Have PSN games taken off in Japan? No.

by Andrew Yoon { Dec 6th 2007 at 8:15PM }

American gamers have wholeheartedly embraced the incredible selection from the PS3's online store. Games like fl0w, Everyday Shooter and Calling All Cars simply wouldn't have been possible through retail outlets, and their success on the PSN is ushering a new era of simple downloadable titles. Too bad the concept hasn't resonated well amongst Japanese gamers, at least according to an interview with Q-Games' Dylan Cuthbert.

"So far, it really hasn't caught on in the same way it has in the West--the problem in Japan is a traditional aversion to using credit cards, as opposed to the West where it is second nature." In America, we love to collect debt. Therefore, online shopping with credit cards comes as second nature. However, using plastic in Japan just isn't very socially acceptable. "A lot of restaurants over here don't accept any credit card at all, and when you order things online to be delivered the majority of people pay on delivery or even by online bank transfer as opposed to using a credit card." Thankfully, there's a solution. "Pre-paid cards are definitely the way to go forward to solve these problems, but they only rolled out recently, so we'll just have to wait and see."

The Q-Games PixelJunk titles are meant to appeal to Japanese sensibilities. Will they succeed with today's release of PixelJunk Monsters on the Japanese Store? Only time will tell. Read the complete interview on Level Up to find out more about this quirky PSN game.

Tags: japan, pixeljunk-monsters, q-games

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jae29one @ Dec 6th 2007 9:11PM

The irony of this story is that the Japan Store get more stuff than the US Store and have a itsh load of more PS1 Classic games.. So where where's the love Sony?? Not that I don't think the US store isn't good.. We get decent content but the Japan Store get more frequent updates and more content..And there not making any real money with it..

Wastegate @ Dec 6th 2007 11:04PM

Can I get my money back for Calling All Cars and Everyday Shooter :(

Ether02 @ Dec 7th 2007 2:00AM

Whats wrong with everyday shooter that game rocks : )

ElLobo @ Dec 7th 2007 7:06AM

I agree, Everyday Shooter does rock...for $5. I would have been a little bit disappointed at $10.

Calling all Cars - at $7.99, disappointment. I played a total of about 3 hours at most. Nobody was online and the few times I checked, either.

This Pixel Junk Monsters game looks promising, though. Those tower defense games are surprisingly addicting. I stayed up until 3-4 in the morning once playing one on my laptop. Online leader boards and co-op just make it sound that much sweeter.

Popfrogs @ Dec 7th 2007 10:52AM

I'm with you on CaC. It has great potential but nobody bought it or nobody plays it online. Go online with it right now...you'll find zero people to play against. Weak.

Alien @ Dec 7th 2007 10:14AM

I would really want prepaied cards here to ... at least I wouldent overabuse my credit card :P

ryano @ Dec 7th 2007 12:12PM

i don't own a PS3, but I do own a 360.

does the PS3 not have any point cards like xbox LIVE cards to purchase content with?

Mark @ Dec 7th 2007 3:50PM

I use my american express card for everything and pay it off every month.. carrying cash is stupid..
I'm going to Japan to rob me some fools carrying cash!

James @ Dec 7th 2007 4:36PM

The oddest thing to me is that I always think of Japan as being the very most cutting-edge country technology-wise, but they haven't figured out a way of doing electronic payments they're comfortable with? I thought most of them could issue a payment at a POS terminal from their cell phones! Surely it should be a simple issue to tackle to let them buy content over the web?