Sony Pitches Western Games to Japanese Gamers

Today SCEJ fully revealed the World Game Project, a series of events that aims to raise the awareness of Western Games to Japanese Gamers

[Chadness]

Interesting. Now it should work the other way around too. ;)

[Abriael]

yep, exactly :D I always wondered why Sony doesn't try to cash in on Japanese games more in the west, by offering marketing support and visibility to Japanese developers. Most of the games that don't come out here are on PS3 only, and some are actually very good.

it'd benefit Sony, Japanese development as a whole (and would close the ties between Sony and those developers) and ultimately us as well :D

[Godmars290]

Since the 80s and 90s.

Kind of backslid recently though.

[JoelT]

Ok, so here's the thing with when it comes to Japanese gamers and western games. THis isn't to upset people in anyway but it's known throughout the industry that the Japanese are a very nationalistic society. Everything (and with good reason) is all about Japan, with the gaming industry probably leading the debate.

Many people attributed Microsofts epic fail there to the fact that the Japanese can't adapt to the bigger controllers, and this was something that was started last gen with the original Xbox, prompting MS to launch the controller "S" (remember that). But I think that people who believe this are just completely wrong because the real reason why MS cannot build up anything in that country is because it's an AMERICAN product.

Don't get me wrong, they love our Music and Movies, artists, and actors, but when it comes to consumer electronics and software there just isn't an American footprint there unless it's something like World of Warcraft, Halo, Call of Duty or Uncharted. Let's see if a program like this can change some of the mindset out there, but I unfortunately doubt it.

[Abriael]

Nah. That's rather nearsighted. Live in Japan for a little while, especially between young people, and you'll notice that everything from the US is considered extremely cool there.

The low acceptance of western games in japan comes from a completely different "problem". Western games are often weak on the narrative side, which is what Japanese gamers appreciate the most.

As long as a game has a good story and narrative, it will be appreciated by the average Japanese gamer (if it's marketed well enough). Stories are so important for them, that they have no trouble with games that are ALL story and absolutely zero action (IE: graphic novels).

In fact, LA Noire sold well in Japan, for instance. The difference with other western games? It's a strongly narrative game, and has been marketed well in Japan (and quite smartly in a slow week, when you want to penetrate a market, you don't go in like a rhino hoping to topple the strongest competitors already in that market).

The "they arz nazionalizt!" excuse is just that, an excuse :D
Sure, some will be more happy to support their local products over foreigner ones, but the extremely poor performance of the Xbox 360 and of most western games in Japan is too extreme to be chalked just to that.
They are no more nationalist than people on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, where the Xbox sells more than the PS3, while in more "neutral" countries (IE: Europe) it's the other way around.

[NewMonday]

other reasons are:

-they prefer young heroes in their teens.
-they prefer beautiful over realistic graphics.
- they mostly play handhelds this generation.