Deemphasis of Japan
Microsoft smells opportunity, murmurs of acquisitions
A senior figure inside PlayStation headquarters in San Mateo, California, said the U.S. side was frustrated by the failure of the Japan marketing team to sell as many PlayStation 4 units as expected. The person asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
As a result, Japan has been sidelined in planning the PlayStation 5's promotion, according to several PlayStation staff in Japan. Employees in Tokyo said they've been left awaiting instructions from California.
Japan-based developer support teams have been reduced by as much as a third from their peak, and the rolling contracts of a number of game creators at PlayStation's Japan Studio, one of the unit's oldest in-house software ateliers, haven't been renewed, former employees said. The U.S. office believes the PlayStation business doesn't need games that only do well in Japan, employees in the California headquarters said.
The PlayStation 5's two main online promotional events both took place at 5 a.m. in Tokyo -- making them more accessible to American and European fans -- and lacked Japanese translation for some parts. The company also decided to standardize its PS5 control scheme so that Japanese players would have to use X to confirm and O to cancel, like the rest of the world. That reverses a 26-year tradition in a country where circles signify positives and crosses mark negatives.
Local retailers said they haven't received many more first-batch PlayStation 5 units than they did of the PlayStation 3, which had a limited initial production run.
Microsoft smells opportunity, murmurs of acquisitions
Sony's official responseBut Microsoft, which is launching its next-generation consoles in Japan on Tuesday, the same day it does so in the rest of the world, sees an opportunity in the country's market. Microsoft didn't start selling the Xbox One in Japan until almost a year after the U.S., which contributed to its disappointing sales in the Asian country.
On top of that, there's evidence Microsoft is seeking to make acquisitions in the country, though it hasn't yet landed a deal with a big name there. Several Japan-based game developers, from small to big, said it had approached them about buying their businesses. They asked not to be identified as the talks were private, and declined to give details on how the discussions went.
When asked about potential purchases of Japanese companies, Jeremy Hinton, head of Xbox operations in Asia, said Microsoft is always open to discussions with creators that are a good fit. He said acquisitions are a possibility but there are no announcements to share at this time.
Any suggestion that Sony is shifting its focus away from Japan is incorrect and doesn't reflect the company's strategy, spokeswoman Natsumi Atarashi said. She noted that the PlayStation 5 is launching first in Japan and said "our home market remains of utmost importance."
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