A facet of Sony's dominance in the video game console business has been its dedication to the Japanese market. Ever since the original PlayStation, Sony's consoles have been home to the biggest Japanese games. Looking toward the release of the PlayStation 5, that dominance is unlikely to change. However, there are some who question whether Sony may be shifting its focus away from the Japanese market in favor of western audiences.
In comments made to Bloomberg, Sony spokeswoman Natsumi Atarashi said it's incorrect to believe PlayStation's focus is shifting away from Japan. "Our home market remains of utmost importance," according to Atarashi. As an example, she points to the PlayStation 5 launching first in Japan. Japan's launch date is on November 12, like in the USA, but time zones will lead to Japan being first in its rolling worldwide launches.
However, Bloomberg's reporting implies that there's more to the story than appearances seem to imply. An unnamed source who is supposedly a senior figure from PlayStation's headquarters in California describes a division between the US and Japanese sides of the company. Specifically, there's frustration with Japan's marketing of the PS4, which has led to Japan not being involved in PS5 promotion.
It should be acknowledged that even with potential internal frustrations, PS5 pre-orders in Japan are entirely sold out. Demand for the PlayStation 5 is exceedingly high in Japan, as Sony says that it stopped accepting early reservations entirely. It's possible that the marketing changes will be more impactful after launch demand wanes. It's also possible that Sony may have made the correct adjustment with its marketing, and that Japan's enthusiasm for PlayStation will override any possible changes it may make.
To say that Sony and PlayStation aren't, at the very least, expanding their efforts in the west is clearly not true, of course. PlayStation's current CEO and President is Jim Ryan, who came up through the company in the west. PlayStation headquarters were also moved to California in 2016. Sony isn't the same company that it was when the PlayStation 4 launched, but what that may mean will probably take years to find out.
Regardless of what Sony's focus is, and what its intentions are with the PlayStation 5 in the future, PlayStation is all but certain to be the chosen platform of Japanese developers. Initial exclusivity of games like Square Enix's Final Fantasy 16 is proof enough of that.
The PlayStation 5 releases November 12.
Source: Bloomberg
