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NEWS: Sony Halts PlayStation 4 Production in Japan Except for Jet Black Slim Model




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cookiemanstah



Joined: 09 Dec 2013
Posts: 546
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 3:52 am Reply with quote
Terrible news. The PS3 had such a long and productive lifespan. I'm not sure why Sony threw the VITA and PS4 under the bus for longterm production so quickly, the latter being especially concerning since there's no telling if the PS5 is even doing well in the pandemic and so early in its life.
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cloud8100



Joined: 30 May 2010
Posts: 550
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:02 am Reply with quote
Feel like that's a bit soon considering the ps5 hasn't been out that long and also because a lot can't get one at the moment. Maybe that's different in Japan.
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Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4352
Location: New York
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 8:00 am Reply with quote
cloud8100 wrote:
Feel like that's a bit soon considering the ps5 hasn't been out that long and also because a lot can't get one at the moment. Maybe that's different in Japan.


My guess is the lack of supply is exactly why. Switch over production fully to the PS5 and address the massive shortages.
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Varkias



Joined: 20 Oct 2010
Posts: 30
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 8:02 am Reply with quote
cloud8100 wrote:
Feel like that's a bit soon considering the ps5 hasn't been out that long and also because a lot can't get one at the moment. Maybe that's different in Japan.


But that's why they're doing it - to give extra production to the PS5 so more people can get one.
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I_Drive_DSM



Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 217
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:02 am Reply with quote
I don't feel this is a strange or unexpected move. The PS5 is backwards compatible with the majority of PS4 titles, so it reasons that individuals that still have physical PS4 titles such as myself would simply move over to the PS5 with an optical drive when we're ready. I'd also like to believe that having PS4-backwards compatibility means that Sony anticipates older PS4 titles can still retain a shelf life. Keep in mind that Japan has a ton of PS4 games that never will leave Japan, such as the crazy amount of console visual novels from Intergram, that initially sell for really high prices but eventually either come down in price or have price cut versions release. The PS3 ultimately went on for as long as it did as there was no backwards compatibility in later models of the console.

I wouldn't even be surprised to see Sony completely discontinuing the PS4 in the very near future.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:21 am Reply with quote
Beatdigga wrote:
cloud8100 wrote:
Feel like that's a bit soon considering the ps5 hasn't been out that long and also because a lot can't get one at the moment. Maybe that's different in Japan.


My guess is the lack of supply is exactly why. Switch over production fully to the PS5 and address the massive shortages.


Yep. The biggest hindrance to Sony selling PS5s right now is that people who want one can't get one. It also is probably a bit embarrassing to Sony to see that the Switch is outselling the PS5 in Japan. There are a few different reason for that, but the most obvious is that Nintendo has systems in stores and Sony doesn't.

Subscriptions and game sales are the real money makers, not the consoles, at least not early on since those are usually sold at a loss. People obviously aren't going to buy PS5 games if they don't have the system and eventually third-party publishers will adjust their plans for the number of consoles out there. Sony has backpedaled a bit, but they haven't abandoned the approach of wanting games that take advantage of a new generation of console. The third-parties are probably going to be slower to come around due to the sheer number of PS4s out there, and it will be even slower if they see that nobody other than scalpers with bots can get a PS5. We've seen things like motion control on the PS3, the light bar and touch pad on PS4, barely get any use from third-parties, and Sony wants to make use of the new stuff in the new controller. Again, not something third-parties will care to bother with if there aren't that many PS5 owners.


Considering that they are whittling it down to the slim model with only 500GB, it's pretty obvious that the PS4 is being positioned as the budget console, and I wouldn't be surprised if the price is adjusted to make it look like the PS5 is an even bigger leap than it is.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6248
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 10:57 am Reply with quote
I've heard about this yesterday on IGN even way before ANN wrote and announce this news. I can't say that I'm surprised, as everybody said, ending the PS4 production in Japan would help PS5 production to move forward. I mean in the US, the PS5 being sold out which has led to many cases of scalping. I'm not sure if the PS5 scalping is an issue in Japan too. But I do recall that in 2014, the PS4 struggled to sell in Japan with Japanese gamers explaining why the PS4 is not selling on the level the PS2 and PS3 did in Japan. This is why Sony Computer Entertainment HQ had to move from Japan to San Mateo, California. Sony is not taking the Japanese market seriously like they used to. I believe I mentioned this back in November. I would also like to quote Enurtsol from that same thread back in November:

enurtsol wrote:

mdo7 wrote:

You're not the only one. Yeah, ever since PS4's later launch in Japan (remember PS4 launched in Japan several months after it's launched in NA and Europe) , I've started to noticed Sony not taking their Japanese market seriously like they were back during the PS2 and the early era of PS3. Also the fact that Sony's video game headquarter moved from Tokyo to San Mateo, California is another evidence that Sony is not taking the Japanese market like it used to.


https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/11/10/business/tech/microsoft-sony-console-clash/
Quote:
Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo. "Sony’s attention is drifting away and fans have started to notice that.”

Sony has placed more importance on the U.S. market after the PlayStation 4’s disappointing performance in Japan, according to employees who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

Global sales of the PS4 rose to more than 113 million from the PS3’s 87 million, according to Sony data. But the console sold fewer than 10 million units in Japan, less than its predecessor, according to Famitsu, a Japanese video game magazine. The U.S., meanwhile, accounts for 35% of the video game unit’s revenue, compared with 10% for Japan, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. analyst Damian Thong.

A senior figure inside PlayStation headquarters in San Mateo, California, said the U.S. side was frustrated by the failure of the Japan marketing team to sell as many PlayStation 4 units as expected. The person asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.

As a result, Japan has been sidelined in planning the PS5’s promotion, according to several PlayStation staff in Japan. Employees in Tokyo said they have been left awaiting instructions from California.

Japan-based developer support teams have been reduced by as much as a third from their peak, and the rolling contracts of a number of game creators at PlayStation’s Japan Studio, one of the unit’s oldest in-house software ateliers, have not been renewed, former employees said. The U.S. office believes the PlayStation business does not need games that only do well in Japan, employees in the California headquarters said.

Local retailers said they have not received many more first-batch PS5 units than they did of the PlayStation 3, which had a limited initial production run.

"It’s analyst consensus that PlayStation no longer sees the Japan market as important,” Morningstar Research analyst Kazunori Ito said. "If you want to know their take on the Japanese market, you need to ask about it because otherwise Sony wouldn’t talk about it.”


So yes, it kind of make sense why PS4 production in Japan end. Not only because it helped the PS5 to move forward. It's because the PS4 sales in Japan was far below the PS3 and PS2's Japan overall sales combined. The PS4 didn't even outsell PS2 and PS3 in Japan overall.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 5886
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 6:14 pm Reply with quote
cookiemanstah wrote:
Terrible news. The PS3 had such a long and productive lifespan.


The PS3 also had a rather tumultuous early lifespan where it wasn't making them a profit. By comparison the Vita was never able to right the ship hence why they cut their losses.

cookiemanstah wrote:
the latter being especially concerning since there's no telling if the PS5 is even doing well in the pandemic and so early in its life.


It is doing well problem from what I've seen is the their software sales which are being impacted by the availability of the system don't know if whether that applies to digital or physical or both.

Greed1914 wrote:

Yep. The biggest hindrance to Sony selling PS5s right now is that people who want one can't get one. It also is probably a bit embarrassing to Sony to see that the Switch is outselling the PS5 in Japan.


With consoles sales generally tending to be much higher outside of Japan I don't think so. There's also the fact that Sony has been doing good business with both the 4 & 5 even with the latter being sold out.
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SilverCrono



Joined: 20 Oct 2014
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:38 pm Reply with quote
Guys, the article says production was HALTED, not ended. Sheesh. lt seems clear to me this is a temporary way to bolster product supply, not a final end to the PS4 model production. Nintendo did something similar when the 3DS was out of stock at launch, didn't they? DS production didn't end for years until afterwards IIRC.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 5886
PostPosted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 4:35 pm Reply with quote
SilverCrono wrote:
Guys, the article says production was HALTED, not ended.


Merriam-Webster Dictionary wrote:


Definition of halt

(Entry 1 of 4)

intransitive verb
1 : to cease marching or journeying
2 : discontinue, terminate the project halted for lack of funds

transitive verb
1 : to bring to a stop the strike halted subways and buses
2 : to cause the discontinuance of: end halt hostilities



So until Sony properly clarifies what this all means we're going to have run with the assumption that's what this news means. And given how this info is weeks old the suspense is terrible. Especially since now I'm sweating like hell over this with the expectation that this will eventually happen on the U.S. side of things right when I'm trying to upgrade to a Pro which I'm still months away from getting the money for.

It's enough I waited so long to upgrade my Vita that I now have to search online for one which of course means markups ahoy.
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gloverrandal



Joined: 20 May 2014
Posts: 406
Location: Oita
PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:01 pm Reply with quote
With backwards compatibility, I don't see a big issue with this.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4462
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:56 am Reply with quote
As long as new games, especially JRPGs, continue to come out for the PS4 for the next couple of years, I'm not that concerned.

Some of the best PS2 JRPGs such as Persona 4 didn't get North American releases until the PS3 had already been out for two years.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 5886
PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 2:48 pm Reply with quote
Tenchi wrote:

Some of the best PS2 JRPGs such as Persona 4 didn't get North American releases until the PS3 had already been out for two years.


The game came out the same year as the Japanese version.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4462
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:20 pm Reply with quote
BadNewsBlues wrote:

The game came out the same year as the Japanese version.


Oh, I thought it was a year or so later. That means that quality PS2 games were still being made even in Japan well after the PS3 was already out.
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