PS4 gets a substantial price cut in Japan.

[mmntech]

Sony announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they're dropping the PS4's price to just 34,980 yen. Which translates to about $292 USD.

Why is this a big deal? The PS4 has been selling a lot slower in Japan than it has in other key markets. It's pushed about 1.6 million units, averaging about 84,000 per month. By contrast, it's selling rate of 5:1 in other key markets.

Of course Japan is a smaller market than Europe or North America, but this is the first time Sony has seem such a wide gap in sales between them. The Wii U and Vita are actually outselling the PS4 over there. Furthermore, the PS4 has a lower tie-ratio (games owned per console) in Japan than other key markets.

So far only 4.13 million eighth generation consoles have been sold in Japan.

I find it quite fascinating. Japanese gamers seem to be abandoning consoles in droves in favour of mobile gaming. It's a shift that started last gen but it seems to be picking up pace. Traditional TV top hardware is really struggling over there, when up until recently it was a pretty safe bet. Japan tends to be a bellwether for the gaming industry, so I can't help but wonder if we'll see a similar tend here down the road.

http://www.destructoid.com/ps4-s-getting-a-price-drop-in-japan-310845.phtml

 

[Homerboy]

I'm just waiting for the US price cut... COME ON!!!

 

[MeldarthX]

Its needed a price cut in Japan for awhile; while some have been abandoning; also they have been waiting for that killer game to come to PS4 before buying it.

With the announcement of FF7 remake; that will seriously move a lot of units in Japan; hell everywhere actually..

 

[poofyhairguy]

I find it quite fascinating. Japanese gamers seem to be abandoning consoles in droves in favour of mobile gaming. It's a shift that started last gen but it seems to be picking up pace. Traditional TV top hardware is really struggling over there, when up until recently it was a pretty safe bet. Japan tends to be a bellwether for the gaming industry, so I can't help but wonder if we'll see a similar tend here down the road.

I don't think Japan is a Canary on the Coalmine. The Japanese gaming market had certain tastes, yet in the last ten years Western tastes have dominated the console market. A lot of what the Japanese preferred is now best experienced on mobile platforms, which is what they shifted to.

 

[gorcorps]

While my time in Japan was pretty limited, I'd have to think that a good part of this is a culture difference. Americans (not sure about EU) spend much more time at home than a lot of Japanese. After visiting and getting to know the Japanese engineers here, there's a huge difference in home life between the US and Japan. During their 5 year stint in the US apparently their wives love it here, because their husbands spend a lot more time at home with the family compared to Japan.

If you're not home all that often, there's not a lot of reason to have a console.

 

[Fulle]

Well... the XBO bill of materials is probably really close to the PS4's, and Microsoft has been selling em' at 350 in the West with a game bundled, for quite a while. The cost to make a PS4 at launch was estimated to be around 380 dollars, and with some slight manufacturing cost reductions in the newest PS4 model, I'd image that they're at that 350 dollar point now, without selling at a loss....

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I'd be surprised if the PS4 doesn't drop to $350 in the western markets very soon. It would make sense to get there before the holiday buying season....

If Sony doesn't do it, I think they leave themselves wide open for MS to gain back some marketshare over the holidays, since I'd anticipate MS to be quite aggressive.

 

[Lil Frier]

I'll agree with the hinted sentiment that Japan probably isn't the start of a trend. I mean, aren't Japanese people pretty fond of arcades, where as they're mostly untouched in the U.S.? Pokken Tournament went to Japan as an arcade game, but never did so here, because Dave & Buster's is probably the only way it could get any notoriety.

Plus, like folks said, the big-ticket items in each region aren't the same. You can't make CoD work on a phone well, nor Halo. Look at those clumsy GameLoft shooters, if you want to see what I mean. I could say the same for Forza, given the racing franchise to beat on mobile is Asphalt, which is much closer to a NFS experience, but with even MORE-arcadey physics and gameplay.

On the flip side, if it's not on a smartphone, I think the U.S. is less receptive of a mobile game, and we often want them free anyway. Using my little brothers as an example, they don't seem tied to mobile gaming as heavily, with their 3DSXLs sitting mostly unused while they're on phones and tablets for free, ad-supported games.

 

[Sonikku]

Japanese are more crazy for portables. Monster Hunter sells like hot cakes over there, which is seemingly just a bunch of endless grinding. They love that kind of stuff.

 

[TeknoBug]

Mobile dominates Japanese entertainment market.

aren't Japanese people pretty fond of arcades

When I was in Tokyo back in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution was the craze, there were lines as long as two blocks just to play DDR (they were outside on sidewalks).

 

[clok1966]

I am surprised Consoles have lasted as long as they have, handheld gaming has been booming. People seem to need to be "seen" look at Instagram, twitter etc. we are turning into the "ME, look at me" generation, cant do that at home. The real sad part is, none of the games that seem to be taking he world by storm are skill based, its TIME based, if i have clicked this ever 4 hours on my phone for 2 years I have an army so big, or a city so full, or.. we are moving into a non skill based game style. just click till its full, you don't really play, you just show up like Job every so many minutes to click again, then wait till you can click again.

 

[ghost recon88]

I'm waiting for the PS4 Slim to be announced, along with a nice price drop

 

[ultimatebob]

I'm waiting for the PS4 Slim to be announced, along with a nice price drop

I wonder what an XBox One Mini would look like. It would be kinda cool if the Kinect was somehow integrated in it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The real sad part is, none of the games that seem to be taking he world by storm are skill based, its TIME based, if i have clicked this ever 4 hours on my phone for 2 years I have an army so big, or a city so full, or.. we are moving into a non skill based game style. just click till its full, you don't really play, you just show up like Job every so many minutes to click again, then wait till you can click again.

Sad but true. How long before real jobs become like George Jetson's? Just click, click, click all day long.

 

[Homerboy]

Sad but true. How long before real jobs become like George Jetson's? Just click, click, click all day long.

Ironically, my entire job is pretty much to create buttons for people to push so they don't have to think...

 

[gorcorps]

Ironically, my entire job is pretty much to create buttons for people to push so they don't have to think...

Why don't you make a computer to send those same signals and get rid of the people?

 

[clok1966]

I'm waiting for the PS4 Slim to be announced, along with a nice price drop

I'm all for this, I am one of the few that preferred the old PS2-3 controller to the 360 one, i think as I grew up with the ONE, and two, so have used them for so long. But I had some mild interest in the TV/conference like things the One has. I must admit its more a curiosity thing than anything. It will be the first generation of consoles i have not seen a reason to jump in, just nothing out there screams "must play". I have tipped to the Sony side more in the last months due the fact that the One is selling poorly and a few PS4 games (bloodborn huge fan of the Demon Soul games, those guys even back to Kings Field). So a slim cheaper ($300 would be an instant buy for me) PS4 would be nice to see. Its doubtful we will see much of a price drop in my opinion, its selling fine, and if they upgrade the hardware and keep the price, its would be on par for a normal business. But with a new halo and MS able to eat a loss much easier then Sony, I can see a low price on the ONE for the Christmas season, which might spur Sony on, problem is any huge sales jump wont be reported till after Christmas.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I'm waiting for the PS4 Slim to be announced, along with a nice price drop

Expect to be waiting a while. They did update the PS4 hardware recently, but its not a huge change, so figure it'll be another year before they'll offer a "slim" version. I'm guessing they're waiting for 14nm production to reach maturity levels to where the costs make it worth the shrink.

 

[Rage187]

I cancelled my Star Wars ps4 console bundle from Walmart. Waiting on a slim and a price drop.

 

[Sonikku]

I don't see Sony slashing the price any time soon in the west. They're number one and they know it. Outside of the customary $50 temporary cut for the holidays we're probably out of luck. I likely wouldn't hold out for a "slim" either as Sony has proven they tend to not give the same value for less money. They just offer a stripped down version for a proportionally lower price. Nice for having the extra option, but far from the price cuts we used to enjoy on gaming consoles in the olden days.

 

[Rage187]

One bundle I may consider is the Playstation VR+console

 

[SlitheryDee]

I don't get how mobile gaming can replace console gaming for anyone. It's a fundamentally different experience for me. Console games offer a kind of depth and involvement that I have yet to see out of any mobile games that aren't just ports of previous console games. How can you replace something like Destiny or Mortal Kombat X or Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain or any number of other high quality, painstakingly crafted games with anything offered on any mobile platform?

I can see mobile gaming as something you do when you are away from your console, but it isn't something I'd ever dream of doing at home when I could be getting an entirely different level of enjoyment from my PC or console.

I've tried to find mobile gaming experience that rival my console. I really have. There's nothing there that doesn't feel kind of threadbare and well...mobile. The stories are less nuanced, the gameplay is hampered by the input method, the graphics are unpolished. It all adds up to feeling like a mere shadow of the gaming experience I really want. It isn't something I could ever accept in place of a modern console or PC. I just don't understand what's going on over there.

 

[ghost recon88]

I ended up just buying the Walmart deal. Got FIFA 16 for free with the Destiny limited edition bundle for $400, plan on flipping FIFA and Destiny Limited Edition for $50 apiece on eBay to bring the console down to $300. Also bought a ton of gift cards for Walmart online at a 3% discount from face value, and used those to pay for the console

 

[ImpulsE69]

I don't get how mobile gaming can replace console gaming for anyone. It's a fundamentally different experience for me. Console games offer a kind of depth and involvement that I have yet to see out of any mobile games that aren't just ports of previous console games. How can you replace something like Destiny or Mortal Kombat X or Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain or any number of other high quality, painstakingly crafted games with anything offered on any mobile platform?

I can see mobile gaming as something you do when you are away from your console, but it isn't something I'd ever dream of doing at home when I could be getting an entirely different level of enjoyment from my PC or console.

I've tried to find mobile gaming experience that rival my console. I really have. There's nothing there that doesn't feel kind of threadbare and well...mobile. The stories are less nuanced, the gameplay is hampered by the input method, the graphics are unpolished. It all adds up to feeling like a mere shadow of the gaming experience I really want. It isn't something I could ever accept in place of a modern console or PC. I just don't understand what's going on over there.

The answer to this is...complicated. Younger gen players are not interested/playing the same kind of games us older gen are. They are the pokemon, ADD gen (yes, I realize many here like pokemon). Japan has always had a somewhat different taste in games than the west. While some of it spilled over, they have moved on. People are glued to their phones all the time. Mobile games are HUGE here as well, just not with the more techy and game lover types. All those dating SIM games that are popular? They don't need some high powered console or PC. Etc etc. The reasons are many, but mostly, just cultural differences, although it may not be as much of that when you look to your left or right and see someone glued to their cell phone everywhere.

 

[RussianSensation]

I'm waiting for the PS4 Slim to be announced, along with a nice price drop

I would imagine that wouldn't happen until mid-2016 for either console. In order to significantly reduce the power consumption footprint, they'd need a node shrink. 14nm/16nm FinFET nodes are only going to be available to them in 2016 and beyond. It's also strategic to have a slim shrink towards the mid- to end of the 3rd year of the console cycle to make the console seem fresh again (if we assume this generation is going to last 6-7 years). Doing a slim now for either is too premature/early imo.

EDIT: I see in post #17 you stated exactly what I did, predicting the slim versions to launch in about 1 year from now.

 

[Subyman]

Japan is a completely different market. They mostly play on portables. Phones have changed the video game landscape there and it didn't just bring in casuals like in the US. They have slowly replaced even consoles for most gamers.