Time has changed, if Sony don't take the initiative in investing in studios, they will just be snatched away by other competitors
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Bloomberg: Japan has been sidelined in Sony's PS5 marketing plans; Microsoft seeking acquisitions in Japan
- Thread starter Deleted member 51691
- Start date
The Demon Slayer game is coming, but I don't really see Sony putting big money behind a line of Aniplex games
At this point if a Japanese game isn''t too powerful to run on the Switch it will probably come to Switch or the devs will at least look into it. The Switch has pretty much absorbed all of the Vita support and all of the big sellers are being announced for Switch now outside of outside of the SE PS5 support.
If Sony wants their software to become competitive in Japan they need to put out more games that aren't targeted at the same audience as their other stuff. The biggest new IPs to launch in Japan the past few years are Splatoon, Ring Fit Adventure, and Minecraft with all of Nintendo's franchises seeing growth as well.
Sure are a lot of caveats being added. "Oh, it's Kojima," "oh, it's Souls," "oh, AstroBot is only for hardware."
I have no idea. It also doesn't matter. The place to play the vast majority of Japanese titles is PlayStation. Until that changes, this convo is kinda moot. Clearly, Japanese devs aren't feeling too slighted seeing as how many exclusive/timed exclusives are dropping on PS4/5...
The only thing I hope is Microsoft never buy a japanese publisher.
And for that happens they need authorization from Japanese gov and they know this will be bad for Nintendo and Sony who could have a leverage on a buyout.
The two most popular JRPG franchise in Japan are turn-based (DQ/Pokemon). FF sales started to take a nosedive after the franchise went action-based.
When Level 5 tried to make Dragon Quest IX an action game, there was an uproar from players and they finally delayed the game to change the battle system.
I am not saying action cannot be successful but it is less appealing that turn-based for the general Japanese audience.
Nah, that's just Violent Sony doing what they do best and being arrogant pieces of shit who think the world bows down to them. /s
I would like to you expand on this. Sony has multiple selfmade japanese games over the years. None of them did particularly outstanding.
What games do you think they should make and at what budget? I for one dont think they would ever have an IP as big as those handful of massive third party IPs you seem to look down upon.
Dont get me wrong tho. I would love for Sony to expand their japanese development side but not because Im concerned that their japanese business is about to collapse are anything like that but just for my own interest in new potential games.
I think Microsoft might be more successful with cloud gaming (as mobile is huge in Japan) than consoles anyway, probably best to put their efforts towards promoting cloud rather than the console itself.
OP
OP
The FF16 timed exclusivity deal isn't for Japan. It would be de facto PS5 exclusive in Japan even if it had simultaneous XSX/PC versions.
That is already changing.
The bulk of Japanese games goes also on Switch nowadays. And the Switch exclusive releases are also growing in Japan. The release list every week is insane. Its mostly some high profile companies that are missing, some of which are known to be loyal to Sony.
And Sony only caters to the big guns and leave medium and small devs hanging thats why this shift is happening.
Well its a free upgrade if you have the ps4 version. Ps5 version probably exists as the number of ps5 labeled games is obviously limited increasing its visibility. Would be my guess atleast not expecting any actual big upgrades for that version
It would help if they tried to make a Japanese IP the same kind of size and quality level as stuff like FF, and then actually marketed it, instead of focusing almost entirely on mid-level Japanese niche titles and sending them to die on shelves while pushing the hell out of their big Western AAA games instead.
Yes we know how you feel about Microsoft but if a studio needs financial support it's pretty sad you'd rather see them suffer than to join them. Pretty easy to make such claims if you are not in their shoes.
Japan hasn't been there most successful marker in over a decade. You don't let them lead when they aren't moving fast enough or being more flexible. It's why you got Herman as head of global and the california teams cranking out hits between sports, ND, SSM
Pokemon is the most most successful JRPG franchise ever. Japan isn't some special case, here
Final Fantasy 7 Remake nearly (and likely did with digital) outsold DQXI on PS4 first week in Japan. MHW PS4 outsold DQ11 PS4 first week. XV sold very well, too. Sure seems like they actually love action games.
This I agree with you completely. I think it would do really good as well.
Who should make it in your opinion? They dont have the internal staff for it.
It's hard to say but when you see that Nintendo not only has historical franchises that outnumber all of those major third party IPs but also have proven more than capable of launching new ones, even on a moribund system like the Wii U, I think there's important questions to ask not just at SIE but at those third party publishers.
No idea. They've completely squandered their Japanese development strength and Japan Studio couldn't handle it on their own. They'd probably need to build or buy an entirely new team and put them to work on a AAA title.
Or I guess convince Polyphony to make that JRPG Yamauchi talks about sometimes.
If these things are true, i really dont see these new consoles taking away the sales lead away from Nintendo lol.
Also, people really should ease their worries about Microsoft or Sony buying japanese studios. The ones most of you care about (SEGA, Square Enix, Capcom) are public companies that aren't going to be suddenly bought like Zenimax was. Not to mention that the vast majority of them either already belong to another mother company, or have significant business in non-gaming ventures. None of them are getting bought (and certainly not by Microsoft lol).
Man judging from this thread Sony sounds fucked and will never gain popularity in Japan ever again unless they copy everything Nintendo does.
I'd die to know which studios MS approached and even more so what kind of issues they came across during the negotiations
Not to say Bloomberg take is wrong (it's pretty ok even if the part about Japan Studio lacks details) but some things to note in order to avoid the usual "PlayStation isn't even a japanese console anymore", because that's factually still very much incorrect.
1) Despite having its HQ in San Mateo and being led by an European (Jim Ryan), SIE's board is otherwise 100% japanese : John Kodera (VP), Kazuhiko Takeda (VP and CFO), Kenichiro Yoshida (CEO Sony Corp), Hiroki Totoki (CFO Sony Corp).
2) Even if Mark Cerny is the well known Great Architect (c), Japan remains where the PlayStation hardware is designed. The DualSense and the PS5 UI have both been introduced on the PS Blog by Hideaki Nishino (Senior Vice President, Platform Planning & Management) and Yasuhiro Ootori (Vice President, Mechanical Design) was the one who dissasembled the PS5 in front of the worldwide audience. He works with Masayasu Ito, Executive Vice President of Hardware Engineering & Operation.
3) The part about Japan being "sidelined in planning the PlayStation 5's promotion" and "Employees in Tokyo said they've been left awaiting instructions from California", should not be a surprise. Sony has been very public about the centralisation of their marketing. They are now creating global marketing campaigns that get localised for individual markets. "In recent years we've globalised the company in a number of ways, and one of the things that we wanted to do in anticipation of going into the next generation of consoles was to create one single unified brand line" (Eric Lempel on Games Industry). Marketing wise, Japan is just in the same boat as every other PlayStation regional teams.
4) Give me Gravity Rush 3 plz
1) Despite having its HQ in San Mateo and being led by an European (Jim Ryan), SIE's board is otherwise 100% japanese : John Kodera (VP), Kazuhiko Takeda (VP and CFO), Kenichiro Yoshida (CEO Sony Corp), Hiroki Totoki (CFO Sony Corp).
2) Even if Mark Cerny is the well known Great Architect (c), Japan remains where the PlayStation hardware is designed. The DualSense and the PS5 UI have both been introduced on the PS Blog by Hideaki Nishino (Senior Vice President, Platform Planning & Management) and Yasuhiro Ootori (Vice President, Mechanical Design) was the one who dissasembled the PS5 in front of the worldwide audience. He works with Masayasu Ito, Executive Vice President of Hardware Engineering & Operation.
3) The part about Japan being "sidelined in planning the PlayStation 5's promotion" and "Employees in Tokyo said they've been left awaiting instructions from California", should not be a surprise. Sony has been very public about the centralisation of their marketing. They are now creating global marketing campaigns that get localised for individual markets. "In recent years we've globalised the company in a number of ways, and one of the things that we wanted to do in anticipation of going into the next generation of consoles was to create one single unified brand line" (Eric Lempel on Games Industry). Marketing wise, Japan is just in the same boat as every other PlayStation regional teams.
4) Give me Gravity Rush 3 plz
Last edited:
eh feel like some of the best stuff out of japan this gen was mid leval. neir anamata, yakuza ect.
A bunch of the bigger titles like Tales of Arise, 7R, Yakuza, DMC5, RE8, P5R (so far), Nier, and XVI aren't even showing up on Switch at all. There are other titles like Cold Steel 4 and 13S which are either outright exclusive or not launching on the Switch. I wouldn't exactly say it's changing when the biggest Japan titles skip the Switch entirely.
It has changed though. The most, and by far the biggest, Japanese games these days are on Switch. Not everything, but even if you pick up an Xbox or build a PC then you get nearly everything else that might skip it for performance or "adult" reasons.
No lie But Demon Slayer PS4 is going to be huge and if SIE had any sense they'd throw everything they have behind it, fast track a PS5 port, and lock out any Switch release. SIE and SME have a pretty fractured history though.
A bunch of them are also family run.
FFXV did historically poor for a mainline FF game. FF7R remake barely reversed that decline.
You also can't ignore that DQXI was multiplat with 3DS, and that version was more popular.
Let me change my question. Which current independent japanese developer could even make a JRPG of such scope?
I ask about independent because Square could of course make it for Sony with enough money offered but they would not give the IP up.
Last edited:
Not to say Bloomberg take is wrong (it's pretty ok even if the part about Japan Studio lacks details) but some things to note in order to avoid the usual "PlayStation isn't even a japanese console anymore", because that's factually still very much incorrect.
1) Despite having its HQ in San Mateo and being led by an European (Jim Ryan), SIE's board is otherwise 100% japanese : John Kodera (VP), Kazuhiko Takeda (VP and CFO), Kenichiro Yoshida (CEO Sony Corp), Hiroki Totoki (CFO Sony Corp).
2) Even if Mark Cerny is the well known Great Architect (c), Japan remains where the PlayStation hardware is produced. The DualSense and the PS5 UI have both been introduced on the PS Blog by Hideaki Nishino (Senior Vice President, Platform Planning & Management) and Yasuhiro Ootori (VP Mechanical Design) was the one who dissasembled the PS5 in front of the wordlwide audience. He works with Masayasu Ito, Executive Vice President of Hardware Engineering & Operation.
3) The part about Japan being "sidelined in planning the PlayStation 5's promotion" and "Employees in Tokyo said they've been left awaiting instructions from California", should not be a surprise. Sony has been very public about the centralisation of their marketing. They are now creating global marketing campaigns that get localised for individual markets. "In recent years we've globalised the company in a number of ways, and one of the things that we wanted to do in anticipation of going into the next generation of consoles was to create one single unified brand line" (Eric Lempel on Games Industry). Marketing wise, Japan is just in the same boat as every other PlayStation regional teams.
4) Give me Gravity Rush 3 plz
Great post.
Lol what? Final Fantasy mainline skips the Switch, DMC, MHW, Soulsborne, Gran Turismo, anything Kojima, Nier RE, KH numbered titles, Persona, etc are all skipping/skipped the Switch.
Sadly, I don't have an answer for that question. The development sphere has contracted a lot lately.
Quick update! Game is still set for 2020 release as of 10/28.
Platforms in Japan aren't successful unless they have exclusive Nintendo games. It really is that simple.
From the jump the PS4 felt like it was primarily an American operation. The PS3 era was the start of Sony's pivot from Japanese to western first-party games since that was the start of Japan's decline as a major console market. Japan Studio in general never really got back to where it was in the PS1 and PS2 days. Ueda has gone third-party, Sony's last Japanese software pillar is really Gran Turismo which is still absolutely an indispensable part of PlayStation.
Sony and Microsoft don't need to sell consoles in Japan quite as much as they needed to back in the early 00's, but they still need certain Japanese games that do well worldwide: the likes of Capcom, Square Enix, Namco, SEGA, and so-on. Since the PS4 era Sony has sort of been doing the minimum to keep some of those games exclusive, like Final Fantasy and Street Fighter, and even that stuff is leaking out to PC, probably at least partially because Japanese developers are going after the Chinese and Korean markets more and more these days and can't do it without PC versions of all their games. Microsoft might not ever sell a lot of Xboxs in Japan but they still need Square Enix and SEGA games and whatnot. It's why they reached out to get Dragon Quest, Yakuza, and Phantasy Star Online.
They're letting the more niche Japanese games drift off to Switch, mobile, and PC (again, Asian markets) though. Sony and Microsoft don't really need Compile Heart, Idea Factory, and Nihon Falcom games, or all those VNs. I'm guessing those games will continue getting PS4 versions for a while yet, but who knows if they'll transition to full-blown PS5 games. Why would 2D VNs even need to switch from PS4 to PS5?
Atlus and Vanillaware are the last two real anomalies as far as I'm concerned. Mainline Persona games are still PlayStation-only seemingly just out of custom. Atlus has only just dipped its toe into PC releases with a Persona 4 port and possibly a Shin Megami Tensei III port. I don't know what's keeping Vanillaware PlayStation-only when virtually everyone else in Japan at that production level is at least on PC and Switch.
I still think SEGA makes the most sense for a Microsoft acquisition but I'm guessing it's not likely. I think SEGA already makes most of its software money from PC games? People think about Sonic, Atlus, and Yakuza in regards to Microsoft getting SEGA, but for them it'd be just as much about Football Manager and Total War.
I guess xCloud could theoretically make some moves in Japan.
Sony and Microsoft don't need to sell consoles in Japan quite as much as they needed to back in the early 00's, but they still need certain Japanese games that do well worldwide: the likes of Capcom, Square Enix, Namco, SEGA, and so-on. Since the PS4 era Sony has sort of been doing the minimum to keep some of those games exclusive, like Final Fantasy and Street Fighter, and even that stuff is leaking out to PC, probably at least partially because Japanese developers are going after the Chinese and Korean markets more and more these days and can't do it without PC versions of all their games. Microsoft might not ever sell a lot of Xboxs in Japan but they still need Square Enix and SEGA games and whatnot. It's why they reached out to get Dragon Quest, Yakuza, and Phantasy Star Online.
They're letting the more niche Japanese games drift off to Switch, mobile, and PC (again, Asian markets) though. Sony and Microsoft don't really need Compile Heart, Idea Factory, and Nihon Falcom games, or all those VNs. I'm guessing those games will continue getting PS4 versions for a while yet, but who knows if they'll transition to full-blown PS5 games. Why would 2D VNs even need to switch from PS4 to PS5?
Atlus and Vanillaware are the last two real anomalies as far as I'm concerned. Mainline Persona games are still PlayStation-only seemingly just out of custom. Atlus has only just dipped its toe into PC releases with a Persona 4 port and possibly a Shin Megami Tensei III port. I don't know what's keeping Vanillaware PlayStation-only when virtually everyone else in Japan at that production level is at least on PC and Switch.
I still think SEGA makes the most sense for a Microsoft acquisition but I'm guessing it's not likely. I think SEGA already makes most of its software money from PC games? People think about Sonic, Atlus, and Yakuza in regards to Microsoft getting SEGA, but for them it'd be just as much about Football Manager and Total War.
I guess xCloud could theoretically make some moves in Japan.
Last edited:
It's really hard to think of the last truly big Japan Studio game. Hell even throw Polyphony Studios in there and you get GT 5. Meanwhile their American (and to a much lesser extent, European) studios crank out these huge games year over year that outsell even giants like GT 3/4 because of how much the world has grown. It's also every country not in Europe or North America where Sony truly makes up sales on the backend.
This doesn't mean that Japan still isn't the second biggest single market for consoles and that Nintendo, as a freaking publisher, will do half of all software sales there alone. Animal Crossing New Horizons will be the best selling single title over there. The market isn't dying, it's just that Sony left it behind.
Their plan during the PS4 generation was to co-opt and co market as many games as possible and they got all the heavy hitter for the first time since the PS2. They had DQ, which contracted on their system in Japan. They had MH, which contracted in Japan. They had every major third party title from franchises that Japan cares about or used to care about, and most of them contracted. The PS4 itself is going to sell less than the PS3. The PS3 had to beat back the Wii, PSP and DS for most of it's life. PS4 just had the Wii U to topple along with the much weakened Vita and 3DS. PS5 has to deal with the biggest years of the Switch when all the chickens will come home to roost.
This doesn't mean that Japan still isn't the second biggest single market for consoles and that Nintendo, as a freaking publisher, will do half of all software sales there alone. Animal Crossing New Horizons will be the best selling single title over there. The market isn't dying, it's just that Sony left it behind.
Their plan during the PS4 generation was to co-opt and co market as many games as possible and they got all the heavy hitter for the first time since the PS2. They had DQ, which contracted on their system in Japan. They had MH, which contracted in Japan. They had every major third party title from franchises that Japan cares about or used to care about, and most of them contracted. The PS4 itself is going to sell less than the PS3. The PS3 had to beat back the Wii, PSP and DS for most of it's life. PS4 just had the Wii U to topple along with the much weakened Vita and 3DS. PS5 has to deal with the biggest years of the Switch when all the chickens will come home to roost.
On top of that, the Japanese government has heavily cracked down on foreign acquisitions this year. At least for their larger companies. If MS was going to buy a studio it'd be something like Platinum or Level-5.
I wouldn't bet on that, but console sales are not a guarantee - Xbox 360 moved a lot of units, eclipsing PS3 earlier on in the gen, but many Japanese games still skipped it.
If mid-range and smaller Japanese devs like Falcom, IF, Gust, etc. decide to completely move over to Nintendo's platform to cut development costs, then I wouldn't see the need for myself to own a Sony console.
The biggest japanese games are all Switch exclusives.
Nintendo made them all
Yeah, no doubting that. The context was mostly third party support, though lol.
The biggest privately owned pub in Japan to buy would be Level 5. Which would be a pretty interesting, and hilarious, purchase for Xbox.
And to be honest, I feel like if MS tried to make moves toward Platinum, Nintendo would block them. Nintendo and Platinum are pretty tight in a way that I don't think Platinum is with anybody else right now, especially post-Scalebound.
A lot of Japanese publishers are also thinking more globally these days. Just because Japan, the region, may have diminished in value to Sony due to terrible home console hardware sales, doesn't mean Japanese games aren't important to them.
And for publishers, any system with a massive global install base is going to be an important destination for them.
And for publishers, any system with a massive global install base is going to be an important destination for them.
Then that post was completely missing the point seeing as how the context was third party support.