What can Sony do about Japan?

Let me once again remind the participants of the discussion that this thread is called "What can Sony do about Japan" not "Another random and generic Xbox model comparison thread". Stay on topic.

 

they need a new version of fantavision

i think it will exponentially pick up when the RPG flood gates are opened...

 

The biggest thing Sony and the PS3 is missing in Japan which they had with pretty much every console launched thus far..:-


Mah Jong..

 

PS3 has Majian and Train sim and all the obligatory console launch games.
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/puzzle/mahjongfightclubonline/index.html

Maybe its missing a Fist of the North Star slot machine game that's about it.

 

The PS3 will do fine in Japan, since it doesn't have any real competition. The 360 no so much. IMO as time goes by and prices get cheaper, Japanese households will get Wiis for family/party gaming while those who want to get their rpg/action gaming fix will get PS3s. The Wii will win in overall numbers but the PS3 will do fine since it doesn't have a true peer.

 

Disagree as all those game you mention can be done on Wii as well (hell, they just done that on ps2 for the last 7 years). Ofcourse they'll wont look as good but if wii and ps3 keep selling like they do most japanese devs will focus on the wii and not on the ps3 so than those kind of games are more likely to come to wii than to ps3.

 

In the long run the PS3 will do fine in Japan, coming strong 2nd to the Wii. PS3 just needs FF13 to hit in order to sell millions. Right now the games aren't there according to the s/w sales and the price is too high, but again, it just needs a BIG RPG in Japan to turn things around.

 

I never said all of a certain game genre would be done on one platform as opposed to the other. I just wanted to make a point about the perception of the two platforms as the prices goes down. After a while I don't believe they will compete head to head as more people will by both than just one of them.

Also, to further emphasize the games that can be done on both platforms issue - Sony trumps Nintendo. Any Wii game could be ported to the PS3, but the opposite cannot happen. Yes there is a difference in controls but Sony is a peripheral (and maybe lawsuit away ) from giving you almost all Nintendo can sans their first parties. The folks in the console forum are constantly having arguments about which Capcom (or whatever) game will show up exclusively on the 360 or PS3, or go multiplatform. Nintendo is not part of these discussions. For the case of Japan, it's not hard to imagine every multiplat there going to the PS3. The Wii will have a multitude of exclusive games because Japanese developers have to develop for either it exclusively or the PS3 exclusively. The market has no choice to be segregated, but it goes back to my main point - price. Once the price of the Wii and PS3 go down, IMO the Japanese market will enjoy both since the purchases will cover all gaming desires. Am I going to be correct? Not sure, but my mother says I'm smart and handsome.

 

I didnt mean you said that, I probably expressed myself wrong.

I wonder. From a gamer pov I tend to agree, but I think 99% of casual gamers, who make up the most part of the market, will buy only 1 console so if Wii or ps3 becomes the main platform I think most games will be suited towards that platform.

I agree with that but that brings us back to the discussion about Wii becoming the main platform in Japan. If that would happen, would there really be that much games tailored to the ps3?

That will depend a bit on sales I think. If the ps3 turns into the GC of this gen and the wii for whatever reason turns into the ps2 (not saying that it will happen) I dont think there will be much greatness for ps3 as far as Japanese developed titels go. Though the ps3 will always have the advantage of being able to play x360 games as they are ''easy'' to port while wii will need more specific software.

My mother says I was a handsome baby, unfurtonatly it didnt last untill my teens

 

tongue_of_colicab,

All of your assessments are reasonable, and I don't necessarily disagree with them. The only place where we truly differ is that I am sure that even as the PS3 takes second place it will not be a gap that Sony considers failure. In other words, the PS3 will not be this generation's GC. Since GC and PS2 were comparable they crossed each other, while the PS3 and Wii are different enough to (practically) have different markets. Japanese gamers will be satisfied as well as shareholders for both companies < burp!>

 

I wouldn't be so optimistic, especially with regard to Japanese customer habits. From what I've seen explained by Japanese members of various forums, the market for used titles and especially used consoles is much more developed (and much fairer to the customer) than in EU/US. So when a big title is released for a not-so popular console, it makes a large surge in sales for both HW and SW, followed by a dive in the following weeks as people buy the console for the game, finish it, then sell the whole stuff back for somebody else to buy (and sell it later). That's also why most sales are even more frontloaded in JP.

FF13 will definitely be a system-seller in Japan, but its effect may not last, and may not translate into a direct increase of the "active" userbase. That's what happened with a variety of big profile Cube titles, as well as with Blue Dragon on the 360. On GAF, there's a Japanese member that makes weekly reports on the retail situation in Japan (what's available or not, what are the hot items...), and he mentioned seeing loads of used Blue Dragon Core Packs.