[bitwize]

Eh, maybe in the past but not so much today. Sony is being effectively run from California, which means that their standards for appropriate game content are being decided according to San Francisco, and not Tokyo, values. The PS5 is doing worse than any previous Sony console in the Japanese market as a result.

[rossmohax]

The PS5 reached the highest launch month sales in US history

[bitwize]

I meant to say that the PS5 was doing more poorly in Japan than any previous Sony console, and have edited my comment to reflect this.

[esperent]

That might have more to do with the state of the Japanese economy this year than the location of Sony headquarters.

[dynamite-ready]

It's actually been a long standing trend since the start of the PS3/Xbox360 generation. Iirc Sega had to merge with Sammy to weather the storm. Especially after losing so much money in the previous generation on the Dreamcast.

In that period, the Japanese videogame market shrunk a great deal, and many Japanese developers either went out of business, merged, or courted western publishers.

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/222192/Japans_console_ga...

So I wouldn't have thought a Microsoft takeover attempt would have truly been laughed out the room at that time.

But Nintendo are a very unique company. Much like Ferrari in Italy.

Very few brands in the world like it. They would have found willing backers that cherished their independence.

[fomine3]

PS5 is really hard to buy in Japan, maybe same as all other countries. The rumor is that SIE reduced selling units for Japan and increased for US/EU. It seems reasonable because anyway Japanese non-core gamers won't buy Xbox Series S/X.

Actually, PS4 launch in Japan was delayed 3 month from US/EU so the PS5 situation is a bit improved, but still complained.

Another complain for PS5 (and SIE US) is that they changed ○/×/△/□ button meaning. Previously ○ was assigned to OK and × was Cancel that's opposite to foreign edition. Now on PS5, its assignment is same as foreign edition but it feels very strange use of symbol for almost all Japanese people. It should be PSX's initial design failure.

[dynamite-ready]

I'd been interested in this. I primarily wonder if videogames have the same cultural weight in Japanese society anymore.

[wil421]

From what I see on my Nintendo switch they are interested in different types of games. PC and consoles games seem to be more action. Nintendo has a ton of more old school types of games like JRPGs and platformers. There are also some creepy Japanese games I see, not sure what’s the game play is like. I can’t even describe what they are other than having flirty Anime type girls.

[danbolt]

What do you feel Tokyo’s values would be? Bring Kutaragi back and revisit new/different CPU architectures?

[bitwize]

Eroge make up a large part of the market in Japan, like it or not -- and SCE in California are committed to eliminating toxic masculinity from their platform, even if it means leaving yen on the table.

[danbolt]

I did some quick Google searches for the best-selling PlayStation 1, 2, and 3 games in Japan as those consoles were spearheaded by Tokyo. [1][2][3] I didn't see very many Eroge games. I do agree that they're a notable market, especially compared to the west, but they strike me as more niche than a cornerstone genre like action games.

> SCE in California are committed to eliminating toxic masculinity from their platform

I'd love to understand what you mean a little better here. I think I might have an impression from the themes of the God of War reboot, but I was curious if there's a Sony policy you might be able to reference and how that's influenced their first-party production. I'm having trouble understanding the overlap between anime-styled erotica and western depictions of masculinity.

EDIT: updated line spacing for readability

[1] https://www.neogaf.com/threads/flashback-sales-top-seeling-p...

[2] http://garaph.info/gamesearch.php?titleenglish=&stte=0&title...

[3] https://www.neogaf.com/threads/media-create-sales-04-06-04-1...