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[LectureMaster]

To grow Chinese hardware market, the key is actually software pricing.

Steam has a huge advantage of offering regional prices for China compared to other console makers and 9 out 10 times this is the determining factor for many Chinese players.

 

[IntentionalPun]

To grow Chinese hardware market, the key is actually software pricing.

Steam has a huge advantage of offering regional prices for China compared to other console makers and 9 out 10 times this is the determining factor for many Chinese players.

They are quickly becoming a market with plenty of people who can afford Western prices.

 

[LectureMaster]

They are quickly becoming a market with plenty of people who can afford Western prices.

Far from true, players in mainland are very sensitive about price.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Far from true, players in mainland are very sensitive about price.

I didn't say right now they were willing to pay those prices, that's kind of a different topic really (that I almost addressed but decided not to edit lol)

They are used to not paying for software, but the buying power of the Chinese population is skyrocketing.

I'm not trying to really argue against you either BTW; regional pricing would be really smart. There's almost no doubt China will overtake the USA as the biggest overall gaming market (as in number of people gaming) soon. Eventually should be able to charge more over time.

 

[lh032]

 

[odhiex]

Console markets aren't growing, you know!?

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Impossible. NeoGAF told me that console sales were plummeting.

My thoughts exactly. "Ceiling" etc all that jazz.

 

[LectureMaster]

I didn't say right now they were willing to pay those prices, that's kind of a different topic really (that I almost addressed but decided not to edit lol)

They are used to not paying for software, but the buying power of the Chinese population is skyrocketing.

I'm not trying to really argue against you either BTW; regional pricing would be really smart. There's almost no doubt China will overtake the USA as the biggest overall gaming market (as in number of people gaming) soon. Eventually should be able to charge more over time.

I see what you meant now and it makes sense.

Things get a bit more complicated than that due to the pandemic and other political factors there. China has huge buying power, but how to convince people to transition from spending whales on mobile games to spending on more traditional console gaming will be a long term and tough cause.

 

[Metnut]

You have to look at the market as a whole to see it.

(PS5 + Xbox Series) < (PS4 + Xbox One + Wii U) < (PS3 + 360 + Wii)

Why leave out the Switch? Seems a bit intellectually dishonest to do that IMO.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I see what you meant now and it makes sense.

Things get a bit more complicated than that due to the pandemic and other political factors there. China has huge buying power, but how to convince people to transition from spending whales on mobile games to spending on more traditional console gaming will be a long term and tough cause.

Yeah I agree; but in the end, Sony makes a massive amount of their money from the Fortnite's and the Genshin Impact's of the world anyways.

If they can sell 10's of millions of consoles to China just for those kind of games that would be a massive win finanancially.

And you are still adding at least SOME traditional console game sales, whether it's the norm or not doesn't mean it doesn't help. The sheer number of people in China just makes even a small percentage of them doing something a HUGE amount of people lol

 

[{insert code here}]

We did you remove the Nintendo Switch here from your equation?

Why leave out the Switch? Seems a bit intellectually dishonest to do that IMO.

Switch is a handheld, not a console. IMO. You're free to consider it a console like the others and thus have your own conclusions but this would require you to separate out the Switch Lite from the base model because it would be ridiculous to count those (Lite) sales as console sales.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

India is the next China

An unbelievable amount of companies are switching production there including Apple.

They’re about 25 years behind China, but they’re about to replicate China’s economic miracle

Apple Says Its Latest iPhone 16e Series Is Being Made In India

Apple has launched iPhone 16e at a lower price range, compared to iPhone 16 series, which will start selling in India from February 28 onwards.

www.ndtv.com

I know Rahul isn't really a household name in India, but I wouldn't be surprised if Saros is heavily featured in the region.

I would not be surprised if the Ghost franchises moves to China at some point

 

[Ebrietas]

Why leave out the Switch? Seems a bit intellectually dishonest to do that IMO.

Also discounting the fact that ps360wii generation was full of multi-console owners. And that's before taking into account the handhelds.

 

[odhiex]

Switch is a handheld, not a console. IMO. You're free to consider it a console like the others and thus have your own conclusions but this would require you to separate out the Switch Lite from the base model because it would be ridiculous to count those (Lite) sales as console sales.

Switch is a hybrid, the Switch lite and the original/OLED are playing the same games. You know, a dedicated handheld machine is no more (edit: well except the niche products like the Playdate lol).

The Steam Deck and many other Windows PC handhelds play the same games as desktop PC.

 

[kazuyamishima]

ArtHands stop dodging the bullet and get your ass in here.

 

[viveks86]

I know Rahul isn't really a household name in India, but I wouldn't be surprised if Saros is heavily featured in the region.

For sure! An Indian protagonist in a full fledged Sony blockbuster videogame? It'll make the news. Chloe Frazer probably went under the radar with her mixed race, but Arjun Devraj will have a launch party!

Sad that they can't enjoy it on the PS5 Pro though...

 

[Beechos]

If its not the gamestation 5 I don't want it.

 

[yogaflame]

If its not the gamestation 5 I don't want it.

How about those ps5 pro knock-off?

 

[Loomy]

Microsoft barely bothered in China

Microsoft barely bothered in general

Sony has been doing it in China and Korea for years now. India is next.

India, Africa/Middle East. We're a few years away from seeing the early results of those incubator projects.

 

[tTHANOSs]

I know Rahul isn't really a household name in India, but I wouldn't be surprised if Saros is heavily featured in the region.

I would not be surprised if the Ghost franchises moves to China at some point

Saros definitely looks like it may be using Hindu myth similar to how Returnal used Greek myth. Could definitely use that in marketing in India.

 

[Felessan]

Saros definitely looks like it may be using Hindu myth similar to how Returnal used Greek myth. Could definitely use that in marketing in India.

Hindu/Buddhism, so not only India but the whole Asia.
Thing in the end looks like Mara

 

[Lambogenie]

Microsoft barely bothered in general


India, Africa/Middle East. We're a few years away from seeing the early results of those incubator projects.

I really want to see Middle East rise and see it positively personally.

 

[Loomy]

I really want to see Middle East rise and see it positively personally.

Same

 

[Astray]

That figure from sony has obviously has rattled alot of these idiots.

Not that figure alone, the whole financial disclosure has created a salt mine that will last us for generations.

 

[Astray]

Far from true, players in mainland are very sensitive about price.

Not necessarily true, a lot of the recent big launch hits on Steam (like Wukong or KCD2) are driven by China and since we're talking launch, then those are all bought at full MSRP by definition.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Related because he talks about China and Korea as growing markets and specifically about Stellar Blade, which has been discussed quite a bit.

 

[MayauMiao]

This makes me wonder if recent PS5 console sales was due to China.

 

[Hudo]

Switch is a handheld, not a console. IMO. You're free to consider it a console like the others and thus have your own conclusions but this would require you to separate out the Switch Lite from the base model because it would be ridiculous to count those (Lite) sales as console sales.

Switch is a hybrid, which is its own category, imho.

 

[Hugare]

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

China and Korea are the new gaming frontiers.

With the west collectively shitting the bed, China, Korea and Japan are poised to lead the industry moving forwards. Sony was smart to invest there.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No big new releases? Pretty much every major new game is on PS5 or coming to PS5... and Sony easily is the best price to performance ratio in the gaming market.

Significantly more performance than an XSS and significantly cheaper than equivalent PC builds.

I can envision the PS5 selling like hotcakes when the digital hits 300 dollars, which I don't think we're super far from (spring/summer 2026, holiday season at the latest).

 

[Fabieter]

Twice as quickly is pretty useless when we don't have hard numbers.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

This makes me wonder if recent PS5 console sales was due to China.

Not really. PS5 had a monster quarter due to the anniversary edition PS5s and the PS5 Pro. It was easy to anticipate their results were going to be in the ballpark of last year's even without Spider-Man.

Next holiday season it'll have GTA6, which will be evergreen for the rest of the generation just like Hogwarts Legacy or Elden Ring, but on steroids.

The longer it takes T2 to get GTA6 onto PC, the faster PS5 is going to sell.

 

[Roman Empire]

Sony breaking through the chinese market is HUGE. They've been slow and steady investing on it but it seems it's finally paying off and that could be a game changer as not many companies can pull off that easily as for example Apple who had a very rough start in the mobile market there as its competitors had better offers or similar products with better pricing. However, beyond PC and mobile market, console gaming never had the same impact in china as it did in the rest of the world. The money to be made there is crazy.

 

[BlackTron]

It's weird that most in the video game media never thought it was possible to grow the console space by selling games and consoles in China and India. It's soooo short sighted. Plus, even less of them know that Africa is next after India. Sony is already starting their projects in India and Africa now. We won't see the fruit of that label until the 2030s though.

It's not that weird, China has always made it difficult to do business there. In the past games didn't come out there at all because of the government's rules. That's why Nintendo packed a bunch of N64 games into a controller called the iQue as their first venture into China, during the GC era, to try and get into the market. And it had to go through the Chinese iQue company to meet the requirements of operating there at arm's length from Nintendo. This is how their big leak came out, data shared with iQue.

Today Chinese customers often prefer to import a Switch from a different region even though you can get a local one that has been locked down by gov restrictions.

Anyway, it's funny that Yoshida said he thought PC was important to tap into Chinese market, actually reasoned thinking at the time. Without knowing Nvidia would drive them to Playstation anyway. In seriousness, PC is the most realistic long-term platform there but if Playstation does it, it'll be an accomplishment cracking a problem that's styimed the whole business for decades -not that no one ever thought of it.

 

[HeWhoWalks]

misinformed picture

Damn, so WuKong was a small release! Learn something new errr day!

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Sony breaking through the chinese market is HUGE. They've been slow and steady investing on it but it seems it's finally paying off and that could be a game changer as not many companies can pull off that easily as for example Apple who had a very rough start in the mobile market there as its competitors had better offers or similar products with better pricing. However, beyond PC and mobile market, console gaming never had the same impact in china as it did in the rest of the world. The money to be made there is crazy.

Console have a huge advantage over PC when it comes to affordability. That's becoming more and more the case as we move forward an Nvidia focuses on AI over gaming.

Nintendo and Sony are both in a really good spot at the moment.

 

[John Wick]

If a country with more than 1b people suddently farts a fraction of its mobile/pc player base into the console sinkhole, sonys profit quadruples.

I think if Sony play this right it will pay dividends later on. The China Hero projects were a great start. Sony should properly setup in China. With the right games and price they could make very big inroads.

 

[nial]

Related because he talks about China and Korea as growing markets and specifically about Stellar Blade, which has been discussed quite a bit.

Glad that Shu completely confirmed my observations of his role in getting Stellar Blade picked up by SIE.
A lot of people thought that he was the one that signed it all up, but that just never made any sense. Not dismissing his contributions, tho.