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Famitsu Sales: Week 10, 2024 (Mar 04 - Mar 10)

Sojiro

Member
I just hope the rumored FF9 remake is turn based.
I personally would rather them just leave it alone, I don't think we need a remake of every game in the series, and this is someone that considers IX the best entry in the series.

Great numbers for Unicorn! Damn shame they undershipped it. That is a pretty big drop for Rebirth right? I do wonder if splitting the game into three parts will take it's toll pretty heavily on parts two and three. It sucks because the game looks great, and word of mouth for it is really good.
 
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Woopah

Member
I know it’s also install base be ps4 in 2020, but there over 5 million ps5 consoles supposedly sold in Japan, are you telling me the 750k + buyers of VII in just 3-4 years said they weren’t getting the better sequel? Like it’s a steep drop from 773k to 287k…… and digital was pretty high in 2020 due to Covid …… Are gamers just streaming/ps plusing or playing free 2 play in Japan on PS? Literally what has crossed 1 million in sales for PS in Japan this gen?
My personal theory is that some of the traditional PS audience from previous decades has moved to PC and Switch.

PS has been able to offset that and achieve growth by attracting an audience that want a premium F2P experience. This is an area where PS has a competitive advantage over Switch, by having games like Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact.

Edit: In answer to your question, I believe Ghost of Tsushima and FF Remake were the last titles to cross 1 million just on PS.
what is happening with Switch Hardware.
Slowing down, but still going good due to the power of the evergreens (the DLC seems to have Splatoon 3 a boost.
 
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blackjon24

Member
The worst part of FF7R situation is that it fail to sell the PS5 as Sony expected. What other game they have for this year to move consoles in Japan??…But, I really didn’t expect that the Switch was going to win the battle in Japan this year without any big tittle and especially vs FF7R… But looks like that’s is exactly what’s is going to happen.
monster hunter wilds is coming, even with how bad software sales have been in japan, I think it was always going to be the game that moves the most consoles
 

Sakura

Member
Still a big decline from Dragon's Crown, if we give heat to square we gotta give it to Vanillaware as well. Japanese gamers are buying less hardcore games, it is getting so obvious to me. Also they definitely need to go back to Dragon Crown, both 13 sentinels and unicorn overworld put them in a tough financial situation, they need a big hit again
Digital is probably a much bigger factor now though than when Dragon’s Crown came out 11 years ago.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Famitsu Sales: 3/4/24 - 3/10/24 has been updated with software sales rankings 11 to 30.

Software Sales (followed by lifetime sales):
  1. [NSW] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 40,991 (New)
  2. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix, 02/29/24) – 24,482 (287,138)
  3. [PS5] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 24,398 (New)
  4. [NSW] Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise (Imagineer, 03/07/24) – 14,128 (New)
  5. [NSW] Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 02/16/24) – 13,238 (116,761)
  6. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 11,669 (5,739,869)
  7. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo, 10/20/23) – 11,417 (1,779,209)
  8. [PS4] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 8,797 (New)
  9. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! (Konami, 11/16/23) – 7,053 (1,006,010)
  10. [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 6,460 (4,246,168)
  11. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 6,389 (3,464,504)
  12. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 03/20/20) – 5,515 (7,711,427)
  13. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo, 04/29/22) – 5,407 (1,287,619)
  14. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 4,822 (5,462,483)
  15. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Pokemon Violet (The Pokemon Company, 11/18/22) – 4,127 (5,308,899)
  16. [NSW] Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island (Spike Chunsoft, 01/25/24) – 3,593 (136,476)
  17. [NSW] Shin chan: Shiro of Coal Town (Neos, 02/22/24) – 3,325 (32,270)
  18. [NSW] Pikmin 4 (Nintendo, 07/21/23) – 3,323 (1,186,531)
  19. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (Nintendo, 06/05/20) – 2,892 (1,256,886)
  20. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo, 10/29/21) – 2,868 (1,410,722)
  21. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo, 05/12/23) – 2,510 (1,963,846)
  22. [NSW] irem Collection Vol. 1 (Tozai Games, 03/07/24) – 2,504 (New)
  23. [NSW] Super Mario Party (Nintendo, 10/05/18) – 2,402 (2,263,757)
  24. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Pokemon Violet + The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (The Pokemon Company, 11/03/23) – 2,157 (118,667)
  25. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo, 10/18/19) – 2,039 (3,532,745)
  26. [PS5] Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (SIE, 10/20/23) – 1,997 (297,168)
  27. [PS5] Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (SEGA, 01/26/24) – 1,959 (138,411)
  28. [PS4] Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (SEGA, 01/26/24) – 1,927 (114,479)
  29. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (New Price Version) (Square Enix, 12/07/23) – 1,917 (40,167)
  30. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Special Price (SEGA, 11/17/22) – 1,915 (141,771)
 
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Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Still a big decline from Dragon's Crown, if we give heat to square we gotta give it to Vanillaware as well. Japanese gamers are buying less hardcore games, it is getting so obvious to me. Also they definitely need to go back to Dragon Crown, both 13 sentinels and unicorn overworld put them in a tough financial situation, they need a big hit again

Dragon's Crown had the biggest retail launch out of all Vanillaware titles, so it's not really a fair comparison to make, especially considering that Unicorn Overlord belongs to a niche genre (e.g., SRPG), rather than a popular one like action RPGs.

And as I mentioned earlier, they encountered issues with the shipments for the Switch version, so they would have sold around 100k units across all platforms if it wasn't for that aspect.

Additionally, the digital share has grown significantly since 2013. Assuming a 30-40% digital split, the total number of units sold at launch in Japan would have been approximately 130k - 140k.

Xo8qBku.png
 
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Woopah

Member
How's ps5 doing in comparison to PS4 and 3?
Similar to what we have seen so far, noticeably higher hardware and noticeably lower software. Which implies to me that the PS audience in Japan are transitioning to F2P.

Dragon's Crown had the biggest retail launch out of all Vanillaware titles, so it's not really a fair comparison to make, especially considering that Unicorn Overlord belongs to a niche genre (e.g., SRPG), rather than a popular one like action RPGs.

And as I mentioned earlier, they encountered issues with the shipments for the Switch version, so they would have sold around 100k units across all platforms if it wasn't for that aspect.

Additionally, the digital share has grown significantly since 2013. Assuming a 30-40% digital split, the total number of units sold at launch in Japan would have been approximately 130k - 140k.

Xo8qBku.png
Digital in this case could be higher given the sell outs. To give a recent example, Shiren the Wanderer faced stock issues and had around a 50% digital ratio in Japan.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Similar to what we have seen so far, noticeably higher hardware and noticeably lower software. Which implies to me that the PS audience in Japan are transitioning to F2P.


Digital in this case could be higher given the sell outs. To give a recent example, Shiren the Wanderer faced stock issues and had around a 50% digital ratio in Japan.
Yup, very good point! Noticed a lot of people in the QTs of Atlus' apology post saying they couldn't wait for the Switch version to be restocked so they went with the digital version instead.
 
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Fake

Member
I don't think Genki's analysis makes much sense here. If price, accessibility and life style we're an issue for a PS5 against PS4, why would hardware sales be higher?

You still forgeting PS5 had BC. Japanese folks are playing PS4 games on PS5, so explain a lot 'why' hardwares are up, but software are down and we can't blame them.

Sony is focus so much on western content. The only think that maintain PS5 relevant on Japan right now as you can see are the Third Party games.
 

Woopah

Member
You still forgeting PS5 had BC. Japanese folks are playing PS4 games on PS5, so explain a lot 'why' hardwares are up, but software are down and we can't blame them.
So the argument would be that people are buying a PS5 to play games they already own, and are not interested in buying new games?

Even then, a higher hardware price than the PS4 would not explain why PS5 hardware sales are higher than the PS4.

Sony is focus so much on western content. The only think that maintain PS5 relevant on Japan right now as you can see are the Third Party games.

So far PS5 software sales in Japan are more reliant on first party than the PS4 was. Sony was the biggest publisher on PS5 in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but that would be helped by bundling.

You're right third parties maintained the relevance of PS5 in 2023, and probably will do so in 2024 as well.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
So the argument would be that people are buying a PS5 to play games they already own, and are not interested in buying new games?

Even then, a higher hardware price than the PS4 would not explain why PS5 hardware sales are higher than the PS4.



So far PS5 software sales in Japan are more reliant on first party than the PS4 was. Sony was the biggest publisher on PS5 in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but that would be helped by bundling.

You're right third parties maintained the relevance of PS5 in 2023, and probably will do so in 2024 as well.

I have seen comments online about the PS5 hardware that is sold in Japan is then shipped to China. Do you think this is possible and that's why software sales are lower, but hardware is doing as well or better than PS4?

It adds up, in theory.
 

Fake

Member
So the argument would be that people are buying a PS5 to play games they already own, and are not interested in buying new games?

Either new 3rd party or old games.

I don't quite understand this mentality of 'people don't play old games'.

Right now I playing Bloodborne.

And why japanese folks would buy new games that are not appealing to them??????


Ask yourself why Nintendo new software are unbeatable on Japan.


Sony are the one to need to adapt to japanese gamers, not the japanese gamers that need to adapt to Sony. There is a world outsite US/UK and if Sony don't care, neither them.
 
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IAmRei

Member
I have seen comments online about the PS5 hardware that is sold in Japan is then shipped to China. Do you think this is possible and that's why software sales are lower, but hardware is doing as well or better than PS4?

It adds up, in theory.
I guess not only sent to china. Because in my place, jap vers ps5 cheaper. My ps5 also is jap version.
 

Mr Moose

Member
Famitsu Sales: 3/4/24 - 3/10/24 has been updated with software sales rankings 11 to 30.

Software Sales (followed by lifetime sales):
  1. [NSW] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 40,991 (New)
  2. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix, 02/29/24) – 24,482 (287,138)
  3. [PS5] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 24,398 (New)
  4. [NSW] Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise (Imagineer, 03/07/24) – 14,128 (New)
  5. [NSW] Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 02/16/24) – 13,238 (116,761)
  6. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 11,669 (5,739,869)
  7. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo, 10/20/23) – 11,417 (1,779,209)
  8. [PS4] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 8,797 (New)
  9. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! (Konami, 11/16/23) – 7,053 (1,006,010)
  10. [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 6,460 (4,246,168)
  11. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 6,389 (3,464,504)
  12. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 03/20/20) – 5,515 (7,711,427)
  13. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo, 04/29/22) – 5,407 (1,287,619)
  14. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 4,822 (5,462,483)
  15. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Pokemon Violet (The Pokemon Company, 11/18/22) – 4,127 (5,308,899)
  16. [NSW] Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island (Spike Chunsoft, 01/25/24) – 3,593 (136,476)
  17. [NSW] Shin chan: Shiro of Coal Town (Neos, 02/22/24) – 3,325 (32,270)
  18. [NSW] Pikmin 4 (Nintendo, 07/21/23) – 3,323 (1,186,531)
  19. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (Nintendo, 06/05/20) – 2,892 (1,256,886)
  20. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo, 10/29/21) – 2,868 (1,410,722)
  21. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo, 05/12/23) – 2,510 (1,963,846)
  22. [NSW] irem Collection Vol. 1 (Tozai Games, 03/07/24) – 2,504 (New)
  23. [NSW] Super Mario Party (Nintendo, 10/05/18) – 2,402 (2,263,757)
  24. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Pokemon Violet + The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (The Pokemon Company, 11/03/23) – 2,157 (118,667)
  25. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo, 10/18/19) – 2,039 (3,532,745)
  26. [PS5] Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (SIE, 10/20/23) – 1,997 (297,168)
  27. [PS5] Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (SEGA, 01/26/24) – 1,959 (138,411)
  28. [PS4] Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (SEGA, 01/26/24) – 1,927 (114,479)
  29. [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (New Price Version) (Square Enix, 12/07/23) – 1,917 (40,167)
  30. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 Special Price (SEGA, 11/17/22) – 1,915 (141,771)
[NSW] Shin chan: Shiro of Coal Town (Neos, 02/22/24) – 3,325 (32,270)
tenor.gif
 
FFVIIR physical bombing everywhere, it seems. I'll get it for around $30.
Such a weird situation. I was planning on buying Rebirth as soon as I'm done with UO, but you might be on to something. If FFVIIR isn't selling, it probably will see a price drop sooner rather than later, so might as well wait for it.
 

blackjon24

Member
You still forgeting PS5 had BC. Japanese folks are playing PS4 games on PS5, so explain a lot 'why' hardwares are up, but software are down and we can't blame them.

Sony is focus so much on western content. The only think that maintain PS5 relevant on Japan right now as you can see are the Third Party games.
Why is that not enough, ps5 has more third party japanese games than any other system, should sony focus its energy on another gravity rush bomb?
 

blackjon24

Member
Dragon's Crown had the biggest retail launch out of all Vanillaware titles, so it's not really a fair comparison to make, especially considering that Unicorn Overlord belongs to a niche genre (e.g., SRPG), rather than a popular one like action RPGs.

And as I mentioned earlier, they encountered issues with the shipments for the Switch version, so they would have sold around 100k units across all platforms if it wasn't for that aspect.

Additionally, the digital share has grown significantly since 2013. Assuming a 30-40% digital split, the total number of units sold at launch in Japan would have been approximately 130k - 140k.

Xo8qBku.png
Still lower than dragons crown, I want vanillaware to do well I really am I'm tired of the blame going to playstation or the heat final fantasy gets when it is just japan moving away from hardcore games in general. Not the quality of the japanese games themselves, the games are better than ever yet seem to sell worse than back in the days, even if you account for digital.
 
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nordique

Member
^ the PS software includes a lot of major titles (tekken, ff7 rebirth, yazuka, less so P3R)

Switch, not as much. Minecraft is evergreen. DM isn’t a mainline title and came out last year so these are tail end sales
 
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Woopah

Member
I have seen comments online about the PS5 hardware that is sold in Japan is then shipped to China. Do you think this is possible and that's why software sales are lower, but hardware is doing as well or better than PS4?

It adds up, in theory.
I think that was a possible explanation back when PS5 was really supply constrained, but not now. Its probably happening to some degree, but not enough to explain the weird numbers we are seeing.
Either new 3rd party or old games.

I don't quite understand this mentality of 'people don't play old games'.

Right now I playing Bloodborne.

And why japanese folks would buy new games that are not appealing to them??????


Ask yourself why Nintendo new software are unbeatable on Japan.


Sony are the one to need to adapt to japanese gamers, not the japanese gamers that need to adapt to Sony. There is a world outsite US/UK and if Sony don't care, neither them.
Its not a mentality of 'people don't play old games' but of people only playing old games. I just didn't think so many people would go out and buy an expensive PS5, just to use it to play games they already own, rather than buying software. We've never seen that in Japan before, and we're not seeing it with PS5 anywhere else. But maybe I'm wrong.
Is there any data to back this up?
Its mostly trying to explain the massive disconnect between hardware and software numbers for PS5. Plus Sony has said that Free to Play spending in Japan is higher than anywhere else.

Famitsu's 3rd Party Sales (YTD):

PS 865K
PS5 656k
NSW 562k
PS4 208k

UQdAjR3.jpeg
Continues the trend of Q1 being one of the best quarters for PlayStation each year. Will be interesting to see how it changes over the year.
 

blackjon24

Member
Famitsu's 3rd Party Sales (YTD):

PS 865K
PS5 656k
NSW 562k
PS4 208k

UQdAjR3.jpeg
Look how soft games like persona 3 reload, granblue and like a dragon did in japan only yet sold over a million worldwide. Games should release on pc as well but japan consoles sales are not the end all be all anymore
 

Woopah

Member
Look how soft games like persona 3 reload, granblue and like a dragon did in japan only yet sold over a million worldwide. Games should release on pc as well but japan consoles sales are not the end all be all anymore
It was never going to be feasible for one country to always be "the be all and end all" of game sales.
 

Madflavor

Member
Square needs to start looking at the PC for future releases.

Edit: drganon drganon That's the 2nd time you laughed at me for sayin that. The PC market is going through an explosive amount of growth in Japan for the past few years. How the fuck do you think Elden Ring reached 1 million sales in Japan back in March 2022? Based on the PS4/PS5 numbers, around a quarter of that came from PC. The exclusivity of Final Fantasy has stagnated the brand globally, and is making it decline in the East. So unless Square decide to scale back these games graphically, and make an attempt to build a newer younger audience on the Switch 2, then Playstation AND PC is the only logical path forward.
 
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Switch hardware remains high due to exports still.

Globally in Japan is a thing again considering the comments of Rebirth “bombing” everywhere.

The PS5 needs a price cut, getting the disc version + a new game cost about 75k yen.
 

Hardensoul

Member
Switch hardware remains high due to exports still.

Globally in Japan is a thing again considering the comments of Rebirth “bombing” everywhere.

The PS5 needs a price cut, getting the disc version + a new game cost about 75k yen.
What? First time I’m seeing this talking point!
It’s usually talk about PS5 being exported.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
You guys care so much about scores/metascore that forget about what consumers want or not.

If score was that so much of important Deathloop would be the best selling game of the gaming history.

Scores are a good barometer of a quality of a game. I'd rather go by that than just pure sell numbers.
 

drganon

Member
Square needs to start looking at the PC for future releases.

Edit: drganon drganon That's the 2nd time you laughed at me for sayin that. The PC market is going through an explosive amount of growth in Japan for the past few years. How the fuck do you think Elden Ring reached 1 million sales in Japan back in March 2022? Based on the PS4/PS5 numbers, around a quarter of that came from PC. The exclusivity of Final Fantasy has stagnated the brand globally, and is making it decline in the East. So unless Square decide to scale back these games graphically, and make an attempt to build a newer younger audience on the Switch 2, then Playstation AND PC is the only logical path forward.
They're already on pc.Take a chill pill.
 

Celine

Member
Famitsu total sell-through for the first mainline Final Fantasy game per generation:

FFVII (PS1): 3.94M
FFX (PS2): 3.02M
FFXIII (PS3): 1.97M
FFXV (PS4): 1.04M
FFXVI (PS5): 0.43M

It's obvious that the FF series has lost a ton of luster in Japan and Square is the main culprit of the mismanagement.
 

Celine

Member
Famitsu's 3rd Party Sales (YTD):

PS 865K
PS5 656k
NSW 562k
PS4 208k

UQdAjR3.jpeg
Once upon a time a mainline Final Fantasy on PlayStation had openings higher than that PS4+PS5 YTD.
For example FFXIII on PS3 opened with around 1.5M units in sales.
Even the first chapter of the FFVIIR trilogy on PS4 had an opening close to that total (700K).

Truly a bleak state of affairs for PlayStation in Japan cause PlayStation consoles base their popularity entirely on the back of third-party offerings.
 
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Celine

Member
You still forgeting PS5 had BC. Japanese folks are playing PS4 games on PS5, so explain a lot 'why' hardwares are up, but software are down and we can't blame them.
PS5 having BC doesn't justify anything because, at the same time of PS5's awful software sales, PS4 software sales are shrinking at a rapid pace.

1hovQjf.jpg
 
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Fake

Member
PS5 having BC doesn't justify anything because, at the same time of PS5's awful software sales, PS4 software sales are shrinking at a rapid pace.

1hovQjf.jpg

I never said people are buying PS4 software.

I said people are buying PS5 for playing their already own catalogue.

As a hardware, PS5 is a great piece of machine. Thats why is still selling great even on Japan. Software wise, not so much besides third parties from japanese companies.
 
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