SONY OF CALIFORNIA
https://archive.vn/I9WlS bloomberg
Microsoft Sets Sights on Sony’s Home Turf in Game Console Clash By Takashi Mochizuki November 7, 2020, 9:00 PM UTC
Microsoft is targeting Japan, third-largest video-game market
Sony moved headquarters to U.S., where it gets large revenues
A senior figure inside PlayStation headquarters in San Mateo, California, said the U.S. side was frustrated by the failure of the Japan marketing team to sell as many PlayStation 4 units as expected. The person asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
As a result, Japan has been sidelined in planning the PlayStation 5’s promotion, according to several PlayStation staff in Japan. Employees in Tokyo said they’ve been left awaiting instructions from California.
Japan-based developer support teams have been reduced by as much as a third from their peak, and the rolling contracts of a number of game creators at PlayStation’s Japan Studio, one of the unit’s oldest in-house software ateliers, haven’t been renewed, former employees said. The U.S. office believes the PlayStation business doesn’t need games that only do well in Japan, employees in the California headquarters said.
The PlayStation 5’s two main online promotional events both took place at 5 a.m. in Tokyo -- making them more accessible to American and European fans -- and lacked Japanese translation for some parts. The company also decided to standardize its PS5 control scheme so that Japanese players would have to use X to confirm and O to cancel, like the rest of the world. That reverses a 26-year tradition in a country where circles signify positives and crosses mark negatives.
https://archive.vn/PXGtL gamesindustry. biz
Sony's Jim Ryan: We had to make changes to deliver our PlayStation 5 dream
PlayStation's CEO on the globalisation of Sony Interactive Entertainment Christopher Dring Head of Games B2B Thursday 7th November 2019
"Yes, we feel we need to become a more global organisation, but this is absolutely not at the expense of our in-market strength at a country level. And I really want to reinforce the point that globalisation does not mean Americanisation, or vice versa. Becoming a global organisation does not, in any way, shape or form, mean becoming an American organisation. I'm living proof of that, as a good Geordie boy sitting here running PlayStation."
Xbox overtaking Playstation in Japan would be hilarious. If Nintendo is smart, they could also use this to get some serious leverage for a competitor to the PS5.
Sony allowing foreigners, let alone the PRoC, to dictate all of their business is just plain stupid. I would've expected the branches in each country to act quasi-independently. With each branch trying to accommodate the needs and wants of customers for only their specific territory.
If I didn't know better I'd think they were trying to piss of their Japanese customers on purpose. Then again, maybe I don't know better and they really are that petty.
Unfortunately Nintendo doesn't seem too quick on these sorts of thing. I honestly don't expect them to come out with a new console/system for another 5 years at least.
Not to mention that ever since the Gamecube got thoroughly thrashed, Nintendo has since stopped directly competing with Sony and XBox in favor of making smaller, more experimental consoles. Consoles with an emphasis on their unique gimmicks you could say, and most importantly, a lower price tag. And that strategy has been working very well for them (mostly). Making a more typical machine with an emphasis on computing power just isn't in the cards for Nintendo anymore.
Plus, I would imagine that Nintendo pretty much has the "kid-friendly" market wrapped up, with Mario, Sonic and Link out front instead of gods of world wars and whatever. It's a valid market, and I'm all for age segregation. :P