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[The Chairman]

Saw this AMA of a former Sony Employee on Reddit (r/Vita mod vetted) where a lot of unknown interesting information are shared about the Vita's death, store closings, culture war between Japan and the US to control the PS brand and more.

Q: Do you have any insight on what's going on (or already happened) with Sony essentially throwing all of Japan under the bus more recently? Has the US branch taken over the company entirely somehow? And, if so, why and how did the Japanese allow that?

Also, does Sony at all understand their appeal in terms of Japanese game software? Because the more I see them do anything this past generation and currently, the more I think they could be incompetently unaware.

A: There's a lot to it, some I'm going to simplify it at the cost of some nuance.

Playstation is a historically Japanese brand. In the time since Playstation debuted, America has grown to be the largest video game market. There's been a lot of internal competition for the "control" of the Playstation brand and over the past several years you can clearly see where America has been winning. Relocation of HQ, shutdown of most of Japan Studios, and the DualSense's X default confirm (as a final "fuck you") are some of the notable examples off the top of my head.

Most of this took place far above my level - think officers and the like.

Read more here

 

[Abriael_GN]

My Uncle Is a Former Nintendo Emplyee. AMA!

 

[The Chairman]

My Uncle Is a Former Nintendo Emplyee. AMA!

It was vetted by r/Vita mods. what's your problem?

 

[Abriael_GN]

It was vetted by r/Vita mods. what's your problem?

Oh wow, the mods of a subreddit dedicated to a dead and buried platform "vetted" it.

MUST BELIEVE.

You're free to believe it, mind you, but I find the recent rush to blindly believe any rando on the internet happening to say they're this or that or that they have this or that "source" rather hilarious. Basically everyone who fancies themselves an "insider" is literally rushing to allegedly "leak" something not to feel irrelevant. It's becoming ludicrous.

At the very least, there's a "rumor" thread tag if you really wanna spread things like this. The "news" tag is most definitely inappropriate.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Read it yesterday I think. Good read. I got through half of it and quit. Just too much info and some of it got repetitive. A lot of Vita focus, but he talks about other stuff a bit too.

But kudos for the guy who answered the questions. Guy must had sat there answering people's questions all night.

 

[Stuart360]

Vetted or not, its just someone jumping on the negativity bandwagon, just like Schreer.

The next time Sony announce something great, everyone will be back up their arse again. And likewise the next time Microsoft fuck up something, everyone will be hating them again.
Thats just the way it goes.

 

[The Chairman]

You're free to believe it, mind you, but I find the recent rush to blindly believe any rando on the internet happening to say they're this or that or that they have this or that "source" rather hilarious.

lol ok dude, go write a Trivia Quiz on Twinfinite instead of spending your time here 24/7 picking fights with members like your colleague here lmao

Only True Simpsons Fans Will Get A Perfect Score In This Trivia Quiz

The Simpsons has been around for over three decades now, following the many adventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie as they live their daily

twinfinite.net

 

[Abriael_GN]

lol ok dude, go write a Trivia Quiz on Twinfinite instead of spending your time here 24/7 picking fights with members like your colleague here lmao

Only True Simpsons Fans Will Get A Perfect Score In This Trivia Quiz

The Simpsons has been around for over three decades now, following the many adventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie as they live their daily

twinfinite.net

Translation of the above: "I don't have an argument, so I'll attack him personally instead."

At the very least I can say that in my 8,000-something news post on Twinfinite in two years and a bit (sorry not sorry to disappoint you, but quizzes aren't part of my job description) I haven't had to invent "anonymous sources" once to fill up my daily news slate and justify my employment. When you have broad enough gaming horizons, you don't need to. Slow news days don't exist.

 

[The Chairman]

Translation of the above: "I don't have an argument, so I'll attack him personally instead."

At the very least I can say that in my 8,000-something news post on Twinfinite in two years and a bit (sorry not sorry to disappoint you, but quizzes aren't my job) I haven't had to invent "anonymous sources" once to full up my daily news slate and justify my employment.

Dude, just look at your post history here, you are consistently fighting with members or waiting until someone post a thread to whine about it, go write an article or something. no wonder the woman who owns Twinfinite want to sell it sooner than later.

 

[Abriael_GN]

Dude, just look at your post history here, you are consistently fighting with members or waiting until someone post a thread to whine about it, go write an article or something. no wonder the woman who owns Twinfinite want to sell it sooner than later.

Man, the topic of your own thread must not be all that interesting to you if you're more interested in personally attacking me. If a joke as old as the internet triggers you so much, believing stuff blindly on the internet isn't the biggest problem here.

You picked up something that qualifies as a "rumor" at best, label it as news, and someone not really believing whatever someone posted on Reddit makes you go on a hissy fit? come on.

 

[Zeroing]

My Uncle Is a Former Nintendo Emplyee. AMA!

That’s my uncle you are talking about! Joking

Vetted or not, its just someone jumping on the negativity bandwagon, just like Schreer.

The next time Sony announce something great, everyone will be back up their arse again. And likewise the next time Microsoft fuck up something, everyone will be hating them again.
Thats just the way it goes.

Isn’t what people are doing with MS right now? Up deep into gamepass arse?

serious question

 

[Abriael_GN]

That’s my uncle you are talking about! Joking

And that's how you take a joke. Thank you.

Isn’t what people are doing with MS right now? Up deep into gamepass arse?

It is, and it's fine. Up and downs. But it's funny that a lot of the things that people are raving about aren't even close to confirmed.

 

[The_Mike]

Vetted or not, its just someone jumping on the negativity bandwagon, just like Schreer.

The next time Sony announce something great, everyone will be back up their arse again. And likewise the next time Microsoft fuck up something, everyone will be hating them again.
Thats just the way it goes.

People: "Sony will also focus on mobile, cancels days gone 2, and Jim Ryan is ruining the PlayStation brand! Hang him!!"
Ryan: "hey hey, easy now, we have a new exclusive being revealed soon"
People: "yay praise Ryan!"

 

[The Chairman]

Man, the topic of your own thread must not be all that interesting to you if you're more interested in personally attacking me. If a joke as old as the internet triggers you so much, believing stuff blindly on the internet isn't the biggest problem here.

You picked up something that qualifies as a rumor at "best," label it as news, and someone not really believing whatever someone posted on reddit makes you go on a hissy fit? come on.

lol fine, go cry somewhere else and stop derailing the thread and i will stop hurting your fragile ego.

 

[Zeroing]

And that's how you take a joke. Thank you.



It is, and it's fine. Up and downs. But it's funny that a lot of the things that people are raving about aren't even close to confirmed.

All those rumors are a mix of fanboy fluffy dreams and MS trying to make pressure on their competitors!

so yeah people are hyping themselves to later be disappointed

 

[Abriael_GN]

lol fine, go cry somewhere else and stop derailing the thread and i will stop hurting your fragile ego.

I'm afraid you're not hurting anyone. But it's funny you don't understand that you're derailing your own thread to shower me with clumsy personal attacks. You went off topic all on your very own.

All those rumors are a mix of fanboy fluffy dreams and MS trying to make pressure on their competitors!

so yeah people are hyping themselves to later be disappointed

History repeats itself. I'll give you a 50/50 chance for any of these rumors to be actually true, and mostly because if you throw enough stuff at the wall, something statistically gets nailed.

 

[Stuart360]

Isn’t what people are doing with MS right now? Up deep into gamepass arse?

serious question

I was actually sticking up for Playstation here, dont spoil it.

 

[Ozzie666]

So Sony is using the Disney Movie Tent pole strategy. Not surprising.

But I don't like any comparisons or reliving the past of Sony PS3 Hubris or Sega's self implosion. As a Playstation fan, it's concerning!

 

[The Chairman]

I'm afraid you're not hurting anyone. But it's funny you don't understand that you're derailing your own thread to shower me with clumsy personal attacks. You went off topic all on your very own.

lol all your posts in this thread are edited. calm down and take a deep breath before posting Twinfinite guy.

 

[Abriael_GN]

lol all your posts in this thread are edited. calm down and take a deep breath before posting Twinfinite guy.

Complains about someone derailing his thread -> keeps derailing the thread all on his own.

 

[Zeroing]

Now being serious! This is a problem not exclusive to Jim in charge... it’s being going for a long time and now things are blowing up on the internet. I do feel Jim is changing things too quickly and sometimes I get worried , that we gamers will end up with another gaming company who only relies on established IPs and stops being creative and innovating!

 

[v_iHuGi]

So Sony is using the Disney Movie Tent pole strategy. Not surprising.

But I don't like any comparisons or reliving the past of Sony PS3 Hubris or Sega's self implosion. As a Playstation fan, it's concerning!

This was always the end goal.

Suck for us who like different experiences, I'm loving it takes two per example & Sackboy looks dope but Sony 1st party won't be focus on games like these in the future it seems.

 

[Abriael_GN]

Now being serious! This is a problem not exclusive to Jim in charge... it’s being going for a long time and now things are blowing up on the internet. I do feel Jim is changing things too quickly and sometimes I get worried , that we gamers will end up with another gaming company who only relies on established IPs and stops being creative and innovating!

*assuming* that half of the things said nowadays are true, people personalize things a bit too much. It's very unlikely that Jim Ryan is taking any of these decisions all on his own. Companies like SIE have a much wider executive team than just the CEO, and CEOs have a lot of advisors tugging them this or that way. A lot of those policies, if we wanna call them so, come from before Ryan was even global CEO, and I doubt he influenced an alleged culture war to bring the axis of PlayStation to America as the CEO of PlayStation Europe.

He's unlikable for a few reasons, but people give him too much "credit." IMHO.

Funnily, I've seen plenty of people posting on Twitter how much they miss Shawn Layden, and from what I can see, a lot (if not all) of what's happening today was sowed during Layden's tenure at SIEA (and Ryan at SIEE). I wouldn't be surprised if the shift to America is one of these things, and it'd certainly be strange if that was initiated by the CEO of SIEE and not by the CEO of SIEA. Ryan's been on the global scene only 2 years, and a lot of these bigger shifts take longer to surface.

Me, I miss Andrew House (and the time in which Shu Yoshida wasn't sidelined), but who knows what he was doing behind the scenes when he was CEO.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

formersonydude

1 day ago

It's been a while in the making but when I left there still wasn't a concrete date. As soon as firmware was broken in 2016 or 2017 it was on the chopping block. After the nightmare that was the 2011 hack, Sony's terrified of the word "hack" or any potential network intrusions. Fun fact: the PSP was actually planned to have trophies until that firmware was broken and they dropped it like a hot potato.
I'm not surprised people weren't informed. Sony is composed of these weird silos that people just don't communicate outside of. The right hand doesn't know what the left is doing, as the expression goes.

formersonydude

1 day ago

Either I've misstated something or you're intentionally mincing my words, but let me be clear: prior to the firmware hack Sony were fine with letting the Vita live on, supported by their third-party partners and providing minimalistic support.
This attitude clearly, drastically, and suddenly changed when the firmware was broken and I don't believe we'd be where we are today if that hadn't happened.

formersonydude

1 day ago

Killing the Vita has been in the cards since 2016 or 2017. I'd wager that both the store shutdown and nixing the sales ability are steps to get people off the platform, just as the cessation of manufacturing carts/consoles.
Sony views the Vita as a failure. It missed pretty much every sales target they had and for a for-profit business that's about as bad as it gets. They were content with it as a small stream of passive income, but when the firmware was broken they were nailing the coffin.
It had some strong proponents internally, especially on the JP side, but that just served as a "told you so" in the culture wars Sony's been not-so-quietly having for the past decade.

Fascinating.

Ps. One more.

 

[Peroroncino]

The fact that this war has been happening, I thought is already like the most open secret ever though.

 

[captainraincoat]

Interesting that he sees ms and Sony swapping positions in the gamespace.

 

[Abriael_GN]

The fact that this war has been happening, I thought is already like the most open secret ever though.

There have been several people mentioning it, so it's one of the more credible things here (but that also means that this "Leaker" could simply be parroting). It's honestly a pity, and I'm not spilling any secret saying that more than a few Japanese devs haven't been happy about it, but at this point, I don't think it's reversible.

 

[SLB1904]

People: "Sony will also focus on mobile, cancels days gone 2, and Jim Ryan is ruining the PlayStation brand! Hang him!!"
Ryan: "hey hey, easy now, we have a new exclusive being revealed soon"
People: "yay praise Ryan!"

You joke. But that's how is going down

 

[The_Mike]

You joke. But that's how is going down

People knowing my post history knows I ain't joking.
It's just so irrational so it seems like a bad comedy.

 

[Ten_Fold]

Haven’t seen So much Sony hate since the PS3 days.

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

No surprise PlayStation is getting shit. The Japan years are over. Fuck it!

So who made the decision to close the Vita Store?

Edit: I don't see Vita as a failure, at all. As a gamer, it's fucking great. In my book, i's the greatest mobile console ever. For Sony shure, but who's to blame for that? Seriously!

 

[Tomeru]

Things are not looking good for sony. Ofcourse it diesnt mean they wont churn out blockbaster after blockbaster. Their reputation is taking hits though, no doubt about it.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Zcase253

1 day ago

Do many people at Sony agree with Jim Ryan's stance on older games and backwards compatibility.

formersonydude

1 day ago

At my level, no. Upper management, probably. The latter really only liked things that made money, and if anything BC prevented money from coming in by letting people replay things they already had.

 

[bender]

If Sony gets their ass kicked this generation, which is doubtful, at least they'll start fishing around for ways to engender good will back into the fan base and BC is any easy win.

 

[Abriael_GN]

No surprise PlayStation is getting shit. The Japan years are over. Fuck it!

So who made the decision to close the Vita Store?

We will likely never know for sure. Personally, I'd be surprised if the closure of the store of a dead platform is even taken as high as the CEO level. It was likely taken by mid-level executives, possibly on the Network side of the company, and maybe just signed off by higher level brass.

Having a lot of friends in Japan, most of them nowadays don't consider Sony much less "American" than Microsoft.

Things are not looking good for sony. Ofcourse it diesnt mean they wont churn out blockbaster after blockbaster. Their reputation is taking hits though, no doubt about it.

I think we're a bit overestimating the effect of this kind of stuff on the global audience. Nothing of this is really going to influence anyone that isn't a fan involved in internet console wars. Now, in Japan, it's possibly different, but it's not really coming from bad news/rumors that are mostly limited to western media which most Japanese gamers don't read. It's mostly an effect of local gamers not really seeing any first-party games from Sony made to appeal to them. And I guarantee, this stings the pride of many quite a bit.

Some are begrudgingly shifting toward enjoying western games, and some are enjoying what's left from third parties and otherwise moving to Nintendo. Ghost of Tsushima has actually offered a bit of relief for part of the Japanese fanbase, making them feel that Sony still cares a bit about Japan, even if through a western dev. Whether it's a placebo effect or not, it's anyone's guess.

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

We will likely never know for sure. Personally, I'd be surprised if the closure of the store of a dead platform is even taken as high as the CEO level. It was likely taken by mid-level executives, possibly on the Network side of the company, and maybe just signed off by higher level brass.

Having a lot of friends in Japan, most of them nowadays don't consider Sony much less "American" than Microsoft.



I think we're a bit overestimating the effect of this kind of stuff on the global audience. Nothing of this is really going to influence anyone that isn't a fan involved in internet console wars. Now, in Japan, it's possibly different, but it's not really coming from bad news/rumors that are mostly limited to western media which most Japanese gamers don't read. It's mostly an effect of local gamers not really seeing any first-party games from Sony made to appeal to them. And I guarantee, this stings their pride quite a bit.

Some are begrudgingly shifting toward enjoying western games, and some are enjoying what's left from third parties and otherwise moving to Nintendo. Ghost of Tsushima has actually offered a bit of relief for part of the Japanese fanbase, making them feel that Sony still cares a bit about Japan, even if through a western dev. Whether it's a placebo effect or not, it's anyone's guess.

Do you think that killing the Vita, with nothing to replace it, plays a role in Sony's fall in Japan?

 

[Abriael_GN]

Do you think that killing the Vita, with nothing to replace it, plays a role in Sony's fall in Japan?

Nah, pretty much because the Vita wasn't really much more popular in Japan than in the west. The fact that its most memorable game in Japan for many was Minecraft (not a Japanese game) says a lot. It really sold little more than peanuts even there, for a portable. The fact that they didn't support the Vita better initially and through its mid-life is more of a factor. While it wasn't strong enough to compete with Nintendo's portables, the PSP was *very* popular in Japan. A lot of my Japanese friends (and my impression going to Japan a lot is that that sentiment extended to pretty much Japanese gamers in general) really, really wanted to love the Vita. But it didn't get enough support from the get-go to actually become a beloved platform, so when Sony killed it, most people simply saw it as something that couldn't be helped.

My perception is that Sony not giving PSP a worthy successor is something that annoyed people a lot more than killing the successor that proved unworthy.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

No surprise PlayStation is getting shit. The Japan years are over. Fuck it!

So who made the decision to close the Vita Store?

Edit: I don't see Vita as a failure, at all. As a gamer, it's fucking great. In my book, i's the greatest mobile console ever. For Sony shure, but who's to blame for that? Seriously!

HorrorShow13666

1 day ago

How did Jim Ryan view the Vita? Did he make the important decisions or were there others making the decisions on his behalf?

25

formersonydude

1 day ago

I never interacted with Jim. He was many paygrades above me.
The impression I got was that he was a businessman first and foremost though. I don't know if he ever made any decisions along the lines of "kill the Vita" but some of the strategy and direction he set forth probably influenced others with more purview over the Vita. There was already a direction to kill the Vita in place, so his direction may have accelerated the trajectory at worst.

They were trying to kill the vita since 2016.

Jim Ryan just did it. Can't really blame him.

 

[sublimit]

We don't need some unknown "insider" "vetted" by a subreddit community (lol ) in order to see that the switch of power from Japan to USA was and is very real.
The relocation of their offices,the unfair censhorship towards Japanese devs,the removal of Yoshida as head of WW studios,the huge investment towards their Western studios while giving very small budgets to Japan Studio to work with,the writings were all over the wall for years now.

However i do see that they have toned down the censhorship towards Japanese devs and i also see that they still invest in getting exclusivity of Japanese 3rd party titles.
Yes all fans of Japanese games would have liked to see them invest more but lets not ignore the fact that the biggest slice of the market is in the West. No platform holder can survive by focusing more in Japan than in the West anymore.
I still think it was a very bad move to downsize Japan Studio because even if the sales weren't as good as Sony may have hoped they offered invaluable variety to their portfolio which IMO is much more important than sales and they could have afforded to have ONE such studio.

But i think it's too early (for any sane person at least) to jump the gun. During the PS4 gen the playstation brand had some amazing mix of exclusive AA and AAA Japanese titles alongside with huge AAA and critically acclaimed exclusive Western games that the competition could only dream off and i think it's very likely the same will happen this gen but more due to the support of Japanese 3rd party publishers who always had a history of excellent relationships with Sony.

They already have exclusive deals with games like FFXVI,Forspoken,Granblue Fantasy ReLink,Project Awakening and others and this gen has just began.

Haven’t seen So much Sony hate since the PS3 days.

Is anyone surprised? 90% of them are just butthurt Xbox and Nintendo fanboys making noise still pissed that Sony/PS4 handed over their asses with their previous consoles (XB1/WiiU).So yeah i understand how eager some fanboys are to use even the slightest trace of "dirt" they find under the carpet to throw back at Sony but something tells me they will look like idiots by the end of this gen.

 

[NEbeast]

Man, the topic of your own thread must not be all that interesting to you if you're more interested in personally attacking me. If a joke as old as the internet triggers you so much, believing stuff blindly on the internet isn't the biggest problem here.

You picked up something that qualifies as a "rumor" at best, label it as news, and someone not really believing whatever someone posted on Reddit makes you go on a hissy fit? come on.

Get out the thread if you're not interested.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

The next time Sony announce something great, everyone will be back up their arse again. And likewise the next time Microsoft fuck up something, everyone will be hating them again.
Thats just the way it goes.

You'd prefer it if everyone was just sticking to licking a specific platform holders boots, no matter what it does?

 

[Abriael_GN]

However i do see that they have toned down the censhorship towards Japanese devs and i also see that they still invest in getting exclusivity of Japanese 3rd party titles.

My impression is that Sony hasn't toned down its policies, but that Japanese devs have gotten used to it and have learned to sidestep what triggered Sony the most. This is is something I've heard from Japanese devs themselves, and I'm not talking about anonymous sources. For instance, D3 Publisher's boss Nobuyuki Okajima told me explicitly in an interview as early as 2019 (and if there's someone who knows a thing or two about shipping kinky content, that's him).

The problem with shifting focus away from Japan is that, as you said, it provides diversity to the lineup. As series like Yakuza, Persona, Final Fantasy XIV, and many more have been proving, Japanese-style content is enjoyed plenty in the west, especially if it's marketed right. The more in-your-face Japanese it is, the better.

The issue with Sony's Japanese content is that it was mostly marketed very clumsily and/or not enough, and it wasn't provided the budgets needed to be successful nowadays. I have a feeling that Sony's Japanese devs also mostly weren't allowed to do what they do best, which is extensive, story-driven JRPGs, so most were confined to doing small, quirky stuff destined to sell like small, quirky stuff. People are griping about Days Gone's sequel (allegedly) not getting greenlit, but I can only imagine how many pitches for bigger projects have been given the instant red light at Japan Studio.

Sure. Sony still has a lot of Japanese third-party support, but relying solely on third parties for that IMHO is a mistake. They did the same mistake with the Vita, and while it isn't going to be as bad for the PS5, it's still not great.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

The next time Sony announce something great, everyone will be back up their arse again. And likewise the next time Microsoft fuck up something, everyone will be hating them again.
Thats just the way it goes.

 

[The Cartographer]

True or not, we know that this one way conflict has been going on for a while.
San Mateo has been very spiteful towards its Tokyo predecessor.

 

[Redlancet]

real life its gonna crush your souls ,and i gonna have a good wine enjoying it

 

[SCB3]

Interesting that he sees ms and Sony swapping positions in the gamespace.

I could see that happenning, the Japan market is not there as it used to be and Xbox Seris S and X are doing fantastic with Gamepass being a mega-hit, PlayStation has its exclusives sure, but is that enough?

 

[Mr.ODST]

Not surprising people are coming out about Sony internally, it nearly happened when I worked on the launch of the PS4 with internal conflicts but tbf this happens with any games company.

 

[Esppiral]

That reminds me of Sega and it didn't end well.

 

[GrayFoxPL]

Devaniti

1 day ago

Would you recommend working in Sony?

formersonydude

1 day ago

At the lower levels Playstation is staffed by a lot of people who are really passionate about the products, and it's a great community to be part of. Every corporate job has some friction but overall I enjoyed my time there.

Info for some, who think he's attacking someone. While he is simply answers questions.

 

[Kokoloko85]

I thought you got banned lol?