Jim Ryan: Japanese Market Still Very Important to Sony

Then make JRPG's again, will ya? You got clamoring for a legend of dragoon remake and the Wild Arms creator had to crowd fund the next entry. Could've been an easy win.
Rogue galaxy 2 with level 5 could be another easy win. Maybe an Ape escape reboot? You have to actually try Ryan.

So should we expect a lot of Japanese developed games next week then?

I'm hoping to see more of FF7 ReBirth, SynDuality and Eternights.

PlayStation is not so popular in Japan after PlayStation 3. If Sony wants to be popular in Japan again, it needs to make a handheld console again, because Japanese people like handheld consoles and mobile games more than home consoles. As for the games themselves, Japanese people don't really like to buy JRPGs for the PlayStation because Sony is quite famous for censoring games, especially Japanese games.

As long as Nintendo is releasing consoles that are a decade out of date technologically, Sony will have an automatic space in the Japanese market, since it's the only viable commercial platform there for high-end third-party games. For better or worse, that market wants NOTHING to do with the Xbox brand.

@Nem I doubt they flattened Japan Studio just so they could proceed to make a bunch of the sort of games that Japan Studio made in the first place.

@Arcanist censoring what exactly and what handheld platform is not censoring their desired games?

@KundaliniRising333 JRPG's on playstation don't really get censored, pretty much most have very revealing swimsuits and clothes in game or via DLC and they are not censored. The thing that sony are censoring is the overly sexual minigames where you touch the characters inappropriately etc

@KundaliniRising333

Sony apparently force developers to censor games, especially Japanese ones.

https://nichegamer.com/new-sony-censorship-policy-is-forcing-even-japanese-developers-to-censor-themselves-in-japan/

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/10/sonys-censors-strike-as-switch-gets-20-ladies-while-ps4-gets-20-bunnies

Few people can deny that Sony has lost a lot of its spirit when there are not many first-party games that are made in Japan anymore. This is a consistent problem because their image is already synonymous with the West and it frankly becomes too monotone if nothing is going to change. I'm glad to see an aggressive move towards a more global approach, especially regarding China and India as of late. But even that doesn't change the fact that they've lost their grip on their legacy games. The titles that were made in Japan. I hate to repeat myself every time this comes up, but they got to change.

On the subject of Japan's place in the market, I'll just say this: the majority of great gaming IPs are still Japanese ones, and I'm a gamer primarily because of the various Japanese-developed games I've played and loved over the years.

That is to say that, while I can enjoy good games from any region, if Japanese companies like Capcom, Square-Enix, Nintendo, SEGA, etc. all called it quits, leaving the industry entirely to the West, I'd be done in terms of buying new hardware and new games.

Oh, yeah, sure it is, right, yeah, fersher, ok Jim.

I like how his nod to what Japan wants is a bunch of games heavily tooled to the Western market other than MonHun.

@UltimateOtaku91

Due to Sony's game censoring policy, the Japanese will prefer to buy the Switch or PC version

@UltimateOtaku91 That entire statement is contradictory, though. You say they don't really censor them, then give an example of them censoring them. I don't think this is really that flexible. It's either they do or they don't.

@SplooshDmg in general they don't compared to the amount of JRPG's they get every year, but the ones they do censor are very few. Maybe one or two a year, I'm not making excuses for them as nintendo release those games in tact in the west so it's not a legal requirement, only someone at Sony knows why.

@UltimateOtaku91 They must protect me from the self-inflicted trauma of Gal Gun Returns.

Yeah sure buddy, with all those california censor and all, also no "O" button to confirm option for ps5 japanese os.

@SplooshDmg Haha that's nothing compared to Moero Chronicle, don't ask how I know 😅

@UltimateOtaku91 @SplooshDmg Most of the devs running into troubles with Sony's guidelines moved over to Nintendo's ecosystem years ago. The main thing that gets censored on Playstation now is the occasional box art: games still release that crop out bare legs or cover up cleavage on the cover of the PS4 version compared to the Nintendo Switch version.

Then get more 1st party Japanese content acquire some smaller Japanese studios or makes some prove it

@UltimateOtaku91 It's okay. I sank 40+ hours into Bullet Girls Phantasia on Steam. It happens to the best of us.

@Ralizah Maybe. Gal Gun Returns skipped PS4 altogether. It was going to launch on Xbox and then the devs gave the indication that MS pulled the plug on it at the 11th hour. Then we get releases like Samurai Maidens from Shade that were WILDLY toned down compared to their prior games, probably because they knew they wouldn't get a console release this day and age if they didn't.

@UltimateOtaku91 yeah that's what my understanding was as well. Thanks for the clarification.

@Arcanist I mean is this not the hyper sexualized touching girls mini games that should be censored? These aren't games.

This entire conversation in this thread thus far is exactly why this entire industry can just stay on their little handheld market as far as I'm concerned. The continued pandering to the sexual fetishes of a few sad souls and the condoning it's prevalence in an entire culture via the exploitation of women is just lame. Especially coming from a place where women are already treated as lesser to begin with.

There is a litany of the trash on the net as it is. It doesn't also need to be a game, and it being censored should not be a shock, nor is this really indicative of the entirety of rpgs from the region, but even then the oversexualization of childlike female characters in the actual games has really got to go.

@Ralizah I wonder what changed for them then, as I remember the first lot of Senran Kagura games such as estival versus and Peach beach splash, plus games like dead or alive extreme had some revealing cover art.

In terms of 3rd party, I know Japan is still important to them. I mean they're promoting FFXVI hard over there

Maybe it's in the interview that I can't read, but it always seems like they never talk about 1st party, specifically Japan studio obviously, and what its shutting down has meant to people and how they view the company

Then why did you tear the heart out of Japanese game developers and force them to mutilated their own products?!

The way they treated devs and seemed embarrassed to release their games, or afraid of the woke mob, was embarrassing to see.

Forcing them to keep US hours for communication, and only letting them submit documentation in English, was disgraceful.

No wonder everyone moved to Nintendo.

@UltimateOtaku91 Another good example. There is a F2P gacha DOAX on PC that's only available in the Asian market. The game is 100% available in English already, and all you have to do is use a VPN and you can add it to your Steam account. However, there is no indication of a western release or console release. I don't really get why they wouldn't release it outside of the fact they just think the western market doesn't want it. Well... They're wrong. I wanted it. I kinda of imagine it's not on consoles at all because only Valve would tolerate the fan service.

@Arcanist I do agree about the handheld market having a bigger appeal in Japan, but the issue of a handful of degenerate hentai "Games" being censored won't push the needle the slightest.

@UltimateOtaku91 That was largely before the Fanservice Purge on Playstation, when Sony sprung its revised "guidelines" on the industry practically overnight, and even went as far as refusing to allow already localized fanservice titles like Omega Labyrinth Z to be released on their platforms in North America and Europe. There were reports that Japanese developers had to stay up at weird hours to speak in English with Sony's censors about what needed to be changed.

Unsurprisingly, since Nintendo's Switch turned out to be a surprise Mecca for this type of game, most of them jumped ship to that platform. It did break Kenichiro Takaki, though, who left fanservice game development pretty much altogether and said the industry was becoming too prudish.

Amusingly enough, despite this, Nintendo's reputation hasn't suffered or changed much as a result.

@SplooshDmg Yeah, if you want to make a properly raunchy, Senran Kagura/Gal Gun-style ecchi game now, Nintendo is the only reliable platform for you, since even Valve has been weird and inconsistent with what it'll allow on its storefront.

@Ralizah Valve hasn't changed the rules too much. Outside of just truly heinous things, and NFTs, which I think are kinda the same thing. CHAOS;HEAD NOAH wasn't permitted on Steam at first, but Valve re-examined the decision and reversed it, and then changed some processes to avoid it from happening again.

Prove it Jim where are your first party developed Japanese games? I know you can do a little better than Astro! cute little games but not exactly oozing with lore, story, characters, gameplay!

@SplooshDmg I'm talking about enforcement, not rhetoric. Steam has removed a number of fanservice and eroge games that seem like they should have been allowed over the years for mysterious reasons. The platform is still a crapshoot on that front if you're releasing that sort of game.

@Ralizah Right, but like I said, truly heinous things. I'd probably chalk Taimanin Asagi down as pretty heinous. Lol

Then release some games aimed at that market but give them a worldwide audience. Western gamers lap up some of the crazy stuff that comes out of Japan. We all love the single player epics and online world but who is Sony paying anymore to come up with games like Locoroco or Super Rub-a-Dub?

@SplooshDmg Full Metal Daemon: Muramasa isn't something I would consider "truly heinous." Neither are a number of games that ran into trouble on Steam.

If Steam has policies for what games are allowed to release, then they needed to articulate them clearly and enforce them fairly.

@Nem. I agree a rogue galaxy 2 would be amazing.rogue galaxy is one of the best games ever made.word up son

@Ralizah I know they never gave an exact reason for Full Metal Daemon getting removed, but I kinda think it definitely features some of the particular things Valve isn't keen on. But you aren't wrong, Valve still does have policies, but they're a heck of a lot more lenient than Sony or MS. But then there's weird situations like Evenicle 1 still running wild and free, but Evenicle 2 was rejected. Lol. But I think Valve also allows a heck of a lot of content that Nintendo wouldn't. Yet Nintendo is the only platform with a truly intact version of Mary Skelter 2. In reality, neither of them has a just anything goes policy. But like I said with the CHAOS;HEAD NOAH debacle. That wasn't permitted, but then it was re-examined, and they permitted it. Valve said they were making some internal changes in the process to avoid stuff like that from happening again. So, I don't disagree, there's obviously some flaws in the system, but it seems they're aware of it and owned that. Now they just have to actually fix the process. Or... We just go to GOG.

@SplooshDmg Nintendo allows less, but Nintendo is also very consistent. And, really, allows about as much as you could ever reasonably expect on a major console platform.

Tbf I'm actually not a huge fan of Valve's push in this direction. Both since the implementation is inconsistent (and has been since, what, 2018?), and also because I think nothing good comes from eroges intruding on a mass-market platform like Steam. They're best left to independent specialty digital storefronts like Mangagamer's and JAST USA's.

Valve, on the other hand, is still struggling with ecchi lol.

@Ralizah See, honestly, I'm not necessarily is disagreement. By and large, I think the level of content Nintendo allows is 100% reasonable and should probably just be an industry standard, the other two just come off as prudish to me. It doesn't have to be the absolute wild west, which Valve wants to be, but even the wild west still had a sheriff. I get that developers like the ability to be seen on the Steam storefront, but Valve definitely has some nitpicks in the form of particular scenarios that they seem to clamp down on when they catch them. GOG doesn't really seem to care whatsoever, but really, like you said some of this stuff in reality probably really is better suited for an actual specialty storefront.

@Tutes What in the world are you referencing in this lame attack? My reply to you is the first post I've done in this article which has nothing to do with remote play.

I had played 1 game in the Japanese top 15 (Hogwarts Legacy) last time I checked.

Everything else seemed to be made by/for people who think Crayola are Art Supplies.

They can let 3rd party target Japan. Sony studios need to keep making the high-end story driven single player games that are popular in the West.

Then why nuke all the first party studios you had making japanese rpgs an the like..? Everything he said was all third party.
Any hope from me of seeing things like legend of dragoon again are long since dead.

@UltimateOtaku91 Defo want to see a Eternights release date

@SplooshDmg Nintendo's hands-off approach with Switch is arguably the same sort of policy that helped out Sony in the 90s when Nintendo was full of itself and dictating what third-party devs could and couldn't include in their games lol.

Valve's stated standards of not censoring anything that's not "illegal or trolling" was always too vague for my liking, so I suspected trouble. Like, illegal where? Because half of the PS Vita's library is likely illegal in Australia, let alone actual eroge. And what counts as trolling on a platform filled with embarrassing asset flips and such vaunted classics as "Shower With Your Dad Simulator?"

Evenicle 2 isn't even on GOG, weirdly.

@Ralizah I think that's kind of the issue. So much is just left to interpretation of individuals, or maybe just a small panel of people reviewing this stuff. Which in a sense is why a platform does need to have a very defined criteria of what is and isn't okay. Kinda like I mentioned above with Gal Gun Returns. It just wasn't even slated for PS4 because they surely just already knew they wouldn't get approval. Or Samurai Maiden just being totally dialed in compared to Bullet Girls. Those were certainly situations where the creators knew exactly what the rules were and just made their decisions around those.

I dunno, Im finding the Evenicle II listing on GOG. It's $40 and the users are complaining about the standard issue mosaic censorship that GOG had nothing to do with. Lol

@SplooshDmg Weird! It didn't show up for me at first, but now I see it. Initially, only the first game showed up.

That does make me curious where GOG draws the line. I haven't heard people complaining about eroges being delisted on there, but I have to imagine there's a line they won't cross. It'll be a cold day in hell before you see something like Euphoria on there.

@Ralizah You are now leaving Push Square
You have now entered Reddit

I love that Euphoria is a game so infamous it is refered to as THAT Euphoria. Lol

@SplooshDmg @Ralizah I think it's hilarious that the conversation is devolving into the do's and don'ts of barely interactive pseudo-porn featuring cartoon characters and how different platforms should and shouldn't crack down and limit that content while also discussing the arrival of GTA6, sure to be one of the to sellers for PS and all platforms but Nintendo for the next 10 years, where you'll get to play more "don't get caught groping" minigames with a stripper you buy a lapdance from, then can shoot her in the face, and nobody finds that questionable at all.

West the understanding I have don't.

@KundaliniRising333 wow this comments section went off on a tangent fast..i agree with you and i dont like these horrid little fetish games. They just look grubby and seem to be bought by perverts. Maybe sony should encourage its studios to make games that appeal to the japanese markets but i'm not sure as to how they would go about that. What exactly do the japanese gamers play? I'm not really up on what games are popular over there but i'm pretty sure they are not a nation of perverts..

@NEStalgia That's really the best part. Crime sprees and senseless murder are fine. Just don't poke an anime girls boob or you will surely be denied access to heaven. It's okay to like questionable mature content, so long as your brand of questionable mature content is approved of by the puritanical judges of society.

@SplooshDmg Exactly this. God forbid an animé tiddie shows up on screen, but detailed over the top gore in Mortal Kombat is ok and advertised as its main selling point. Violence good, tiddie bad.

Sadly Sony won’t invest in making their own JRPGs so long they can simply buy exclusivities. Similar to how they no longer make FPS games, because they can buy marketing exclusivity for the largest one out there (for now.)

Side to that, anyone that thinks Nintendo is successful in Japan because of Sonys censorship policies, and are complaining about games that don’t make it to the west… ugh…

Nintendo is big in Japan because of portability, not because of sexual assault simulators.

@NEStalgia They're easy targets if you want to virtue signal, or if you're just a bully that likes to claim scalps.

@SplooshDmg I wouldn't even put it in the top 20 of the most extreme bits of media I've seen over the years tbh (even from that developer, I'd say Maggot Baits is worse), but it's still a bit much for a mainstream platform, I think.

what jim means to say is: sony has its eyes on a major japanese publisher acquisition. the only way sony is going to begin developing games in japan again is if it purchases s-e or capcom, etc.

@Ralizah Honestly, I've met my match. I've been on the internet for a while, but you've just got me beat.

@Ralizah You would think virtue signaling would not stop at lap dances (GTA5), shooting the stripper after (GTA5), full-on hardcore (RDR2).... I guess since you can shoot people in the face it undoes the corruption a Betty Boop blowing skirt does to impressionable minds with a wholesome photorealistic gang bang.

@NEStalgia Hey... Uhh... Buddy. I think you got called out by ScuttyT. I know you're probably really upset right now, but I'm here for you if you need to talk about it.

@ScuttyT I could make a joke about you being a small child, but the sad truth is you're probably older than me.

@ScuttyT Geez. If you read any of my long-winded comments about pseudo-erotic games above, you could safely assume that I don't have a sex partner. Use your freaking head, man!

@SplooshDmg I might need to borrow your Pyra & Mythra body pillows for enough emotional support to make it through the trauma the troll warfare has caused.

@NEStalgia Tora body pillow. It's the bestest Noppon body pillow to ever Pon. That's the best I can do.

@SplooshDmg I did always think it was awesome they made you into a video game character...

@NEStalgia It was really quite the honor to be featured in one of my favorite super amazing Switch exclusives.

@SplooshDmg I would unironically buy a Tora body pillow. Very few companies would have the courage to make a degenerate furby with a fetish robot one of the main characters of a AAA exclusive, but those madman at Nintendo did it! Best boy.

@Ralizah Lol ScuttyT wasn't a very good troll.

@SplooshDmg I do love what a trainwreck this comment section has become!

@Ralizah I don't know what happened... But I'm pretty sure we are responsible for it.

@SplooshDmg It all went downhill once I got started on eroges.

@Ralizah I'm sure you probably know this, but it's always been so interesting to me that the first games Koei ever released were eroges. They go from Seduction of the Condominium Wife and Night Life to... Nobunaga's Ambition. Lol

@Ralizah @SplooshDmg you are not responsible for that hand breeders behaviour. He got banned earlier in the comments and made that profile just to be abusive..it wouldnt surprise me if he just creates another.

@Northern_munkey If he's a GameFAQs troll, it probably means he has five other alts as backups.

@SplooshDmg You'd be shocked how many 'legit' Japanese developers/artists/mangaka/etc. got their start with doujin stuff.

Literally all of those titles except for FFXVI are multiplatform releases, and even FFXVI is a timed exclusive.

Letting third party studios release their titles on your system is not supporting the Japanese market, it's the absolute bare minimum of common sense.

@SplooshDmg I mean they publish DoA.... What about their past surprises you?

@SplooshDmg This is the site where one of the main feature stories from the editors was once about the top cosplay porn. I don't think anything went out of bounds here.

@Ralizah " a degenerate furby"

That's rude to say right in front of him though...

Bring back Japan Studios then Jim & Thanks for telling me that PlayStation was born in Japan to I get the feeling he isn't a real gamer really but it doesn't matter as the PS5 is doing amazingly well so well done Jimbo anyway

I want more Japanese games and less american orientated games.

I got into games because of Japanese RPGS.

@NEStalgia Oh, I'm not surprised. I'm happy they kept with tradition!

@Ralizah did nothing wrong. I am what I am.

I'll believe it when I see a new Soul Sacrifice, Freedom Wars and more like ICO/SoTC/TLG games. They need more studios of their own in Japan and grow them to be as popular as their western studios

I want to see Kung Fu Rider 2 with PS Move as optional control and Toro Let's Party 2 on PS5.

I'd like to see Sony look into reviving some old exclusives titles from Japan if possible, but for the most part I think 3rd party partnerships is fine. Same with indies.

They don't need to do it internally to have an effective investment. You can tinker around the edges, but they seem to be more or less on the right sort of track to me.