There has been a lot of talk lately about the status of the PlayStation in Japan. Sales statistics show that, aligned with the launch, the PlayStation 5 is performing worse than the Nintendo Wii U – although the console is sold out worldwide. . Some think that small hardware shipments signal a lack of interest in their territory by the Japanese giant, and this sentiment has been exacerbated by a wave of high-profile exits from its Japan Studio development team.
PlatinumGames boss Atsushi Inaba feels different, however: “To be honest, we don’t feel sorry, or at least I haven’t felt the impact of that yet,” he told VGC. “That said, I understand that the console industry in Japan is not what it used to be, and when that happens, the priorities of these major console manufacturers will change, and that makes perfect sense to me.”
He continued: “I don’t know if this is an opinion that is out there, and I have no personal investment, but just because the PlayStation is from Japan does not mean that it should focus on the Japanese market. I don’t feel that way. At the same time, I also don’t think it’s American: I think it’s international and doesn’t belong to any country. That’s how I feel as a developer. “
However, in the same interview, Devil May Cry designer Hideki Kamiya pointed to Sony’s decision to break tradition with standard PS5 controls as a sign that things may be changing internally: “My pride is not hurt as Japanese – it’s just that there are two camps that had two ways of doing things, and I think they have a short-sighted view. I don’t understand the reasoning behind it. “
He added: “It is just a little disrespect for the gaming cultures that have existed for decades as part of so many people’s lives. I think the PS5 stopped that and I don’t know if it was meaningful to do that. “
But Kamiya concluded that he does not foresee “moving Sony away from Japan [game] manufacturers at all ”. He said: “It is so difficult to get a PS5 now that I feel that we still don’t have enough accurate data on how it will perform in Japan.” Unfortunately, stocks are expected to be scarce by the end of the year, according to AMD.