racketboy.com

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-09-playstation-4-wont-launch-in-japan-until-february-2014

This was totally unexpected.

Makes sense. The bigger market for home consoles is in the west now. Plus it seems that most of the games ready for launch are Western multi platform games that won't be big sellers in Japan anyway.

ZenErik wrote:Makes sense. The bigger market for home consoles is in the west now. Plus it seems that most of the games ready for launch are Western multi platform games that won't be big sellers in Japan anyway.

I know it makes sense but it's unexpected from a company pride point of view.

ZeroAX wrote:
I know it makes sense but it's unexpected from a company pride point of view.

I think that the pride has long gone. Japan has been in a crisis in game development as they try to grasp how to achieve. A lot of the companies are shifting focus towards the western market and emulate their practices. Is this a good approach? Not necessarily, but that shift has been in effect for quite some time.

BogusMeatFactory wrote: and emulate their practices.

Actually I think that is the prime reason they will fail. They were very late to the party this gen, and they should really have focused on interface improvement since last gen, but I don't think their gameplay style is what made them lose importance in the world.

I watched the conference they put on last night (for me) and I liked a lot of what they were showing ... I'm annoyed most of it will never come out here. But something I felt was funny was all these titles that american press and gamers put so much emphasis on, you know, Batman, Battlefield, GTA, etc they form entire conferences around them here to get people pumped and people are standing in line and shit to get them as fast as they can ... Sony only shows them in a sizzle reel. And they dedicate stage time for a game where girls dressed as maids dance around ... that is hilarious.

Akiba's Strip 2 looks lecherously amazing.

Deep Down looks incredible.

I never understood this different launch dates. Why couldn't they launch them together?

I can see why it would be released in different times for stuff like hitting the shopping spree of Christmas in the USA , while in other parts of the world the launch will be fitting better in a different date. What I do not get why it takes a full year to release a console else where. This used to happen in the 90's I think with the PSX and Dreamcast I think.

Any way , in this case, 3 months late shouldn't be a huge issue any way. The good games won't be rolling until at least a year away.

The theory I'm hearing for the PS4's delayed Japanese launch is that the launch lineup is mostly Western games, not much that would appeal to their market.

BoringSupreez wrote:The theory I'm hearing for the PS4's delayed Japanese launch is that the launch lineup is mostly Western games, not much that would appeal to their market.

I think thats basically what they acknowledged themselves.

It used to happen here because of money and virtually no interest. I think the manufacturers felt that worldwide audiences wouldn't wait for games to show up (Wouldn't buy the system), so wait for a year and launch with the best games released so far.

It's almost assuredly being released in Japan later because the Japanese games aren't ready and shooters don't sell in Japan. Like I was saying earlier, the cultural difference is pretty evident considering how they showcased various games.

I would imagine, it wouldn't be uncommon to find a Killzone fan in Japan is about as common as an Atlier fan is in the US.