Sleeping with the enemy: Sony yearns for Xbox 360 success in Japan

With the Wii maintaining a sizable lead over its HD competitors, Sony has turned to an unlikely ally in the console war: Microsoft.

Sleeping with the enemy: Sony yearns for Xbox 360 success in Japan

An old saying goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." In Japan this week, Sony took that saying and ran with it--all the way to Microsoft.

"I'd really like to see both PS3 and 360 succeed here," said Sony's president of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, in an interview with GameIndustry.

It definitely seemed a bit out of the blue coming from Sony, which saw the Xbox 360 pass by the PS3 in the region thanks to a series of deep price cuts and a timely RPG release. Over the past few weeks, Microsoft's next-gen console, once an anathema to Japanese gaming, has managed to squeeze out a few hardware sales victories. In September, the 360 managed to outsell the PS3 for an entire month--the first time it's been able to do so, ever.

Of course, reading between the lines we discover that the real reason for Yoshida's cozy stance on Microsoft is high definition gaming. In Japan, HD gaming is getting trounced 2:1 or more by the 480p Wii. With Microsoft's "help" in that arena, Yoshida is hoping HD gaming will catch on a bit more than it has so far.

"I like to see people here in Japan showing interest in high-definition gaming and more sophisticated gaming experiences," Yoshida said. "In terms of realistic-looking graphics and smarter AI, they haven't really shown the appetite for what this generation of gaming can offer."

Yoshida'a remarks seem to hint that Sony has accepted it cannot topple Nintendo's non-HD stranglehold on gaming all by itself. Whether Microsoft returns the sentiment remains to be seen.

To close with another quote, this time from Chinese military genius Sun-Tzu, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Comments [58]

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nayuan01

To require help from a US console in its own home turf is embarrassing to say the least. I think this may be an indicator that you need to shift your console strategy Sonya...hint: price cut would be nice.

nayuan01

Dammit, how do I edit a comment? I meant to say "Sony" not Sonya...I mean what is this, Mortal Konbat? lol

Toneman

How would 360 success help Sony? Because if they buy a 360 it'll be one less sale for Wii? Well, not really, a lot of people have more than one system. I guess the general population of Japan is not "sophisticated" enough for 360 or PS3!

TRUPREDATOR

wow o wow.the sonyfanboys are crying to the sound of this right now.i can already see it now ms fanboys and sony fanboys all uniting to defeat the evil big n.lol.but on a serious note.funny that sony would say this,even though it does make perfect sense.

ChimmiSanchez

Sorry, SSBB Super Smash Brothers Brawl. And really it should be the real gamers (Xbox360,PS3 players) vs. Soccer mom's/mini-van drivers and kids that touch themselves to Anime. ( Wii players)

ChimmiSanchez

Yeah, this whole Xbox is better or PS3 is better talk between the two companies Isnt helping them outsell the Wii. I still don't get why the Wii is so great. I havent played mine since SSMB. And only time i've seen my friends play it is when they are drunk. Wii is a beast, as much as we say it isnt its still making tons of money for such a really basic system. Instead of attacking each other they need to really team and focus on dropping the Wii. At this rate I should buy a couple Wii's and sell them for 1.5k like I did last year for Christmas or whatever holiday it is around December. . . Stupid people that get offended by Christmas

turo

haha, what now sony fanboys? will the MS fanboys embrace them? lol too funny!

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