I can’t decided if the execs at PlayStation will care anymore, but it seems like their hard-line censorship has finally caught up with them.
A market researcher has stated that it is “definitive” PlayStation will fall in Japan, due to censorship and not realizing the region’s potential.
The Japanese branch of GamesIndustry.biz (Translation: DeepL, adjusted) reports in their article “[Monthly Review] Examining Sony’s ‘We care about the Japanese market’.” The writer is analyst Hideki Yasuda of the Ace Research Institute, and states that the prior article showed “that there are a certain number of Japanese gamers who are quietly angry with Sony (SIE).”
The prior article entitled “PS5’s initial response is about the same as WonderSwan. Sony has given up on the Japanese market” discusses the next gen console’s initial sales. We previously reported how in the first week of sales estimates in Japan, the PlayStation 5 sold over 118,000 units; while Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S sold over 21,500 units.
That article caused a response from Sony headquarters, stating they value the Japanese market. Similar occurred after a Bloomberg report claimed that PlayStation employees and developers were losing faith in Japan as a market.
Anonymous sources claimed SIE were frustrated the Japanese marketing team failing to sell more PlayStation 4 units. This resulted in the Japanese office being (in Bloomberg’s words) “sidelined” when it came to planning the promotion of the PlayStation 5.
A Sony spokesperson denied the reports and stated the “home market remains of utmost importance.” SIE CEO Jim Ryan also dismissed the claims as “inaccurate” and the region “remains incredibly important to us.”
