They'll most likely get fed up with Sony & will just move on to Nintendo & PC.
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Nintendo Switch passes the sales of PS4 in Japan
- Thread starter Deleted member 10737
- Start date
They'll most likely get fed up with Sony & will just move on to Nintendo & PC.
I'd argue that is also part of the problem. It's like some of these companies can only do one or the other and not work on both. Now in this generation it has caught up to the bigger companies and plenty of their mainstream titles in Japan have been seeing decline there compared to the PS3/PSP, Wii/DS era. And Sony continues to lose more ground in Japan and they don't seem to care one iota. MS is non-existent in Japan. Which leaves only one single console manufacturer that still continues to try. And people wonder why there's so much decline in Japan.
The audiences in Japan are moving away because companies are moving away from them. What Japan gets is a lot of mediocre cheaply made games that are often outperformed on mobile in quality, and then you have endless sequels that don't change enough or have become bland over time causing sequel fatigue outside of Nintendo first party games.
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I hope so. I'm sick & tired of 3rd party publishers like Capcom playing favorites with Microsoft & Sony while always being very biased against Nintendo when it comes to bigger 3rd party titles. Many people are sick of that shit.
I don't think they are. They would prefer to have more consoles to sell to, but some games are just not feasible on Switch
Any game on both PS/MS would see a Switch port of it is viable.
^This
Although, that being said, some of them often ignore the Switch when it comes to games that are absolutely feasible or charge a higher price than on other systems, even if it's a digital only title, such as Capcom with Resident Evil and Devil May Cry
Some games are not feasable on Switch because they've been moneyhatted to make it not feasable on Switch.
Given a newer model Switch upgrade with its own bump in specs, companies will still find excuses to not port over a game, even as SuperFakerBros said, absolutely feasable, either by pricing the games higher on Nintendo's platform, or diviying up a rerelease bundles.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out with next gen machines. If Switch 2 is closer to bridging the gap (or at least not lacking in some fundamental way) it could work out this way. Switch is the closest handhelds have been in relative power to the current gen machines so things may indeed be heading in that direction.
Can we stop pretending that the Switch isn't doing well worldwide when its keeping up with the PS4 at the same point in its life? It's not just doing well in Japan
Then Japanese 3rd party publishers can continue being fools by only supporting PS4/PS5 & wonder why most of their titles are flopping there. All because of playing favorites to Sony.
Posters like D.Lo, Nanashrew & Heartskips made excellent points about it earlier:
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Lol, people are still scarred by Nintendo not succeeding before. Breaking out the doomed memes in 2019 :P
Sony went all in for the western market, they got careless in Japan as return, that's why support for Nintendo increased (and keep going) a lot there. It's a completely different situation from PS1-era, they were heavily focused in the japanese market. This explains why they have such strong relationship with big AAA western publishers and they are somewhat still hesitant to support Nintendo.
Still doesnt have the install base of PS4. And if you're making multiplats like Capcom its a no-brainer to go PS4/Xbox/PC.
It's at a pretty high install base already, you don't need a near 100 million install base to justify making games for it
As for the second point, when possible to make the game for the Switch, I don't think see why you couldn't include it in
Every time this argument is made, it can be immediately destroyed by using it against any new console. PS4/Xbox STILL to this day don't have the install base of PS360, why are people making games for them?
And this thread is about Japan. There have been games released on PS4 which are from series who have the majority of their sales in Japan. Eg Dragon Quest.
JP support is definitely growing bit by but for Switch. We just has Disaster Report 4 Plus announced and that's by far the biggest Irem-related game ever on a Nintendo system. Also it's the first entry on a non-Nintendo system IIRC.
Same with God Eater 3 which marks the series' non-Sony console (aside from PC) debut with the game's release on Switch.
Switch already has a lot of historical firsts when it comes to franchise and even developer appearances on a Nintendo system.
Another example is the release of Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition marks the first true DW entry on a Nintendo system, if DW8 Empires counts as more of a spin-off (it's also on Switch anyway). We also got Sword Art Online games showing up for the first time, and we even got a console-exclusive remaster of the original Katamari Damacy (still blown away by this).
I do hope we see more BIGGER games from Japan land on Switch, and more importantly some more actual exclusives. Octopath Traveler, Daemon X Machina, and Yokai Watch 4 are great starts but there NEEDS to be more.
Same with God Eater 3 which marks the series' non-Sony console (aside from PC) debut with the game's release on Switch.
Switch already has a lot of historical firsts when it comes to franchise and even developer appearances on a Nintendo system.
Another example is the release of Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Definitive Edition marks the first true DW entry on a Nintendo system, if DW8 Empires counts as more of a spin-off (it's also on Switch anyway). We also got Sword Art Online games showing up for the first time, and we even got a console-exclusive remaster of the original Katamari Damacy (still blown away by this).
I do hope we see more BIGGER games from Japan land on Switch, and more importantly some more actual exclusives. Octopath Traveler, Daemon X Machina, and Yokai Watch 4 are great starts but there NEEDS to be more.
At what point does an install base become good enough to start supporting a console in earnest? Because it's at like 34 million shipped as of the last report.
That should be more than big enough to throw more games at it, no?
If not, than what's the magic number? Will it be enough when it passes Xbox One later this year?
things will continue to get worse in japan. what sony is doing is really going all-in on what western developers want in terms of revenue, more than just what western developers offer in terms of genres. western developers can make something like fortnite. western developers will invest in live services. the mid-tier game coming out of japan is dead to sony because the model doesn't earn them revenue (and lots of it) after launch.
in japan and asia, sony can at least offer other packages though: system bundles, deals with their film, anime, and music divisions, etc. but if history has shown us anything, it's that the west will get what it wants. if it's a waste of time for sony japan to work on those deals when they could spend time making sure those western games also do well in japan, then those deals will die too.
i would have expected certain japanese developers to see the death of the vita as a major warning sign of things to come. and now it's too late.
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Do you know if some of them were aware of this before the recent developments with Sony?
Sony obviously don't care about AA/niche games from Japan anymore and would prefer a few big japanese games as exclusive as unique selling points against Xbox, while they want Japan consumers to move their tastes to western gaming.
I'm also curious about any word on how JP devs are reacting to the censorship rules which is extremely obviously having an impact, but any insight would be VERY interesting. Compile Heart we know is mashing that "port-to-Switch" button, even going as far as having Idea Factory localize Mary Skelter 2 exclusively on Switch, a VERY unheard of idea period. D3 bizarrely is choosing to make the previously Switch-exclusive Omega Labyrinth Life also available on PS4 in a heavily censored release that even changes the name to Labyrinth Life.
Never claimed the Switch wasnt selling well.
Never said you need 100 million sales to get software support.
Western sales matter more though imo.
Bolded is a weak rebuttal.
DQ and MH went with Sony btw.
Again. West and WW #s.
I cant answer these questions since I dont work for a 3rd party publisher. Hardware issue? Install base? Idk...
What I do know is that I continuously see Switch owners on this forum complaining about Japanese publishers porting games to Nintendo's platform but not those games. And its usually from IP that are clearly attempting to expand beyond Japan.
I'm not going to completely downplay Japanese sales because they do matter but I think #s in the West matter more to certain publishers due to their actions in the market.
all i would hear is how the switch was basically a niche system in japan because its userbase was relatively small. granted, this mindset also led to the slow adoption of ps4 after ps3, but when you hear the same thing in late 2018, you have to wonder if people might be trying to cover their asses for missing such an obvious path forward.
i really don't. but considering it affects things like certain dlc and possibly merchandise too, i doubt they're happy about it.
Well it's a good thing the Switch's Western sales are strong too. Again, what does them expanding beyond Japan have to do with not bringing their games over to the Switch? This isn't the Vita or even the 3DS we're talking about here. You can expand beyond Japan...and still support the Switch, which is doing well everywhere. It's actually doing better in the West than in Japan. You're argument about them wanting to expand beyond Japan would have merit if the Switch was only strong in Japan
Welp. Never bet on japanese third parties. Just gotta hope for the best for japanese AA gaming, but my hopes keep going down everyday.
Weird since Switch blasted off right out of the gate, even with the harsh shortages.
No worries, thanks for answering anyways! :)
I mean, not really...The PS4 sales will be close enough to those of the PS3, which, in hindisght, did complicate the task of Japanese developers transitionning to the previous generation, from the PS2 glorious days. Sony could have sold a bit more, but not that much more that it would have warranted the efforts, time and money it would have taken them. The Japanese market is no longer viable for a traditional home console, and it so happens that Nintendo have always been extremely competent at capturing the handheld market.
*looks at the nationwide shortages and the publicity internationally*
"We need to keep on with our projects, the Switch is still too small a market, we'll get to it in a few years"
*Switch hits half of PS4's LTD in Japan in a year and bypasses the Wii U worldwide*
"It's...it's still too small. Give them some ports."
*Switch outsells PS4 in Japan, surpasses N64 worldwide in half the time*
*looks at the nationwide shortages and the publicity internationally*
"We need to keep on with our projects, the Switch is still too small a market, we'll get to it in a few years"
*Switch hits half of PS4's LTD in Japan in a year and bypasses the Wii U worldwide*
"It's...it's still too small. Give them some ports."
*Switch outsells PS4 in Japan, surpasses N64 worldwide in half the time*
Yyyyyyyyyep.
And yet, capcom can only be bothered to port the original dmc to switch rather than the whole trilogy.
That's honestly pretty insulting to Nintendo. It has this crazy selling product and third parties are still "testing" it.
At this rate, it's gonna surpass the Xbox one sells numbers by next this time next year.
That's honestly pretty insulting to Nintendo. It has this crazy selling product and third parties are still "testing" it.
At this rate, it's gonna surpass the Xbox one sells numbers by next this time next year.
Nah, I don't think so. PS3 and PS4's underperforming can be linked to Sony's shift of region focus as they became more westernized after PS3, as well most big japanese companies as they followed this shift. They weren't able, at the time, to keep up power-wise versus the big western devs and their home console efforts felt lackluster in that aspect in comparison.
In contrast, games tradionally appealing to the japanese audience migrated to portables as they retained their japanese focus. Japan's biggest franchises were moved to portables as home consoles were no longer a viable platform for the local gaming tastes. You can see DS, 3DS, PSP and Vita have all a very japanese appealing library, in contrast to home consoles from Sony and Microsoft which clearly focus on the west.
Nowadays, we can see a ressurgence from big japanese companies on home consoles and many of it's best efforts from this generation are from Japan, both technically and gameplay wise. We're able to watch the rise from once long hibernating IP, such as Shenmue, Ace Combat, Kingdom Hearts and Devil May Cry.
Anyway, despite all of this, Sony's focus is clearly the west and they advertise the PS4 with this audience in mind because they are playing the hardware power game and western devs are way more supportive to their strategy than Japan.
Nintendo, on the other hand, choose the gameplay and accessibility strategy, more appealing to Japan's development culture.
I have a hard time feeling sad for Japanese developers when the current state of the market is largely their own fault. We got yet another example of poor decision-making a few weeks ago;
What is Sakura Taisen? A SRPG series with waifus. What is the biggest SRPG series with waifus on the market? Fire Emblem. You'd think Sega would want to put the new Sakura Taisen on Switch to take advantage of the Fire Emblem audience, right? Nope! Let's make it PS4 exclusive, of course. Makes perfect sense.
Then you have studios like Falcom, who lack the means to max out the power of the PS3, let alone the PS4... transitioning all of their successful Vita series to PS4 as a lead platform.
There's now a system that solves the portable-home console dilemma between Japan and the West. Instead of leveraging this opportunity, Japanese developers are still dragging their feet. Where are the mid-tier Japan-focused IP initiatives (which don't even need to be exclusive)? Why are there barely any attempts to transition the PSP/Vita audience to Switch (again, there's no need for these to be exclusive)? They only have themselves to blame.
The issue is that Switch is somehow "on its own", while the other 3 (PS4, xbox and PC) are close enough to make porting between them "easy and quick".
And their market wouldn't accept switch as a baseline for a game (see the "OMG switch is holding the game back" stupid comment we sometimes read on this forum).
3rd party doesn't always choose for the console that has the most succes. While the wii was selling massively, 3rd party didn't created also less and no aaa games for it. While the ps4 for a long time didn't sell well. Still it gets all the support and AAA games for it.
I feel like 3rd party just wants to create games for the most strongly console. Also when looking at switch, 3rd party support still isn't on par with xbox and PS, this while de switch is doing extremely well.
I feel like 3rd party just wants to create games for the most strongly console. Also when looking at switch, 3rd party support still isn't on par with xbox and PS, this while de switch is doing extremely well.
OP
OP
I guess this means PS4 is doomer than Nintendo in Japan?
Right. If only Atlus remembered it existed and would remind us of such by showing us the game once a year. :P