No, I read it as the Middle East had no access to gaming and PlayStation was the pioneer.
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IGN Middle East: No, Jim Ryan - Gaming In The Middle East Existed Long Before PlayStation
- Thread starter Canas Renvall
- Start date
- News Sony
No, I read it as the Middle East had no access to gaming and PlayStation was the pioneer.
On a good day he's boring and uninteresting to listen to, and at worst he's actively detrimental to the brand's public image. I think Phil Spencer is the fakest man since fake came to fake town, but at least he knows how to string a sentence together. Jim doesn't even have that.
He either needs a better speech writer, to stop ad-libbing entirely, or to just step off the stage and let someone who actually knows how to talk to the press do that part of the job for him.
Or he could just retire. It's not like he needs the money at this point.
Obligatory, this tweet that was making its rounds since that GI.biz interview:
Great experiences and examples from people in that the thread about how gaming culture developed in their countries.
Great experiences and examples from people in that the thread about how gaming culture developed in their countries.
Real honest question to those from ME : was there official support/release/localization before PS ?
I mean it's pretty obvious that he made a bad statement I'm just trying to understand what point was he trying to make since he could just said it was a tiny market, like he said with other ones. So I imagine it has to be a difference between those.
I mean it's pretty obvious that he made a bad statement I'm just trying to understand what point was he trying to make since he could just said it was a tiny market, like he said with other ones. So I imagine it has to be a difference between those.
I mean, there are many ways to express disagreement. You can debate another user without having to call him a "fanboy" among other things. With that I stop.
Yes. IF and only IF he meant that Playstation helped in making video games more popular in our region then personally I have no problem, but saying outright gaming doesn't exist in the region before Playstation then thats a big lie.
For Nintendo stuff, I think they were imports yes, but for SNK and SEGA, they had official distributors to sell NeoGeo and SEGA consoles.
Yes.
He literally said that gaming wasn't there before PlayStation. How the hell is that taking a comment to the "extreme" like you claim? The words were LITERALLY exactly that, you can't fish around them saying that he "clearly" meant something else despite not saying that something else?
Also, I know he is speaking in business terms because the interview was mainly about those prospectives, but surely he'd intend to say the right thing then? It's a bold claim, and it really ignores any other form of the market that also helped stimulate and revolutionise gaming. Sure PlayStation as a brand is hugely impactful, but the industry as a whole wasn't down to one "brand" being a saviour. I get business people have to PR spin, but jeez it reinforces console warrior mindsets instead of creating liberating discussions around the overall industry and how damn good it is right now.
Feel like this earlier post covers what you're asking:
"We helped grow the gaming industry in the Middle East."
Is a completely seperate and different statement from:
"Middle East...people had never played games before PlayStation in the Middle East."
Is a completely seperate and different statement from:
"Middle East...people had never played games before PlayStation in the Middle East."
haha, yeah ok, then I (and he obviously too) have no idea what he was talking about. :D
Yes, for a few consoles.
Here's the MSX console, localized keyboard and with its documentation.
Sega SMS with its arabic manual (which is upside down, not sure why)
If you want to take his words literally then sure, yeah there were few people who played atari, and Nintendo and whatever. But it was a figure of speech, that was mostly correct. Playstation exploded in the middle east and suddenly a lot of people were gaming.
After playstation there was also a rise if "Internet cafes" or "gaming cafes". Till this day playstation is by far the most dominant platform, followed by PC which is also huge.
After playstation there was also a rise if "Internet cafes" or "gaming cafes". Till this day playstation is by far the most dominant platform, followed by PC which is also huge.
He was trying to convey his diet-racism and othering, that's it.
(See, for example, this article about Iran: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/disciplines/iran-video-games-timeline-from-1970-to-2019)
The "small/tiny markets" remark isn't better when, for example, not only Spain always has had an important base of players, but also a long history in game development:
Historia de los videojuegos en España | Década de los 80s y 90s
De “La pulga” a “Commandos” la irregular andanza del videojuego español entre los 80 y los 90. Origen, historia de los videojuegos en España y evolución.
www.intothegames.com
I often disagree with the hatred that Jim receives on the Internet and I think a lot of the criticism is overblown by fake concern and console warrior bullcrap but, in this particular case, there's not much more to say: Jim is factually wrong, his statements are reductive and ignorant. Someone in his position has an obligation to be better prepared and knowledgeable about what he is talking about.
Hit the nail on the head. It's getting worse on this site every day.
No, N64 was officially released
There was officiall distribution
Nintendo consoles always NTSC in Saudi Arabia and middle east.
I live there all my life, i know what happened.
I still remember seeing that hey pikachu N64 (even though Pokémon was banned) but the console still selling there.
Playstation 1 mostly modded console.
Jim Ryan: "people had never played games before Playstation in the Middle East"
Deluded fanboys: "He just meant Playstation expanded the market!" ... lol
What kind of mental gymnastics do you have to do to get to that meaning out of that sentence? It's not like its meaning is in any way ambiguous, it's crystal clear. Do you know what "never" means?
Deluded fanboys: "He just meant Playstation expanded the market!" ... lol
What kind of mental gymnastics do you have to do to get to that meaning out of that sentence? It's not like its meaning is in any way ambiguous, it's crystal clear. Do you know what "never" means?
Yes, for a few consoles.
Here's the MSX console, localized keyboard and with its documentation.
Sega SMS with its arabic manual (which is upside down, not sure why)
He was trying to convey his diet-racism and othering, that's it.
(See, for example, this article about Iran: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/disciplines/iran-video-games-timeline-from-1970-to-2019)
The "small/tiny markets" remark isn't better when, for example, not only Spain always has had an important base of players, but also a long history in game development:
Historia de los videojuegos en España | Década de los 80s y 90s
De “La pulga” a “Commandos” la irregular andanza del videojuego español entre los 80 y los 90. Origen, historia de los videojuegos en España y evolución.
Thanks for sharing !
WHY JIMBO WHY ?!
Obviously his statement is wrong in some many ways lol
Jimbo, you get paid millions. Just pay some intern to speak on your behalf for the love of God
I can't believe this is a real post.
I can't believe this is a real post.
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User banned (1 week): Dismissive commentary over a sensitive topic
it's not controversial maybe? Someone can be ignorant on something and it not come from a place of malice. And it seems like Jim Ryan speaking is controversial on era when he's just a PR parrot for his company. The cancel culture spirit is too crazy on here, he gets quoted all the time for normal ass lines.
User banned (3 days): Trolling. Metacommentary.
SalesEra and NintendoEra leave and SonyEra rises up. This is another level or corporate defense.
Dude is just shit at his job, as far as PR is concerned. It's not hard to acknowledge you're bad at doing interviews and appoint a PR chief to handle them in your place, unless you're so arrogant that you need people to see your face all the time.
Yes, I agree. But :
That's the problem.
Well that's the thing. Jim Ryan is a CEO. So he always talk as "official" market.Jim Ryan never saw my cousin's "Megason" I take it.
Also, we played a lot of PC games, we used to buy a ton of eh.. less than legal discs in the flea markets.
Do y'all really not see what's wrong with this statement or are y'all really just bending over backwards to defend a brand ? Is it the privilege or the fanboyism that makes y'all like this?
Do you think the Middle Easterners in the OP as well as people posting from the ME in this topic is cancel culture?
Hell I can agree he sucks at PR, but I don't get the constant up in arms about stuff he says...
fiendcode that's a big stretch from him thinking Playstation pioneered the gaming scene in a specific region. How did you get to racism?
Official Staff Communication
This thread is now re-opened to discussion, but we're going to lay down some ground rules here. Whether Jim Ryan's comment was what he meant or not is not the discussion. It's what he said, and what he said was insulting to people in the Middle East. Dismissing that or handwaving it will be met with strict moderation. If your sole purpose in this thread is to defend the corporate PR executive of your favorite gaming company, you'd be much better off just not posting.
CEOs of major companies know damn well how to use more nuanced language than "never" or "always". Lots of reporting, forecasting, and presenting of information in business includes a bit of wiggle room for legal reasons. The idea that he really meant "not as much" when he said "never" seems silly with that in mind.
The idea that a whole region with many diverse countries wouldn't play video games through the 90s is ludicrous.
The idea that a whole region with many diverse countries wouldn't play video games through the 90s is ludicrous.
User banned (3 days): Trolling. Metacommentary.
Another Jim Ryan interview, another clanger of a soundbite that people will quote and refer to years later. I think it's time for the dude to cease partaking in interviews and PR full stop.
I knew in my heart of hearts that the moment the Media Create community left this site, the level of corporate defending here would rise.
I knew in my heart of hearts that the moment the Media Create community left this site, the level of corporate defending here would rise.
oh, Jim, I am Brazilian, and while I have played most of my life on Ps1, Ps2, Ps3, and Ps4 I had played video games before Playstation. The world existed before the Ps1 you know.
Can't believe we're still doing the "B-but it probably wasn't meant to be offensive!" song and dance. Intent doesn't really matter if a bunch of middle eastern people were offended by his comment. It also reinforces this horrible western idea that the middle east didn't have anything of worth before a bunch of western corporations saved them with their products. Gross.
No? this is not what he meant at all, he said we didn't have a gaming culture before PS which is horribly wrong, this is what he said:
(We opened up markets that had never had any gaming culture ever. Middle East... people had never played games before PlayStation in the Middle East.)
Not only NES (which was very big, like, almost in every house big), SNES, Sega Genesis and Gameboy were big, even NeoGeo had faithful following and sold relatively well, SNK had a big following in the region.
Arcades, rental stores, etc. video games were everywhere. ME has always been obsessed about video games, especially that many countries in the region do have hot weather and people spend long time inside the house, home entertainment has always been big in the region.
Captain Tsubasa game from Tecmo on NES had Arabic translation all that time back. I never investigated how did this happen and if it was an official release or a hack, but this is just how popular the thing was.
My exact thoughts lol.
I understand the brand is in a great place worldwide which can lead to a CEO feeling kind of invincible, but I'm not sure this thing of keeping him in the spotlight has a satisfying endgame for him or Sony.
