Sony Euro boss: Japanese Vita sales not indicative of international reception [Joysti

[DP ServBot]

Sony Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan isn't worried about the success of PlayStation Vita the US or Europe, despite quickly dwindling sales in Japan, reports MCV. Judging the potential international success of any product based on Japanese reception is difficult, said Ryan. Specifically in regards to PlayStation hardware, Ryan believes it is "dangerous to the point of impossible to take any experience from the Japanese market and try and extrapolate it, and propose upon what will happen in Europe or North America."

The various international markets are simply too different, said Ryan, and they are "diverging to a greater extent than they were different in the past - if that's even possible." Ryan makes a good point, but it's worth noting that Japan has long been one of the most enthusiastic markets for the PSP, the Vita's predecessor. It will be interesting to see the reaction in Europe and North America, where the reception of Sony's handhelds has been somewhat cooler.

For now, Ryan and Sony are chiefly concerned with preparing for the Vita's European launch on February 22. The Vita will release in North America on the same day.Sony Euro boss: Japanese Vita sales not indicative of international reception originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[ProgrammingAce]

Strangely, i agree with one of the senior execs at Sony... feels dirty.

Japanese sales have always been a poor predictor for other markets. Unfortunately for Sony, it's historically been in the other direction. Things that sell incredibly well in Japan tend not to do as well in the west. In this case, I think the Vita was designed by Japanese engineers to appeal to Japanese consumers, and it hasn't done that so far.

Generally, electronics that are designed to appeal to the japanese tend to do poorly in the west. So we'll see how it goes. I can say that I was very interested in buying a Vita at one point, but lost interest when i found out about some of the stupider decisions they made in the design.

[Bojay1997]

Strangely, i agree with one of the senior execs at Sony... feels dirty.

Japanese sales have always been a poor predictor for other markets. Unfortunately for Sony, it's historically been in the other direction. Things that sell incredibly well in Japan tend not to do as well in the west. In this case, I think the Vita was designed by Japanese engineers to appeal to Japanese consumers, and it hasn't done that so far.

Generally, electronics that are designed to appeal to the japanese tend to do poorly in the west. So we'll see how it goes. I can say that I was very interested in buying a Vita at one point, but lost interest when i found out about some of the stupider decisions they made in the design.

I don't know, I don't think the Vita is any more tailored to Japanese tastes than the original PSP was. I don't think there are really particular designs that appeal to certain cultures more than others as the iPad and iPhone have shown with global success. I know that was always the argument with the Xbox and 360, but I think not understanding the market and not having developers on board with the top franchises really hurt those systems rather than their specific designs. I think the Vita's price (including the games and mandatory memory card), the generally poor global economy and frankly the widespread availability of low cost alternatives to handhelds in the form of iPad/iPod games, smartphone games, etc...are what have impacted sales more than anything. Time will tell, but I think Sony is in for a rude awakening in the US and Europe given the pricing right now.

[kupomogli]

At first you'd think it'd be a smart move for Sony to launch in Japan first, but it's like Sony is pulling a Sega Saturn(not quite as bad, but sort of. Saturn was more like. Surprise!!!!) Almost every title in the Japanese launch line up is either developed by a western developer, which rarely ever sells well in Japan, or aimed towards the western audience(It's Ridge Racer. Riiidge Raaaccer!!)

Releasing Vita in Japan against such a strong Nintendo line up and very few games that the Japanese are interested in of course it's not going to sell well. This in turn is going to hurt the sales in other countries. You'd assume poor sales in one area would be poor sales in another so it will put you off in buying it.

Either Sony should have released the Vita in the west first, which is where the line up was aimed for. Or they should have held off and released the Vita in all major regions at once. If they released it in all regions, this would have made it so the Japanese didn't think they were being snubbed after supporting the PSP well, this would have given more time for other games to be closer to development, so more Japanese themed titles would be released in the near future, and the weak sales in Japan wouldn't have mattered to western gamers because they'd see the higher sales in all other regions.

[Bojay1997]

At first you'd think it'd be a smart move for Sony to launch in Japan first, but it's like Sony is pulling a Sega Saturn(not quite as bad, but sort of. Saturn was more like. Surprise!!!!) Almost every title in the Japanese launch line up is either developed by a western developer, which rarely ever sells well in Japan, or aimed towards the western audience(It's Ridge Racer. Riiidge Raaaccer!!)

Releasing Vita in Japan against such a strong Nintendo line up and very few games that the Japanese are interested in of course it's not going to sell well. This in turn is going to hurt the sales in other countries. You'd assume poor sales in one area would be poor sales in another so it will put you off in buying it.

Either Sony should have released the Vita in the west first, which is where the line up was aimed for. Or they should have held off and released the Vita in all major regions at once. If they released it in all regions, this would have made it so the Japanese didn't think they were being snubbed after supporting the PSP well, this would have given more time for other games to be closer to development, so more Japanese themed titles would be released in the near future, and the weak sales in Japan wouldn't have mattered to western gamers because they'd see the higher sales in all other regions.

I'm sorry, but which titles are you referring to as "western" titles? Of the Japanese launch titles, almost all of them are from Japanese developers and some are part of massively successful Japanese series such as Ninja Gaiden, Dynasty Warriors, Shinobido, Everybody Loves Golf, Blazblue, Katamari, Ridge Racer, etc...In fact, the only "western" style game in the Japanese launch line-up seemed to be Uncharted. The launch titles were all pretty Japanese centric IMHO and while I love the niche aspect of the games and consider it a plus, I think it might turn off western buyers looking for something better known or more familiar, especially since with the exception of some Ubisoft titles already available on other platforms, the US launch stuff is pretty similar to the Japanese launch titles. Is your whole argument really just another way of saying that they needed Monster Hunter as a launch title which is what has really propelled 3DS sales in Japan along with the price cut?

[kupomogli]

My mistake. A lot of websites were listing all the Sony games under the Japanese launch line up. Still there's more than just Uncharted that launched in Japan. F1, Uncharted, Little Deviants, Michael Jackson, Dungeon Hunter Alliance, and Asphalt are the Japanese launch titles. Out of 18 titles, that's still one third.

Regardless. It doesn't help that Sony released the Vita the month that the three biggest titles hit the 3DS with a weak Japanese launch.

Ninja Gaiden

This wasn't a launch title.

[moggles]

At first you'd think it'd be a smart move for Sony to launch in Japan first, but it's like Sony is pulling a Sega Saturn(not quite as bad, but sort of. Saturn was more like. Surprise!!!!) Almost every title in the Japanese launch line up is either developed by a western developer, which rarely ever sells well in Japan, or aimed towards the western audience(It's Ridge Racer. Riiidge Raaaccer!!)

Releasing Vita in Japan against such a strong Nintendo line up and very few games that the Japanese are interested in of course it's not going to sell well. This in turn is going to hurt the sales in other countries. You'd assume poor sales in one area would be poor sales in another so it will put you off in buying it.

Either Sony should have released the Vita in the west first, which is where the line up was aimed for. Or they should have held off and released the Vita in all major regions at once. If they released it in all regions, this would have made it so the Japanese didn't think they were being snubbed after supporting the PSP well, this would have given more time for other games to be closer to development, so more Japanese themed titles would be released in the near future, and the weak sales in Japan wouldn't have mattered to western gamers because they'd see the higher sales in all other regions.

You're completely right, the title line-up has no appeal for the Japanese market. Games like Uncharted and Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 are not likely to do well in Japan, they're clearly catered more towards the US.

It doesn't offer enough to make people want to upgrade from their PSPs - at least that is the case at the moment.

[Leo_A]

Most of the lineup of games are entries in series or genres that have been very popular in Japan. Only Uncharted and a couple of others will perhaps be underperformers in Japan.

[Graham Mitchell]

A year or two ago I would have said you were crazy, but now I'm just as sure that you're correct. Heck, even Sony is sort of aware of that possibility with its Xperia phones. I think the one niche market that may still embrace handheld dedicated gaming systems will be children and pre-teens, many of whom actually have smartphones and iPads now, but whose parents might not want them using a smartphone for gaming due to the potential airtime and data costs and the high cost of replacing the devices if they are lost or damaged. I do have to say that I am both saddened and oddly intrigued by the possibility that this might be the last generation of dedicated gaming handhelds.

I hope it's not true, but it could be. The only thing that's a big barrier to this right now is that if people want to buy this gaming phone, they're gonna have to go with a cell carrier that supports it. Many people will have to wait for their contract to be up, or break contract. That's not a cheap prospect.



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[skaar]

This thread is top grade stuff.