Sony explains why PS4 is struggling in Japan

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PlayStation 4 arrived late in Japan compared to other regions, and since its arrival, it has been a rather hard sale since launch.


This is according to SCE boss Andrew House who told Eurogamer that while the console had a banner start, interest has tapered off since it first arrived at retail. House attributed the lack of continued sales in part to wariness of Japanese developers.

“It’s doing okay [in Japan],” he said. “There was a slight level of concern around the viability of the console market in Japan [and] we’re conscious of the fact we have not had yet the sort of groundswell of native content from Japanese publishers and developers. I view that as temporary.

“There’s definite developer and publisher enthusiasm for the platform, especially having seen the overarching success it’s had in markets outside of Japan For whatever reasons, when we were evangelizing around the platform, we were having a tougher sell with Japanese publishers and developers.”

One of the reasons PS4 is so popular in the West, according to House, is due to streaming services which have yet to make an impact in Japan.

“We’ll see over time great games coming from Japanese publishers and developers,” he added. “That’s point number one. Point number two, which is hampering us a little bit, is for a variety of other structural reasons around the entertainment industry in Japan, we’re not seeing that secondary usage. Those two are colluding together.

PS4 system architect Mark Cerny, who also spoke with Eurogamer at Develop added: “It’s because the products are not there to compel the people to buy the console. We’ll have a much better read on that a year or two after the Japanese publishers start releasing those interesting titles.”

At launch in Japan during February the console sold 322,083 units within two days, outselling PS3 by 88,443 units during the same timeframe. At present, PS4 has moved 620,000 units in Japan, and last week, outsold PlayStation 3 by only 500 units.



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Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2014/07/11/sony-explains-why-ps4-is-struggling-in-japan/

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"Sony explains why PS4 is struggling in Japan" :: Login/Create an Account :: 34 comments

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slapshot101Posted:

If PS4 is doing bad in Japan then it doesn't look good for Microsoft when they finally launch the console in Japan. They did so good with the PS2 and PS3, you would think the PS4 would do good also. I am sure once they get all the features in Japan that they have in the US it will start to pick up sales wise.

1989Posted:

in japan i think consoles like the ds and wii is more popular there

-GazzaPosted:

I would never go to ps4 even if it was better there no way

GossipPosted:

I would say that Nintendo is much more popular in Japan compared to Sony. But thats just me.

TroviPosted:

i recently saw a limited edition frozen ps4 and it was like 250 pounds il try find the link

ChippykPosted:

Pininfarina The reason is because Xbox One is better. That's all.


The Xbox One hasn't even been released in Japan yet.

YokePosted:

This surprises me, Nintendo did well in Japan. Hard to believe the Ps4 isnt..

M3Posted:

Dont they have a limit of internet time?

RailDexPosted:

Dovashin Nintendo was based in Japan. They are very popular there. I am a bit surprised though. PS4 sales seemed to be very good.


Sony is also a Japanese company...

SmurfsPosted:

Pininfarina The reason is because Xbox One is better. That's all.


Have you actually played both consoles or are you just saying that because you're an Xbox fan? I like my Xbox One a lot but I haven't played the PS4 yet so I don't know which console I would think is better.


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