In the first ten months of this year, Sony game consoles took up 10.1% of the Japanese market, Nintendo Switch was in the lead with 89.8%, and Microsoft was content with 0.1%. Promotion of new game consoles from Sony and Microsoft will be carried out in such a way that the most active actions of the company will take “behind the competitors’ lines.”
Image source: Microsoft
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At least in the material Bloomberg provides evidence of Sony’s concentration in the US market, and Microsoft’s willingness to push the Xbox Series X more aggressively in the Japanese market. The headquarters of Sony’s core business in 2016 was moved to California, now the American market forms 35% of the company’s revenue in the gaming direction, home Japanese accounts for no more than 10% of revenue. The PlayStation 4 sold worse in Japan than its predecessor, according to independent sources.
The decrease in the priority of the Japanese market for Sony is also indicated by the choice of an inconvenient time for the broadcast of the PlayStation 5 presentation – for the Japanese it began at five in the morning and was not accompanied by subtitles in their native language at all stages. Breaking a long tradition of joystick key assignments, with the release of the PlayStation 5, the company unified them with the scheme used in the global market. Finally, as noted by informed sources, Sony’s cooperation with some Japanese studios developing games for the local market remains in question. Japanese stores have received limited quantities of PlayStation 5, so there is no need to talk about the priority of deliveries to the local market either.
But Microsoft, as the source explains, when launching sales of the Xbox Series X relies on the Japanese market. Firstly, sales in Japan start in sync with the rest of the world, while the previous Microsoft console was delayed here for almost a year compared to the American market. Secondly, the more compact Xbox Series S console should appeal to Japanese gamers who often huddle in small homes. Third, Microsoft is in talks with Japanese developers to release games for its new consoles for the local market. Takeover of Japanese studios is not excluded, as the source notes. Microsoft will also promote its cloud gaming services in Japan.
Japan still remains the third largest gaming market in the world, behind China and the United States, but in terms of per capita spending, it is the leader in the gaming market. It is unlikely that Microsoft will be able to seriously press Nintendo in the Japanese market, but it will try to pinch off Sony’s share.
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