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PlayStation’s previous management believed it was acceptable for Nintendo to erode its market share in Japan, but new CEO Hideaki Nishino – who’s Japanese and has replaced British leader Jim Ryan – won’t go down without a fight.
According to a report by TV Tokyo (as translated by user Hartmann on Install Base), the company committed to its plan of releasing a cut-price, Japanese language-only model within four months of its rival deploying the same strategy with the Switch 2.
The move comes with substantial risks: the model may lose the manufacturer money as component prices have soared since the PS5’s launch in 2020. But apparently, Nishino believes it’s necessary to stop PlayStation’s domestic rot.
While the PS5 started quite strongly in Japan, its sales have slowed significantly due to rising prices. To make matters worse, Nintendo’s grip on the region with its more appealing hybrid hardware form factor has started to eat into Sony’s market share.
The big wake-up call for the manufacturer may be seeing tentpole titles like Resident Evil Requiem and Final Fantasy 7 Remake beginning to ship on the Switch 2. Historically, titles of this ilk have skipped Nintendo’s hardware due to technical limitations.
Sony still has an uphill battle ahead of it, of course: it can’t compete with the cultural dominance of its rival’s first-party titles, and the PS5’s stationary form factor is always going to put it at a disadvantage.
But Nishino will be hoping the significant price reduction and renewed marketing push at least gets the PS5 moving in the right direction again.
We should have a better idea of whether his bet has paid off in the coming months.
[source txbiz.tv-tokyo.co.jp, via installbaseforum.com]
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.