference audiences. If Xbox disappears, Sony would not have a monopoly, regardless of target audience or hardware offering differential.
 
Top 5 best-selling first-party games for Sony and Nintendo in Japan

PS5 hardware - 7m
1. GT7(mostly sold from free bundle) - 378k
2. Marvel Spider-man(mostly sold from free bundle) - 324k
3. Horizon Forbidden West(mostly sold from free bundle) - 166k
4. Rise of Ronin - 144k
5. Stellar Blade - 137k



Nintendo Switch hardware - 36m
1. Animal Crossing - 11.3m
2. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet - 8.2m
3. MK8D - 8.1m
4. Smash Ultimate - 7.5m
5. Splatoon 3 - 7.1m

When your worst selling game is better than their best selling game. Wow..
 
Sure, competing less closely, but that doesn't mean they aren't part of the competitive landscape. Just targeting difference audiences. If Xbox disappears, Sony would not have a monopoly, regardless of target audience or hardware offering differential.


Because PCs exist.

If PCs were not a thing, Sony would have the monopoly of super popular games that nobody will play on a Nintendo Switch: GTA, Mihoyo games, Sony's first party and a very long etc.

So no, they aren't in direct 1-to-1 competition, as they are with XBOX and secondly, PC.


Doesn't matter as even without China Nintendo is the fastest selling console in history.
Adding China would make this even more significant.


Nintendo has the handheld market. Sony, the home console. As said above, the overlap is tangential. Nobody is buying a Nintendo Switch to play third party games. It's a nice-to-have but not the primary buying factor.
 
Game Over I Give Up GIF by Ocean Park


Nintendo destroys everyone in Japan. But Shu and Sony have to claim Nintendo is their competition in Japan to save face. If they admit defeat in home turf Japan it looks bad. But actions speak louder than words and Sony some reason gave up Japan to Nintendo long time ago.
"but outside Japan PlayStation people clearly see Xbox as a primary competition."
PS5 destroys Xbox sales everywhere, but they see them as competition. It's kinda like it isn't all about just the sales.
 
Because PCs exist.

If PCs were not a thing, Sony would have the monopoly of super popular games that nobody will play on a Nintendo Switch: GTA, Mihoyo games, Sony's first party and a very long etc.

So no, they aren't in direct 1-to-1 competition, as they are with XBOX and secondly, PC.
Yes PC is a platform. And yes, it's a factor in the broader competitive landscape. But before you get your panties in a twist, we was discussing how competition is actually defined in regulatory/business strategic contexts.
 
In Japan because of local tastes switch dominates and since the games kind of overlap Sony can see Nintendo as competition, the rest of the world, specially in the west, the games almost dont overlap because the switch is not a third party power house so they are not competing for the same space.

I think is pretty easy to see how sony wouldn't see the switch competing with playstation for time/space outside japan.

Now... GTA is around the corner, dont know if Japan gives a fuck about gta, if they do Sony would be smart to launch a heavily discounted bundle overthere and sell a lot, gta launch is a rare event to take advantage.
 
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Sure, competing less closely, but that doesn't mean they aren't part of the competitive landscape. Just targeting difference audiences. If Xbox disappears, Sony would not have a monopoly, regardless of target audience or hardware offering differential.
You've got the ex-head os Playstation confirming it for everyone. Sony doesn't see Nintendo as competition outside of Japan. Pretty compelling evidence for a regulator I would say.
 
You've got the ex-head os Playstation confirming it for everyone. Sony doesn't see Nintendo as competition outside of Japan. Pretty compelling evidence for a regulator I would say.
The CMA said Nintendo compete 'less closely' not 'not at all'. And considering how large Nintendo's Switch install base is, highest software attach rate and global reach, it's ridiculous to suggest they're irrelevant in market share or competitive terms. Monopoly concerns are about market control and consumer harm, and there is absolutely nothing here to be concerned about.
 
You've got the ex-head os Playstation confirming it for everyone. Sony doesn't see Nintendo as competition outside of Japan. Pretty compelling evidence for a regulator I would say.

Yeah, but that's not a crime. There would have to be a criminal act for regulators to get involved.
 
Yeah, but that's not a crime. There would have to be a criminal act for regulators to get involved.
No, that's not a crime, it's more if they come under scrutiny for increasing prices of PS+, or digital games for example. A regulator may say they are doing it because console players have no other option and they're abusing their market position, in which case it's difficult for them to then point at Nintendo if they don't consider them competition.
 
No, that's not a crime, it's more if they come under scrutiny for increasing prices of PS+, or digital games for example. A regulator may say they are doing it because console players have no other option and they're abusing their market position, in which case it's difficult for them to then point at Nintendo if they don't consider them competition.

Very true. In which case, Sony would reverse course and say Nintendo is definitely competition and lawyers and executives would embrace every and any argument to win. That's the game they play and why it doesn't really matter what any of them say, even if, in this instance, I happen to agree with what is being said.

Didn't you hear, the toyota corolla sells like crazy, its definitely beating that ferrari weak red ass.
Marty Deeks Facts GIF by ION
 
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I like how Sony is simultaneously this giant, unassailable monopoly in the games space that requires regulatory bodies all over the world to take down and allow others to compete...while also being some weak brand getting crushed from either side by Switch and Steam. It's a delicate balancing act PCMR and Nintendo fans have to perform on a daily basis.
 
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It was the CMA that made the distinction, not me.
And Sony full-throatedly endorsed that market definition.

I like how Sony is simultaneously this giant, unassailable monopoly in the games space that requires regulatory bodies all over the world to take down and allow others to compete...while also being some weak brand getting crushed from either side by Switch and Steam. It's a delicate balancing act PCMR and Nintendo fans have to perform on a daily basis.
I mean this was Sony's doing. They isolated themselves and Xbox into its own market as they whined to government authorities to try to block the Activision buyout. Sony gaslit regulators into thinking PC and Nintendo aren't apart of the same market as PlayStation and Xbox. So if Sony gets targeted by regulators in the future, they get exactly what they deserve. Their actions during the Activision regulatory proceedings was embarrassing.
 
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Very true. In which case, Sony would reverse course and say Nintendo is definitely competition and lawyers and executives would embrace every and any argument to win. That's the game they play and why it doesn't really matter what any of them say, even if, in this instance, I happen to agree with what is being said.


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I agree, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure any regulator really cares enough. I think the attempt to stop the MS / Activision one was an attempt to be tough on 'Big Tech', but the arguments they used were flawed.

I reckon if it came down to it, they'd just update their definition of the 'high performance'gaming market to include Nintendo and PC.

It would be amusing to see a complete about-face from all involved though!
 
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