New PS3 low in Japan – How next-gen is failing in home of gaming
Another week goes by, and Sony sees the PS3, supposedly its flagship console, dropping even lower in terms of sales in Japan. While the Xbox 360 is doing surprisingly well in the country, both true next-gen consoles are massively behind lesser machines such as the Wii, the DS, and the PSP. So why is the spiritual home of gaming seemingly rejecting next-gen gaming?
The latest weekly sales figures to come out of Japan, those for the week ending Oct. 26, show that the PSP is massively out in front, selling over 60,000 units in the space of a week. The Wii is still sitting pretty on 24,000, while the DS has dropped back a little (no doubt due to the imminent release of the DSi), but still managed sales of 22,000.
Then, there is a massive drop to the Xbox 360 on 7,844, with the PS2 just behind on 6,962. The Playstation 3, supposedly the most powerful gaming console ever made, and a console developed and manufactured by a home-grown Japanese company, only managed to sell 3,931 units – a new low for the machine.
PSP – 60,467
Wii – 24,292
DS – 22,965
Xbox 360 – 7,844
PS2 – 6,962
PS3 – 3,931
Xbox 360 owners will rightly call this a victory, and the seven weeks in a row that the Microsoft console has beaten out the PS3 is impressive to say the least. It’s also proof that the Xbox seems to have turned a corner in Japan, with a combination of new games and a lower price point making the Xbox a more worthy purchase for gamers.
But, and it’s a big but, the figures also point to a much bigger picture, and that one isn’t good for any of us. It seems Japanese gamers are wholly rejecting next-gen gaming, deciding instead to play games that aren’t at the cutting edge on their PSP, DS, or Wii. Hell, even the definitive last-gen console, the PS2, is still finding an audience.
Portable gaming has always been strong in Japan so it’s not as though the success of the DS or PSP is a surprise. But the difference in sales between the hand-helds and the home consoles is a surprise to me.
I’d guess most of you reading share my love for the cutting edge, and while never forgetting or ignoring gaming heritage, crave playing the latest and greatest games. That means buying the current generation consoles, something which just isn’t happening in huge numbers in Japan.
Maybe the trend of increasingly attractive graphics is coming to an end, with gamers rejecting small graphical improvements generation after generation in favor of new control methods (the Wii), or gaming on the go (the PSP and DS)? If this is happening now in Japan then how long until it spreads to other territories?
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16 Responses to “New PS3 low in Japan – How next-gen is failing in home of gaming”
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November 1st, 2008
Dang, I should be hired to write for blorge!
I said this more than 3 weeks ago!
http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/10/10/xbox-360-still-beating-ps3-in-japan-and-sony-is-happy-about-it/
This is already happening other places, with the PSP and DS not looking as good in most cases, compared to the home consoles.
The Wii is winning over the PS3 and 360 almost all over the world, in many palces, the DS is selling better than the PSP, as well, AND is top dog over all.
Gamers are speaking. They do not want the newest flashy graphics, they want to be able to tell what they are looking at, with the graphics, and they want games that are fun and unique.
November 1st, 2008
Hey, something wrong with the log in? My first comment didn’t get posted, it seems (watch both appear now).
Blorge should hire me to write. I said this more than 3 weeks ago, here:
http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/10/10/xbox-360-still-beating-ps3-in-japan-and-sony-is-happy-about-it/
Gamers don’t care about perfectly realistic graphics. Thwy obviously want fun, unique games. This is not a trend in Japan only. Look at the NPD for another example of a major market looking more toward the less powerful systems.
Heck, look at last gen, when the PS2 won against the superior power of the GC and Xbox. Power means nothing.
November 1st, 2008
Maybe Japanese gamers are getting bored of Folding @ Home? haha i kid, i kid.
November 2nd, 2008
Dave Parrack . . . never underestimate the weirdness of Japanese people.
the US isn’t buying those crap toys up like the Japanese . . .
They do weird stuff in Japan . . . Weird stuff . . . you ever seen one of their game shows?
So Japan is a bad example of nex gen gamers.
November 2nd, 2008
Matt I completely disagree with you.
Price price price.
PS2 sold better because it was cheaper. If the Xbox 360 were $50 . . I’ll bet you every Japanese person in the world would own one.
So the idea that the world doesn’t want realistic graphics is stupid . . . The world wants cheap realistic graphics. . . . Next gen all the way . . . We don’t want ferrari’s with stupid BD drives in them when we purchase a Games console.
That’s why all you PS3 fags should be pooping your pants . . cause your flagship is staying $399 for another year!
Meanwhile . . . I think I’ll buy my 3rd Xbox for the 3rd bedroom/TV room . . . My kids will be happy . . .
I’m glad I can get them for less than $200 now . . it would sure suck to have to pay $400 just for a games console that doesn’t stream Netflix HD.
November 2nd, 2008
Fuck me jsimons_2000, you just destroyed my faith in mankind…
So, DAVE
‘Xbox 360 owners will rightly call this a victory’ – Why is this a victory? MS planning on giving windfalls back to the consumer for more sales? It doesn’t affect my already purchased 360 one tiny bit and I’m sure as hell they’re not going to drop the price of games any time soon. Oh darn, you’re talking E-penis! Well I suppose so…
@ Matt
I don’t really agree. I could say ‘casual gamers have spoken…..’ and that is probably ‘more’ true. I own all 3 machines and whilst I don’t think of myself as a gfx whore, there is something to be said about playing games that don’t have physics, look like cartoons, and are so damn jagged. If you have a pc try installing something from early 2k. It really destroys any immersion.
Oh jsimons, wtf? PS3fags… How long did it take you to think that up? And my god you’re old enough to have kids and talk like that?
Oh nevermind, I get it. You’re an xbot or an idiot.
Anywhoos, well done PSP!
November 2nd, 2008
@jsimons_2000
Pirce is a factor, of course, and a big one, but its not the only factor in the least.
At any rate, the high power of the PS3 is exactly why its so expensive.
I think you would agree that if it had Xbox/GC level graphics (a smaller upgrade, but an upgrade from the PS2) and cost $100, people would be eatting it up.
So you would then agree with what I said that gamers don’t care about perfectly realistic graphics.
@SW
Casual gamers are the ones that choose the winners of the console war every generation. Nintendo just finally turned to them, and in a big coincidence, Sony turned away from them at the same time, leaving Nintendo to have them, alone.
Of course, recently, I pointed out a lot of must-haves for hardcore gamers for the Wii, as well, just as the PS and PS2 had them, but just like the PS and PS2, a lot of buyers are casual. That’s because, like it or not, hardcore is a minority.
Also, the game you are talking about is Big Rigs.
And while there is something to be said for great physics and graphics, too often, with all the bells and whistles, developers skip out on what is really good.
After all, what good does amazing graphics do if you lack everything else that makes it a game. There is a reason people talk about gaming from generations ago, and it isn’t about the graphics. Only 2 generations ago, every game looked like crap.
That doesn’t stop 2 games from 2 generations ago from being 2 of the top 3 games on the current poll, and the one that stops them from being 1 and 2 is a proof that people don’t really remember old games.
November 2nd, 2008
@Matt – they DO care about “perfectly realistic graphics” but the 5 extra polygons the PS3 Supposedly produces is not enough to warrant a $200 GREATER expenditure from something that apparently has all the same functionality. . . save for an old and busted blu-ray drive with a format no one wants.
When the Xbox 360 get’s down to $129 . . it will sell much better than the PS2 is selling. Why? Because people want better graphics.
When the PS3 gets down to $129, well . . I’m not able to see that many decades into the future . . . So I don’t know.
Don’t get me wrong Matt . . . I think you’re right at some levels. Xcom is the best game ever, and it has crappy graphics. Mario Kart for the NES2 was a great game with crappy graphics. Crackdown was a great game with cartoony graphics.
But COD4 . . . that game would be half as good (if that), if it didn’t have the graphics it had. Just. Do people want these games? Hell yes. Can everyone afford them at even $200? Hell no. Do people buy multiple copies of the same system once it gets down to $129? Hell yes.
So it’s all about Price. MS understood this after they learned their lesson with the XBOX 1. included HDD = Cost reduction Ceiling . . . so they unmarried the console from the HDD . . . thus “Arcade.” Sony however must not have picked up on this . . or thought they would be selling 15 mln BD drives a year by now . . . Either way their stupid. Their Cell processor is a POS, and I’ve heard rumor their quitting PS after this gen. Do I believe that? No . . . but it’s not a good rumor to be going around about the once king of the hill.
Oh . . and people remember old games. I’d pick up Xcom and play it any day of the week if I could find a computer to run it on.
November 2nd, 2008
I think the speed of the blu ray disk has really hindered sony in steaming ahead and also the fact that there are so many people downloading movies from the internet it’s hard to justify paying so much extra for a blu ray movie.
I do believe the cell will eventually come shine through in the end but with a new generation in the next 4 years it may be too late
November 2nd, 2008
Lol Microsoft are so funny, First they rip Sony and Ninetendo off, then they rip Apple off with the “i’m a PC advert” and just to add insult to Injury : It was created on a mac!
November 2nd, 2008
@Matt
But that’s my point man. Casuals are going to drive this industry now and we’re going to suffer because of it.
All I am hoping here is that the sales generated from PS3 & 360 titles is enough to keep companies interested is taking the time and money to keep creating them, rather than pushing out a ‘party’ game with waggle controls that give you the ‘illusion’ you’re actually doing something to try to sell a few 100k (sounds like wii music!).
Nintendo annoy me these days, from saying we need less buttons to not releasing a HDD for the Wii and TELLING us, we do NOT need more storage! I suppose thats why my wii is in someone elses house at the moment
Give me a reason to get it back nintendo! 
As for the old games thing, I think that Super Metroid and Flashback (you may need to look that up) are the best best platform games of all time, both WAY older than 2000. And IMO the best game on that entire poll is Deus Ex (the first one only), created in 2000 but it shows its age very badly with poor AI that really hurt it these days. But even so, if you’ve never played it I recomend it. Awesome story.
November 2nd, 2008
you guys dont know whats going on, the japanese are waiting for the Little Big Planet bundle. Its fact that PS3 is expensive, saving 60 dollars on a game is the same as getting a pricecut. This week wouldve exploded in PS3 sales, but since LBP was delayed, we see another week of crappy sales. (Worse than last week)
November 3rd, 2008
At TGS the 80gig Ps3 was revealed to launch in Japan on October 30th,Clearly the Japanese were waiting on to purchase an upgraded model.This is not a xbox victory,it’s just a lucky gap period.I think selling a few thousand PS3 systems in this period, even while some people knew an upgraded model was coming is actually a compliment to Sony.
November 3rd, 2008
@jsimons_2000
You’re an idiot sir. Don’t lie. The real reason you are buying your third crapbox is because the other two blew up on you. End the viscous cycle of wasting your money on an interferer console, and spend the few extra bucks to get a PS3.
November 4th, 2008
The logic is simple here. Sony did not exert that much effort in Japan, releasing games that are attuned to Japanese gamers, coz they are busy trying to conquer the world, thinking that they will still be winners to Japanese gamers no matter what! While, MS on the other hand is trying hard to please the Japanese market, churning out games especially from Square-Enix, whom are BTW, are two separate entities during the era of SNES and are somehow responsible for creating some of the best Japanese RPGs at that time. Some parts of Asia seem to follow the lead of Japan in terms of games that is why pleasing the Japgamers would literally translate to a good image it would mean a lot of people would buy the console. This is why pleasing the Japanese is a crucial market in asia.
Well, except probably in Korea where they are more people would play online games and not fond of RPG games. But MS does not go lazy there, since they started their campaign in winning over korean gamers, who prefers PC than consoles.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/11/123_33758.html.
Marketing-wise, MS are smarter than you think!
November 4th, 2008
1. NA is the “home of gaming” you raging fanboy…. it was CREATED here, not in japan. please go learn.
2. next gen is not failing, noob…only the ps3…