This year’s E3 turned out to be one of the more interesting and exciting conventions in recent memory. Unfortunately for yours truly, I was stuck across that pesky barrier, commonly referred to in geography classes as the Pacific Ocean. But that didn’t keep me and other interested peoples here in Japan from checking in on the happenings online.
So, how did Japanese gamers feel about E3? Weekly Famitsu recently conducted a reader poll on the events and news from the convention. The results were mostly what you would expect: a lot of high expectations were set for Microsoft and Sony’s new consoles. In terms of games, Titanfall — or as I’ve started calling it, “Tit-anvil” — for the Xbox One and Final Fantasy XV for the PlayStation 4 were the top of the reader “want” lists.
More interesting, however, were the responses to the console prices. While neither console has a set price in Japanese Yen at the moment, — or a Japanese release date for that matter — Japanese gamers put in their two cents (heh heh) on the dollar prices that were announced.
On a scale of Very Cheap, Cheap, Just Right, Expensive, and Very Expensive, 47 per cent of responders felt the Xbox One was Very Expensive, 42.7 per cent felt it was Expensive, while only 10.3 per cent felt the price was Just Right. The PS4 fared much better, with only 3.6 per cent stating they felt it was Very Expensive, 12 per cent thought it was Expensive, 60 per cent thought it was Just Right, with 14 per cent feeling it was cheap, and 10.4 per cent feeling it was Very Cheap.
Weekly Famitsu didn’t just stop with reader responses though. Asking retailers what they thought of the console price tags yielded a much different, and perhaps more level-headed response.
Price tag impressions of retailers for the Xbox One were fairly close to gamer responses; most seem to feel the console was Very Expensive, noting that while the initial library looked robust, the high price tag and weak performance in Japan may drive away potential buyers. For the PS4 however, unlike the reader responses, over 50 per cent of responding retailers felt the console was a little expensive for their tastes (48.2 per cent felt it was Expensive, while 11.1 per cent thought it was Very Expensive).
This is understandable: Unlike consumers whose only concern is singularly whether to buy something or not, retailers have to think about whether something will sell to an audience or not, and many retailers in Japan seem to feel that even at its cheaper price setting, the PS4 won’t be able to properly permeate the market unless the price is lower. Some responding retailers remarked that they felt the console won’t be able to really rake in the numbers unless it drops below the $US300 mark.
I admit that initially the PS4’s price tag seemed more appealing when compared to the Xbox One. But taking a step back, $549 is still $549. Not exactly chump change when you think about it.
ファミ通.com [ファミ通.com]
Comments
24 responses to “Japanese Gamers And Retailers On The Next Gen Consoles’ Pricing”
I think that the prices are incredible given the launch price of previous consoles. PS3!
That’s why the previous gen prices were so high. So people would jump on them when the next gen came out.
Thats the dumbest conspiracy theory ive heard all day.
In other news: the sales of tin-foil hats is sky rocketing
My tin-foil hat is fabulous, thank you very much.
^ I remember when I had no sense of humour to speak of.
You might then want to work on making jokes funny, instead of ones that just make you look stupid.
I’m going to make it a personal mission of mine to make sure everything you say is scrutinised and you’re called on everything funny or not.
Maybe then you’ll learn not to be an asshole. =)
Is this you trying to be funny again? Because if so, I’ve got some bad news…
Hell yeah $899 the PS3 was! Even the xboxone is a great price compared to the PS3 and the 360 prices at launch! Especially for what your actually also getting this time around! The xboxone and PS4 have a $50 price difference and if a fan of PSeyetoy want that also that’s another $99 so actually works out far more then the xboxone!
Agreed good value this time round….i pre ordered the Xbox one
This is nuts. What a bunch of cry babies. Very expensive? Is that a joke? The ps4 is $550 in Australia, the PS3 launched at $999….. I am very happy with the current price of the ps4. I was surprised.
My theory is a lot of people complaining are early 20’s and have never had to buy a console themselves before. I remember saving up $750 for my PS2 from my $6 p/h job at a BBC hardware and being able to relatively comfortably buy the PS3 at $999.
$549 is not much at all.
When you have house/car/wedding to pay for $550+ is nothing to scoff at. Personally I’m ok with buying both with some careful saving but there is a reason I didn’t buy a ps3 til 1 year ago.
True!
But if you have a car/house/wedding loan being paid off I somehow doubt a day 1 console purchase would also be in the “high priority” list either.
As a video game lover this is not true. I have all those and an Xbox One & PS4 are quite high on my must have list. Both at launch too.
Nah it’s not I think Sony have thought about what M$ are doing in every angle and waiting till they can give answers just have to look at previous articles and thing Sony arent saying until now! They saw M$ get such huge flack for the DRM deal and would have dcided against it especially when Sony patented DRM policies only months before the reveal and they kept tight lipped till they where sure what M$ were doing! They went all white knight riding a safe horse then M$ 180 that original ordeal and all Sony have now to compete is a price nothing more! Its easy for Sony to say they never considered using DRM’s etc…but previous articles and information state otherwise! I for one don’t trust anyone who sits and waits to see what another company does to judge what decisions they make just to gain the upper hand it seems sneaky and makes you think are they really all about the gamers? I’m not defending M$ but this is just how I see it after everything I’ve read!
Given the hardware, I actually think the price is quite fair… You can shell out for a new PC and end up paying much more; this is something that works in the box… :S
Personally I’ll just be putting a bit of money aside each week; considering the last console was 1000 and given the hardware within I was both shocked and amazed at the price!
The PS4 is certainly good value for money. Based on current MSY prices a new PC that is a rough competitor to the Xbox One would be around $590-600, about the same as the console itself. For a rough competitor to the PS4 you’re looking in the vicinity of $620-640, much more than the console will sell for.
That’s building one from scratch of course, if one has a PC with a decent CPU already then a competitive graphics card is a fairly affordable upgrade.
Did you include the 1080p webcam/mic in the Xbox ones price check? Just wondering.
It does seem expensive, but when I think about dropping $999 on a PS3 at launch back in 2007, I’d say those 6 years ($166 per year?) were very much worth it! Plus the PS3 still has life ahead of it.
Compared to what I paid for my PS3, I’m quite happy with the price of the PS4. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than I was expecting, so I’ll be getting one on launch. 😀
I still think $499 is a much better psychological price point. Once it gets *over* $500 it feels like a different buying decision.