200°

Wii U’s Sales Uptick In Japan And PS4′s Floundering Could Indicate A Trend

One Angry Gamer "Nintendo may have incurred a 9.924 billion yen net loss in the previous quarter, but they’re still dominating when it comes to the best selling eighth-gen console in Japan on a week-in and week-out basis. The latest reports indicate that the Wii U is climbing back up the sales charts while the PS4 is falling even lower on the charts. This could actually spell some good news for the Big ‘N’."

user74029313555d ago

i wish the best for nintendos wii u, i think there is room for both ps4 and the wii u for different reasons in japan

Abash3555d ago

The PS4's sales in Japan wont improve until the console gets a steady flow of releases that appeal to Japanese gamers. That's it's only problem, the lack of Japanese developers with PS4 games ready to be out

Darkstares3555d ago

I expect after The Last Guardian gets announced we will see a huge rise, along with the release of Bloodborne. Then of course a new Gran Turismo will be huge.

3-4-53555d ago

No matter the console, it's the games that drive the sales.

If PS4 gets more games, it will sell more.

If Wii U gets more games it will sell more.

If they both get games, they will both sell.

Metallox3555d ago (Edited 3555d ago )

Nope, both consoles (and practically all the market) are doing poorly Japan. I mean, 9K is really good? That seems extremely dismal for me. Manufacturers really need to do something to sell more.

randomass1713555d ago

Japanese-centric games will help but the current trend in Japan is handhelds right now. Wii U should follow the PS4's lead and have more western push. Handhelds do better in Japan while consoles do better in the west, especially PS4.

Concertoine3555d ago (Edited 3555d ago )

That's why i think Nintendo should merge the products. I mean if they just have a all-in-one console/handheld, that solves their two biggest problems.

- The diminishing popularity of consoles in their homeland
- The company's failure to provide a steady stream of content to both platforms at once.

The reason the Wii U will likely be an overall success in Japan is because most of their software is solely aimed at that country. They have made zero first party titles targeting popular genres in the west, and a lot targeted at Japan.

jholden32493555d ago

Nintendo, with a few rare exceptions, has always made their own styled games without specifically targeting the western audience. The only real example I can think of that contradicts that would be the Metroid Prime series and Other M. Granted, some franchises seem to have amassed a larger western fan base than of Japan (like Zelda), but that doesn't make the games any more "western".

Right now, the west pretty much just wants games brimming with cut scenes, QTE's, realism and some type of 1st person/3rd person shooting mechanics. That and EA's line of realistic sports games.

AfterThought3554d ago (Edited 3554d ago )

Not sure if that will ever happen honestly because there are just differences between consoles and handhelds that people like and that is why they are separate to begin with.

I could make this super long and explain why but I am tired. They just have to make too many compromises with the hardware trying to achieve that. Also sure that these companies like having more than just one system to sell, well Sony and Nintendo that is.

In a way the Wii U and PS4 already do this pretty much with off tv play and remote play, off tv play is a little more limited but it is the same idea.

One day handhelds will be just as powerful as consoles anyway as chips continue to get smaller and use less power.

Chrischi19883554d ago (Edited 3554d ago )

All complain about the Wii U being to weak. How is making a handheld for your home solving that problem? Wouldnt it make it even weaker?

MSBAUSTX3554d ago

If they merged the two the price would go up. That would cause sales to go down in Japan because of the uneasy economy right now. It isn't a good idea to merge the two for the western world either because it is mainly children who have 3DS right now, even though I own one too. Parents are not going to pay $400 to $500 for a merged product when their kid already has a $200 handheld system. The reason Xbox one and PS4 have slowed down is mainly because of price. Hell PRICE is why I don't own a gaming PC. It isn't because I don't like PC gaming or don't agree that it is way prettier than console gaming. Price drives everything and if the price is too high, less people buy. That is why most of us here drive used cars and or cheaper newer ones instead of Mercedes and Bentlys. Price goes up, less people can afford it and right now Nintendo can not afford to make something that people do not have the means to get their hands on.

N4g_null3554d ago

Tablets support direct 11 Chrischi1988. Phones support 4k video play back. The wiiu gamepad only needs a 3ds like receiver for it to be portable. The wiiu is almost a total soc design. With a die shrink it could be a possible handheld candidate.

It is not hard to top the ps4.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3554d ago
ritsuka6663555d ago (Edited 3555d ago )

I have say this is really a nice change of trend. WII U deserve sell better than PS4.

TheEnigma3133554d ago

And why is that? The PS4 deserves to sell the most because the people ave spoken.

ATi_Elite3555d ago

Sluggish PS4 Japan sales due to NO current hype for region specific games.

I dont think the Japanese are interested in TLOU remastered like Americans are.

TomahawkX3555d ago

yup and the trend will continue until Final Fantasy XV comes out.

MSBAUSTX3554d ago

While I agree with it will continue until the new FF, you have to look at the games Nintendo has coming out as well. Fatal Frame. X chronicles, Smash Brothers, Hyrule Warriors, and Zelda U are all coming out either this year or next. The new FF has a lot of competition with in the next year or so. FF will sell consoles over there, but so will those games I just listed. Nintendo and Sony will sell systems, that is obvious. However, do not assume that a new FF is enough to compete with 5 Japanese favorites from Nintendo. Sony needs more Japanese fan favorites and it needs them now and in force.

MultiConsoleGamer3555d ago

When you get on the train in Japan almost everyone has an iPhone.

And just like America, they're all sitting their with their faces buried in their phones.

SteamPowered3555d ago

....right, but what are they playing at home? Console-wise? I don't think this is article is talking about portables going head to head.

MultiConsoleGamer3555d ago

What are they playing at home?

Mobile games.

Mikito113554d ago

And they play 3ds on trains... The amount of street passes I get when I'm in Tokyo is crazy lol hardly ever get any in the uk unless I go to a streetpass relay point

GordonKnight3554d ago

That not fully true. You are forgetting that portables are huge in Japan. So, a lot of people in Japan have their face buried in a 3DS or Vita.

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60°

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170°

Bethesda Needs to Reduce the Gaps Between New Fallout and Elder Scrolls Releases

Waiting a decade for new instalments in franchises as massive as Fallout and Elder Scrolls feels like a waste.

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gamingbolt.com
-Foxtrot10h ago

Microsoft have Obsidian but I feel it's Bethesda who just don't want to play ball as they've always said they want to do it themselves.

Once MS bought Zenimax in 2020 they should have put the Outer Worlds 2 on the back burner, allow Bethesda to finish off its own Space RPG with Starfield (despite totally different tone why have two in your first party portfolio with two developers who's gameplay is a tad similar) and got Obsidian for one of their projects to make a spiritual successor to New Vegas.

When the Elder Scrolls VI is finished Bethesda can then onto the main numbered Fallout 5 themselves.

The Outer Worlds 2 started development in 2019 so putting it on the back burner wouldn't have been the end of the world, they'd have always come back to it once Fallout was done and it would have been nicely spaced out from Starfields release once they had most likely stopped supporting it and all the expansions were released.

If they did this back in 2020 when they bought Zenimax and the game had a good, steady 4 - 5 years development, you might have seen it release in 2025.

We are literally going to be waiting until 2030 at the very earliest for Fallout 5 and all they seem bothered about is pushing Fallout 76.

RaidenBlack8h ago(Edited 8h ago)

Its not just only Todd not playing ball.
Obsidian have made a name for themselves in delivering stellar RPGs, but most famous once have always been sequels/spin-offs to borrowed IPs like KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stick of Truth etc.
Obsidian wants to invest more in their own original IPs like Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity with Avowed.
Similar to what Bluepoint & inXile wants to do or Kojima is doing (i.e not involving anymore in Konami's IPs).
So yea, even if New Vegas has the most votes from 3D Fallout fans, Obsidian just wants to do their own thing, like any aspiring dev studio and MS is likely currently respecting that.
But a future Fallout game from Obsidian will surely happen. Founder Feargus Urquhart has already stated an year ago that they're eager to make a new Fallout game with Bethesda, New Vegas 2 or otherwise. Urquhart was the director of the very first 1995's Fallout game after all.
And don't forget Brian Fargo and his studio inXile, as Brian Fargo was the director of Fallout's 1988 predecessor: Wasteland

KyRo5h ago(Edited 4h ago)

Obsidian should take over the FO IP. They're do far better with it than Bethesda who hasn't made a great game for almost 15 years

Duke194h ago(Edited 4h ago)

I disagree. Part of these games is the support for the mod community. If they move to releasing a "next game" every 2 or 3 years, the modding support plummets and the franchises turn into just another run of the mill RPG.

Make the games good enough to withstand the test of time, to keep people coming back to them and expanding on them with mod support.

--Onilink--2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

I dont think anyone is saying they need to come out every 2 years (not to mention almost no game is released that quickly anymore)

By the time Fallout 5 comes out, it will be more than 15 years since Fallout 4 came out (same with ES6 coming out 15 years after Skyrim). Even if you want to use F76 as the metric for the most recent release, that one came out in 2018. It will be a miracle if F5 comes out before 2030

The point is that for a studio that doesnt seem to operate with multiple teams doing several projects at once, that their projects normally take 4-5 years as a minimum, and that now they even added Starfield to the rotation, it becomes a 15+ years waiting period between releases for each series, which doesnt make sense. Imagine that Nintendo only released a mainline Mario or Zelda game every 15 years…

They either need to start developing more than 1 project at a time, let someone else take a crack at one of the IPs or significantly reduce their development times

Duke1933m ago(Edited 30m ago)

Why should someone else take a crack at one of the IPs? Look at what happened to Final Fantasy as a recent example - there is pretty clear FF fatigue setting in because they are now pumping out titles in the franchise every few years. Pumping out more games faster doesn't always make a series better.

There are plenty of options to make new games, not just create more titles in the same universe at a faster pace.

mandf2h ago

Yeah I’m going to say it, who cares about the modding community when making a game? Half the time developers only tolerate modders because they fix there game for them.

Skuletor3h ago

Yeah, let's all advocate for smaller gaps between series' releases, then we'll probably get headlines about how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven. Let them cook.

SimpleSlave2h ago

"how the series have dropped in quality and they could have benefited from more time in the oven" So every Bethesda game then? Got it.

Listen, I would agree if this was about From Software or something, but Bethesda?

🤣

C'mon now. What timeline are you from?

Skuletor28m ago

Think about it, they're already bug filled messes on their current schedule, can you imagine how much worse it would be if they rushed things?

Duke1933m ago

I mean you aren't wrong. People are going to complain about anything

isarai2h ago

Hows about you focus on quality, just a thought 🤷‍♂️

Sciurus_vulgaris1h ago

Bethesda [or Microsoft] would have to reallocate internal and external studios towards fallout and elder scrolls titles. Bethesda has the issue of developing 2 big IPs that are large RPGs on rotation. If you want more Fallout and Elder Scrolls, development will have to be outsourced.

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