Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan has noted that the Japanese market remains "incredibly important" to Sony, amid speculation the company is shifting its focus away from the country. In an exclusive interview with Edge (via our friends at GamesRadar), Ryan dismissed speculation that Sony is "consciously moving away from the Japanese market." "Sony's position is that the Japanese market continues to be extremely important to us," Ryan told Edge. "We haven't been as enthusiastic about the engagement of the Japanese game development community as we have been for many years." Get the best PS5 deals before everyone else! We'll send you pre-order details and the best PS5 deals as they become available. Please send me details of other relevant Techradar products and future brands. Please send me details of other relevant third party products. No spam, I promise. You can unsubscribe at any time and we will never share your data without your permission.
Japanese games will not lose
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(Image credit: Sony Interactive Entertainment) Some have suggested that Sony might move away from the Japanese market following the change of the Circle and X button on the PS5 DualSense controller in Japan to be more in line with Western entries. In Japan, Circle was usually the confirm button and X was the cancel button, the opposite of the inputs in the West, however the release of the PS5 saw those inputs changed. However, Ryan went on to suggest that we'll still see Japanese-released PS5 games in the future, as the company has seen many publishers who moved to develop mobile games ten years ago return to game development. in console. "We have seen in the second half of the PS4 cycle a higher level of participation from these Japanese publishers. This continues and is further strengthened with PS5." So far, we've seen a strong showcase of Japanese games on (or coming to) PS5, with Sony's Future of Play event spotlighting eight games from Japanese studios, including Demon's Souls and Resident Evil: Village. “I would also note that we're making a statement by launching in Japan on the day and date with the US, and that's not what we did with the PS4,” says Ryan. "So I read these things. A lot of these comments are inaccurate, and Japan, as Sony's second market and heart, is still very important to us." You can read the full interview on Edge E353.