tech

Sony to launch PlayStation 4 in U.S., Europe first, then Japan on Feb 22

14 Comments
By YURI KAGEYAMA

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

14 Comments
Login to comment

There is close to no market for it in Japan.portable devices are winning big here. It's not unfair, it's business. PS4 is an exceptionally good service, Sony had to play this card very well. Waiting for Japanese developers to join the club and delaying the party for everyone is not acceptable...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Oh....I now see what everyone means. I suppose I can agree that releasing it in states and Europe is a better approach, due to the competition.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The reason the West is getting PS4 first is because the supply can not meet the demand. Their is a VERY steep competition between Xbox One and PS4. Think about it like sending troops to the front lines. Japan is not the front lines. No one is gong to buy an Xbox One here, and no one is even 100% sure if it will even come to Japanese shores at all. When the PS4 is released in Japan it will have absolutely zero competition. Think about this: Some parents walk into a store in the USA to buy their kid a next gen console for Christmas. Well... Sony didn't make and ship enough units to fill the demand in the USA so the Parents just buy a Xbox One instead because there is one on the shelves. That is a custimor lost simply because Sony didn't have a unit on the shelf. So I think in a very smart move they are sending as many units to US and EU shelves as possible. (and they have to localize all the western games into Japanese which is not first priority for most western devs as seeing Japan is like 10% of the market for most western made games ie. Watch Dogs, Killzone 4 , AC4 etc so they wanted to get the games ready for English speaking markets first. Just like Japanese games luanch first in Japan, beucase sometimes it takes a while to localize to English. Many of the games we have been shown like Watch Dogs is not even finished yet, but still slated to be ready by Nov 15th. Think they are going to be RACING to translate that game to Japanese when 90% of the people who are going to buy it speak English? the western line up of games is about 1000 times better than the Japanese line up of games. I mean really Killzone and Watch Dogs vs Doki Doki Time and Dynasty Warriors 8?!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Makes sense. Release it overseas first, let the non Japanese consumers identify bugs so that patches/fixes can be worked on. Let the hackers find the security holes for 3 months and address them before release to the home market. Consider the US/Europe initial release as more of a beta test.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I totally agree with borax (2nd post from the top), I don't think that Japanese developers have much to offer for a JP PS4 launch. I've heard a lot about PS4 launch games from US/UK and other English speaking developers but very little from the JP Developing community.

Plainly put, they want to make sure that PS4 has a decent backing at launch for its Japanese market.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

im planning to buy ps4 when the FFXV is out... until then ill just make myself busy with the new pokemon

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I wonder if Sony actually added in "Party Chat" system into PS4.... Anyways, I won't be getting PS4 since some of PS4 exclusives are now coming out for PC as well.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

It makes perfect sense to follow the demand while there isn't sufficient stock globally. Gift giving at Christmas time in Europe and US eclipses Japan. Post Christmas shopping is mostly sale items, so there won't be as much PS4 purchasing going on in January there. However in Japan, February is when most people are flush with bonus cash, not December, giving Sony all of January to manufacture for Japan.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Capturing the Japanese market is a given for Sony, but there is real competition with Microsoft in EU/NA. With the Xbox 1 launching in time for the holidays, Sony is rightfully putting its development money into the battleground regions.

Ironically, it's Japan's very loyalty to the Playstation franchise that's relegating it to second place.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Yeah, America and Europe are bigger markets than Japan - so it's easy to see where their priorities lie.

And they can do this because Xbox One doesn't plan to launch in Japan until even later.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I find this unfair for Japanese people, who have to wait till next year for something that was made in their country.

That's life, deal with it.

@david

agreed.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The biggest market for Sony right now is USA and Europe. Even though Japan is its core market, there is just too much at stake to sell in Japan First.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Maybe there won't be enough tedious games geared towards Japanese players, like Monster Hunter and recent FF titles, available by November. A Japanese console launch without a Japanese flagship franchise title would not go over well here.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I don't understand. Why does Japan get the very late date? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Japan made the PS4 so Japanese people should receive the product first before United States and Europe.

I find this unfair for Japanese people, who have to wait till next year for something that was made in their country.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites