First of all, the previous article received a great deal of feedback. Looking at it, we can see that there are a certain number of Japanese game users who are quietly angry with Sony (SIE). In the last few years, Sony (SIE) has clearly been heavily focused on the US market, so it seems that domestic users have begun to steadily move away from PlayStation. The purpose of the previous article was not to instigate a sensational title, but to convey the deep despair of domestic users to Sony headquarters and SIE, so I think you probably understood it.
However, we received a direct feedback from the Sony headquarters that we value the Japanese market. Perhaps they really care about it. Feelings are important, but no action is involved. For this reason, users think that Sony and Jim Ryan are "disregarding the Japanese market." If you point out this, you might think that it is speculation of the Ace Institute of Economic Research.
To be more specific,
The launch of PS4 in 2013 was made a latecomer to Japan
From the fall of 2018, we will introduce our own expression restrictions and suppress the release of titles for Japanese users
There was no Japanese narration in the introduction video distribution of PS5, and there were defects in fonts and translations.
Changed the enter button from 〇 to × button because it is a global standard
The first actual sales of PS5 in Japan was just slightly higher than PS3, which had a manufacturing trouble, and did not reach the early adapter.
And so on. The only counter-evidence against this is that E3 and PS-related sales (price cuts) during the year-end sales season were held at the same time in the world, and PS5 was released at the same time in the world. Probably, PS5 became the world at the same time only in response to Microsoft's offensive in Japan, it seems that the position itself of Tier 2 (2nd place) has not changed, and it is important from qualitative analysis. I don't think.
In particular, I think that the problem is (2), and although Aniplex under Sony is making a lot of money with the gacha of the swimsuit character of FGO, it is double that the swimsuit expression can not be sold on PS or it is forced to correct. It's only standard. Doing this only increases the distrust of the user. I should quit this kind of thing immediately.
However, unfortunately, it seems that it is taboo for Sony's upper management to touch on expression restrictions, so I expect that the opinion of the Ace Economic Research Institute this time will be completely silent. I'm sure Sony will regret it.
Next is the data for 25 weeks after the release.
As mentioned last time, as expected, PS5 has become PS3 or less. Can you feel Sony (SIE)'s willingness to succeed in the Japanese market from this graph? It is very invisible as an ace economic research institute.
Even so, the actual sales of 11,000 units in the 4th and 5th weeks and 17,000 units in the 6th week are too small. The cumulative total of 240,000 units is estimated to be the lowest level ever for Sony's stationary game consoles. At this rate, the entire life cycle will be less than half that of PS4. And a small number of popular games could cause a crisis in the domestic consumer game industry.
Even in quantitative analysis, it does not seem to be very important. With this, it is no wonder that users have a deep sense of despair, thinking that "Sony is downplaying the Japanese market."
Another reason why the movement of domestic users has become so cold is that SIE lost sight of the Japanese behavioral principle due to the move of the head office to the United States. As I mentioned last time, Japanese game users rarely complain on SNS, so from the perspective of SIE headquarters staff in the United States, Japanese users look like good customers who will accept them no matter how cold they are. I wonder if there is. But that's not the case, it just disappears slowly and quietly.
Considering the above points, Sony (SIE) seems to think that the high-end game experience is unnecessary in the Japanese market where Moe is the mainstream, and the platformer has lost the intention to take responsibility in the Japanese market. I have to say. And the initial action of this PS5 means that the fall of the PlayStation brand in the Japanese market has become decisive, and the Ace Economic Research Institute cannot help but be very disappointed. Again, Sony will surely regret it.
Even so, as I said last time, the United States occupies half of the world game market, and I think some people claim that if they win there, everything will fit in a circle. It is true that Japan's economy has stagnated for the past 30 years in the world as a whole, and many of them have only about 10% share of home appliances, and their presence is fading.
It is said that the reason why the Japanese economy has been sluggish for a long time is not well understood. The Ace Institute of Economic Research considers that the increase in single-person households and the small living area of single-person households are major factors, but this is not a place to express such opinions, so let's move on.
If the market share is only 10%, there seems to be a tactic that it doesn't matter anymore, but is Japan really a market where game consoles cannot be sold? Is it a market where users have to grieve?
This graph shows 3DS, PS4, and Switch on a calendar year basis since its release. There is a year when both 3DS and switch have achieved actual sales of more than 5 million units. It should be noted that even at the present time when all the numbers are not available in the 4th year of Switch, the peak-out concern seems to be a lie beyond the peak of 3DS. Cumulative actual sales also exceeded 17 million units. Probably the final sales will exceed 25 million units.
In addition, I have commented that the number of units sold (arrival) in the entire life cycle of Switch will exceed 150 million units. It can be said that the progress is almost as expected. On the other hand, PS4 has never exceeded 2 million units a year. The final sales volume in Japan will be about 9.5 million, which is lower than PS3. The final sales volume of PS4 is likely to be less than half that of Switch, and even considering that there is Switch Lite dedicated to mobile mode, the sluggish sales are clear. How is it? Does Japan look like a market where game consoles cannot be sold? It is a market where more than 20 million units can be sold depending on the device. It seems to be a big business problem to cut off because photoreal games are not mainstream or stationary dedicated machines cannot be sold, but Sony (SIE) does not feel a strong will. Also, the reaction of the capital market seems to be as long as there is news that PS5 is selling, and it seems that there is no problem with the decline of the Japanese market.
The late Mr. Iwata of Nintendo once avoided the statement of failure because it had an adverse effect, but I think that admitting it at the Ace Economic Research Institute will eventually lead to the success of the next generation. These points this time will also be silently killed by Sony (SIE). However, looking at the current situation of Sony (SIE), which cannot ship PS5 during the year-end sales season, we have to be deeply concerned about the future of the Japanese PlayStation market.
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