Baemono
Member
This is a terrible take. The PS5 has still 3 years to go, and is selling at a faster pace than PS4.
Famitsu Sales: Week 25, 2025 (Jun 16 - Jun 22)
- Thread starter Luminoth-4545
- Start date
- Sales-Age
This is a terrible take. The PS5 has still 3 years to go, and is selling at a faster pace than PS4.
LordOcidax
Member
The PS5 is already below the PS4… Still a terrible take because Pokemon sells more outside of Japan.
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Baemono
Member
It's still a terrible take to compare sales in a middle of a gen to consoles which got 10+ years of sale. It's like comparing Switch 2 sales to Switch 1 and say there is a huge drop in sales.The PS5 is already below the PS4.
And slightly below doesn't mean much. The PS4 reached 7 million by mid August 2018 (5th year), the PS5 is at 6.8 million by mid-June of its 5th year, we'll see in two months
EDIT: Are you sure your graph is correct ? Cause PS4 didn't cross 7 million before August 2018 as I said and yours show it already crossing the bar now
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LordOcidax
Member
Right now is bellow… Until GTA6 comes out i don't see any other game "saving" the PS5 over there, Yotei is going to be just a small peak.
And yes the graphic is correct Source: Installbase
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Baemono
Member
Read my edit, I don't think your graph is correct
Launch aligned numbers are correct because it based on weekly timeframe.
Baemono
Member
Famitsu Top 30: Week 25, 2018 (Jun 18 - Jun 24, 2018) - nichebarrier.com
The Top 30 best selling games in Japan during the week of Jun 18 - Jun 24, 2018.
nichebarrier.com
Same period same week, PS4: 6,801,282
EDIT: Oh my bad I just saw the PS4 didn't launch in Japan at the same time as the other countries
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Dr. Wilkinson
Member
Stationary consoles in general have been in a major state of decline for decades in Japan. The Wii was a sensational global smash in terms of sales from 2006-2009, but it never reached more than 12 million in Japan, vs 45+ million in NA and 33+ million in Europe, for example. So it isn't necessarily a decline of Playstation itself, rather it is a waning appetite for home consoles in general. For example, the PSP sold extremely well in Japan, around 20 million units, which is huge. That's near 3DS-level market penetration in Japan.
Particularly since the Switch in 2017, where 3DS got it's successor + it was also Nintendo's new primary platform also replacing home consoles, that trend has only accelerated. With the advent of mobile graphics like what is possible with Switch and now Switch 2, there's just less and less of a reason for stationary home consoles to be needed.
If Sony wanted to pursue a Switch-like dedicated platform that is equally well-suited to mobile play + TV console gaming like Switch 1 & 2 are, with the right combination of available software and services, no doubt it could potentially find a lot of success in Japan.
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LordOcidax
Member
This is more clear:
Famitsu Top 30: Week 25, 2018 (Jun 18 - Jun 24, 2018) - nichebarrier.com
The Top 30 best selling games in Japan during the week of Jun 18 - Jun 24, 2018.
Same period same week, PS4: 6,801,282
EDIT: Oh my bad I just saw the PS4 didn't launch in Japan at the same time as the other countries
PS4 week 241: 7,074,581
PS5 week 241: 6,902,946
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
This. There's no need for consoles really, especially there. Nintendo has got what Japan wants basically on lockdown with the Switch.
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Dr. Wilkinson
Member
This isn't quite accurate. The Switch didn't exist yet when DQ XI was in development. Switch launched in March 2017, and DQ XI launched in Japan only a few months later, but it had been in development since 2013.
But more to the point, Square focused on delivering DQ XI to platforms that were where players were at. So they did dedicated PS4 and 3DS versions. Both of which were the dominate, popular platforms in Japan at the time. The Switch version, which entered development basically after the game was finished, had to go through some re-engineering to run at a stable 30fps, but it combined the PS4 game in it's entirety, and added the 2D Mode from the 3DS version. The only version of DQ XI that didn't make it out of Japan onto the Switch was the entirely seperate 3D Mode from the 3DS version.
DQ XII will absolutely release on PS5, Switch 2, Xbox, Steam... all the places where players are at that the game can run well on it. That is modern Square's motto, especially in today's world where development budgets are obscene and they need as many players as possible to have access to their games.
DQ as a franchise has actually been primarily Nintendo-exclusive for many years, outside of DQ XI. X was originally a Wii exclusive, then later went to Wii U, etc. IX was a DS exclusive, and still is to this day. And DS and 3DS got exclusive, ground-up remakes of I-VII.
The last time a DQ game was exclusive to a non-Nintendo platform was VIII, when it launched on PS2 in 2004. But it later got a 3DS exclusive remaster in 2016.
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Fake
Member
Software does matter after all.
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Great start for Switch 2. Lots of Japanese games coming to that system with numbers like this.
LordOcidax
Member
The attach rate of MK World is close to 90% including digital sales…
Week 3: 1,040,044 [MarioKart Word]
Week 3: 951,640 [Mario Kart Wii]
Week 3: 804,980 [Mario Kart 7]
Week 3: 669,575 [Mario Kart DS]
Week 3: 466,974 [Mario Kart 8]
Week 3: 460,504 [Mario Mart 64]
Week 3: 397,278 [Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]
Week 3: 1,040,044 [MarioKart Word]
Week 3: 951,640 [Mario Kart Wii]
Week 3: 804,980 [Mario Kart 7]
Week 3: 669,575 [Mario Kart DS]
Week 3: 466,974 [Mario Kart 8]
Week 3: 460,504 [Mario Mart 64]
Week 3: 397,278 [Mario Kart 8 Deluxe]
To be fair - PS4 was ahead of PS3 at this point too, it depends also on how long before Sony pulls the plug when next console is out.
Crazy that MK8D started that slow considering what happened to it.
Kerotan
Member
I genuinely think those people were just trolling Nintendo fans.Some people here said that's was going to be WiiU situation all over again… Good times
Deerock71
Very Poor Hoice of Wor
Clearly photoshopped. The PS5 would be twice that size if it was a real picture.
Kerotan
Member
It is behind but it's far more profitable then the ps4 so Sony stay winning. It'll end up 8M+ which ain't bad. If it got price cuts it would do more.The PS5 is already below the PS4… Still a terrible take because Pokemon sells more outside of Japan.
Baemono
Member
I can totally see it reaching 9+ million, it's selling on a similar pace as the PS4 despite the huge price difference
PlayStation 5 was massively exported out of Japan for years at a hefty profit for scalpers / exporters, Sony raised the price to make this practice not as enticing and suddenly sales stopped... makes you wonder how many actual systems remain in Japan.
Outside of dropping the price temporarily we should get used to the sub 10K sales by PlayStation 5 which is the real demand for the system in Japan despite what was pretty much the biggest title that could launch exclusivily to it (Wilds). With PC also eating up market share from PlayStation ecosystem in a few years when PlayStation 6 launches we are likely going to see Xbox like numbers for hardware and software.
Sony gave up on Japan and is going to pay the price for this in the decade ahead
Outside of dropping the price temporarily we should get used to the sub 10K sales by PlayStation 5 which is the real demand for the system in Japan despite what was pretty much the biggest title that could launch exclusivily to it (Wilds). With PC also eating up market share from PlayStation ecosystem in a few years when PlayStation 6 launches we are likely going to see Xbox like numbers for hardware and software.
Sony gave up on Japan and is going to pay the price for this in the decade ahead
LordOcidax
Member
Weekly sales of the PS5 are less than half of the PS4 weekly sales in the same timeframe 17K -20K for PS4 vs 6K - 9K for the PS5… And is going to get worse with the Switch 2 on the market now, i can see PS5 sales dropping to 3K or worse… 9+ Million is almost impossible with those numbers. With luck and GTA6 8 Million.
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One thing to remember about PS5 sales in Japan is that the reason they increased the price of the PS5 in that market was because the low yen value meant that incredible amounts of PS5s in Japan were scalped and sold to other markets. Meaning the actual PS5 user base in Japan is considerably lower than the number of officially sold units. The same is true for the Switch (to a lesser extent). The reason Nintendo made a Japanese language Switch 2 this time around was to avoid scalping of Japanese consoles to other markets, while Sony instead just made the PS5 ultra expensive leading to 6K weekly sales to solve that problem.
The real PS5 user base will see a pretty big decline from the real user base the PS4 had in Japan because of those reasons (The yen was much stronger valued during the PS4 era, which meant much less scalping of Japanese consoles to other markets back then).
We know the true sizes of the user base from the software sales, and PS5 is miles behind PS4 software sales in Japan. Switch broke all software records in Japan though which shows that it had the biggest user base for every console in Japanese history in real terms as well as in the official numbers.
The real PS5 user base will see a pretty big decline from the real user base the PS4 had in Japan because of those reasons (The yen was much stronger valued during the PS4 era, which meant much less scalping of Japanese consoles to other markets back then).
We know the true sizes of the user base from the software sales, and PS5 is miles behind PS4 software sales in Japan. Switch broke all software records in Japan though which shows that it had the biggest user base for every console in Japanese history in real terms as well as in the official numbers.
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LordOcidax
Member
Until Switch 3 comes out.
LordOcidax
Member
The Japan only Switch 2 was a genius move by Nintendo for the Japan market to fight the exports. They started selling the International version three weeks later and is already sold out too. Sony could do the same to avoid sacrifice the Japanese players.
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It took the Switch 2 three weeks to get its first million seller at retail, PlayStation 5 is five years into its lifetime and Wilds is very likely to be the only game to achieve it across multiple SKUs.
This is no longer a competition, after the Wii U debacle Nintendo has completely taken over Japan and wiped Sony off the map. This is despite the huge investment the biggest local third party publishers made - while providing scraps through-out the Switch generation. Now these same publishers will need to cope with irrelevance on their home market for some of their biggest IPs.
A lot of the blame is on Sony in the end chasing their vision they abandoned compeating in Japan hoping that third parties will be king makers but underestimating the level of influence losing AA & indies would have long term to their position in the home market. They prioritized a dozen or so publishers in a country which consists of over 200 studios and many smaller indie teams.
As I mentioned back in 2021 it was clear that PS5 is heading to be a niche console in Japan because it lost like 90% of exclusives PlayStation ecosystem used to have on its home market. Sure it retained the AAA titles but those were focused on the West and even the biggest ones failed to move the needle. In the end the AA studios & indies that used to support the PS2, PS3, PSP & PSV were a differentiator for Sony in Japan coupled with the big IPs from the likes of Square, Capcom, Konami, Bandai etc.
With AAA development taking longer and longer the importance of creating an ecosystem where AA & indies thrive in the end was a critical part of Nintendo's success. Very recently games like Hungred Line and Urban Myth Dissolution released indie projects that a decade ago likely would have been PlayStation exclusive but when you failed to cultivate an audience which cares about these types of titles it natural you might not even get them on your system until a much later date. There is no fiscal reason to push for a PlayStation 5 SKU at launch if you are a Japanese AA or indie developer - especially with how you would have a better chance to get exposure from Nintendo if its a console exclusive or full exclusive.
The future of Japanse third party development is on the Switch 2 in combination with PC as lead platforms - sooner or later even the big dominos will fall like Square Enix did. All major publishers are after all just two or three major projects underperforming away from trouble and AAA projects always carry much greater risk than anything a publisher like Level 5 or Marvelous will put out.
This is no longer a competition, after the Wii U debacle Nintendo has completely taken over Japan and wiped Sony off the map. This is despite the huge investment the biggest local third party publishers made - while providing scraps through-out the Switch generation. Now these same publishers will need to cope with irrelevance on their home market for some of their biggest IPs.
A lot of the blame is on Sony in the end chasing their vision they abandoned compeating in Japan hoping that third parties will be king makers but underestimating the level of influence losing AA & indies would have long term to their position in the home market. They prioritized a dozen or so publishers in a country which consists of over 200 studios and many smaller indie teams.
As I mentioned back in 2021 it was clear that PS5 is heading to be a niche console in Japan because it lost like 90% of exclusives PlayStation ecosystem used to have on its home market. Sure it retained the AAA titles but those were focused on the West and even the biggest ones failed to move the needle. In the end the AA studios & indies that used to support the PS2, PS3, PSP & PSV were a differentiator for Sony in Japan coupled with the big IPs from the likes of Square, Capcom, Konami, Bandai etc.
With AAA development taking longer and longer the importance of creating an ecosystem where AA & indies thrive in the end was a critical part of Nintendo's success. Very recently games like Hungred Line and Urban Myth Dissolution released indie projects that a decade ago likely would have been PlayStation exclusive but when you failed to cultivate an audience which cares about these types of titles it natural you might not even get them on your system until a much later date. There is no fiscal reason to push for a PlayStation 5 SKU at launch if you are a Japanese AA or indie developer - especially with how you would have a better chance to get exposure from Nintendo if its a console exclusive or full exclusive.
The future of Japanse third party development is on the Switch 2 in combination with PC as lead platforms - sooner or later even the big dominos will fall like Square Enix did. All major publishers are after all just two or three major projects underperforming away from trouble and AAA projects always carry much greater risk than anything a publisher like Level 5 or Marvelous will put out.
Kerotan
Member
This can only happen if ps5 does actually get significant price cuts in Japan which I'm not entirely convinced it will. Maybe after the PS6 launches they'll push the 5 as a cheaper alternative.
Sojiro
Member
With the exception of some weeks where it might just miss it, I expect it to stay in there the entire life of the console. MK8 is in there almost every week isn't it?
Azelover
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Interesting.. so that's why PS5 software was so low for a long time. Makes it even worse for Sony actually. They're dying overthere..
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
I'm actually kinda surprised Raidou's split Switch vs PS5 is insanely close between them. Normally we'd see 2:1 (if not more) in favor of Switch here. A sign of things to come or just a one-time fluke? Would also imagine this could be due to lots of Switch owners jumping over to Switch 2, but the Switch 2 Edition just being a Game Key card. The Switch 1 version would be BC anyway, so who knows how many of the Switch copies are actually Switch 2 owners and if that's the case, it's a very strong showing for a 3P on (effectively) Switch 2 vs. PS5 considering for at least a little while, PS5 will have the install base advantage. It's probably something like 3.5:1 or 4:1 in favor of PS5 currently, right?
But anyway, Switch 2 sales themselves are doing super-good, and MK World keeps having an insane attach rate and only small drops. Should bode pretty well or DK Bananza. PS5 numbers look like they're around a 5K weekly average outside of the big sales promos and I guess SIE are fine with that. It wouldn't be so bad if actual PS5 software sales weren't so bad in Japan outside of some surprises every now and again, and I don't think digital is a big enough driver for console in Japan to offset low physical sales.
If prices remain super high and the handheld for some reason doesn't deliver, PS6 will definitely end up selling less than PS5 in Japan, let alone on par.
Really, they need a quality handheld and more exclusive software that's appealing to markets like Japan, and don't keep raising prices on everything seemingly senselessly. Nailing those three things would see their hardware and software sales dramatically improve in Japan, and also boost sales globally.
S Seraphym It's hard to quantify if Japanese gamers are or aren't "high fidelity gamers" because for one it depends on what you mean by fidelity. Secondly, we've seen many of them shifting over to PC so, naturally, at least some portion of them are clearly "high fidelity gamers" if they're going to a platform that allows for peak performance (if you're willing to spend the money on building such a rig).
Do core Japanese gamers care about photorealistic graphics as much as equivalent core Western gamers? Probably not. But at the same time I'd argue they care a lot more about higher framerates and smooth framerates in general, than an equivalent Western gamers, and that honestly goes back generations. They might be willing to sacrifice a bit on framerates if a game's got an aesthetic appealing to them though, it's just that core Japanese gamers tend to prefer stylized aesthetics much more, and that goes back decades.
But anyway, Switch 2 sales themselves are doing super-good, and MK World keeps having an insane attach rate and only small drops. Should bode pretty well or DK Bananza. PS5 numbers look like they're around a 5K weekly average outside of the big sales promos and I guess SIE are fine with that. It wouldn't be so bad if actual PS5 software sales weren't so bad in Japan outside of some surprises every now and again, and I don't think digital is a big enough driver for console in Japan to offset low physical sales.
If prices remain super high and the handheld for some reason doesn't deliver, PS6 will definitely end up selling less than PS5 in Japan, let alone on par.
Really, they need a quality handheld and more exclusive software that's appealing to markets like Japan, and don't keep raising prices on everything seemingly senselessly. Nailing those three things would see their hardware and software sales dramatically improve in Japan, and also boost sales globally.
S Seraphym It's hard to quantify if Japanese gamers are or aren't "high fidelity gamers" because for one it depends on what you mean by fidelity. Secondly, we've seen many of them shifting over to PC so, naturally, at least some portion of them are clearly "high fidelity gamers" if they're going to a platform that allows for peak performance (if you're willing to spend the money on building such a rig).
Do core Japanese gamers care about photorealistic graphics as much as equivalent core Western gamers? Probably not. But at the same time I'd argue they care a lot more about higher framerates and smooth framerates in general, than an equivalent Western gamers, and that honestly goes back generations. They might be willing to sacrifice a bit on framerates if a game's got an aesthetic appealing to them though, it's just that core Japanese gamers tend to prefer stylized aesthetics much more, and that goes back decades.
LordOcidax
Member
Reports after the launch stated 5-6 million for the first month and after that Nintendo said that they will meet the demand for the rest of the year without issues. The Switch 2 could be close to 5 million right now WW.
Many users here, on Reddit and on Ree were unable to accept the reality in Japan when the scalpers stories came up after PS5s were selling over 50k weekly, and many of them are dead silent about it today. The reality of PS5 is it's nowhere near the Famitsu numbers that are currently showing and closer to 4-5m instead of 6-7m.
kpopSuperstar
Member
You mean in Japan? what did it do in Japan?
LordOcidax
Member
Yes. 3 Million.
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Sometimes the truth hurts, and the truth can be brutal, but the truth's the truth.
Very well said. Not much I can really add to here, except maybe i.e Square-Enix: they've already basically signaled their support behind the Switch 2 and are planning to bring the entire FF VII trilogy to the system. I also won't be surprised if Nintendo starts leveraging their brand IP for exclusive bonus content in Switch 2 versions of multiplats from companies like Square-Enix, and perhaps looking to implement more 3P guest characters in games like Smash Bros. (particularly those who actually put some effort into supporting Nintendo platforms with regular software releases, so Square-Enix, Bandai-Namco, CDPR etc.).
As for what SIE can do to combat any of this...well there's nothing they can do to "truly" challenge Nintendo's position in the Japanese gaming market anymore, not without some catastrophic failure on Nintendo's part which simply won't happen anytime soon if ever. But they can still drastically improve PlayStation's position in Japan, and a handheld will be critical in that regard. But the bigger factor will be them getting more actual exclusives in terms of games that appeal strongly to Japanese gamers. That means more stuff like Astro Bot & Ghosts of Tsushima, but even more mass appeal, friendlier for all ages and very easy to adapt into transmedia & merchandising avenues.
In prior gens like PS1, PS2 & PS3, SIE still commanded priority support from the type of Japanese 3P who made those types of games in the AA/indie-style spaces (as well as AAA), and got a lot of defacto exclusives from them while doing so. The former is no longer the case as all but the Japanese AAA teams (with exceptions) have shifted to prioritizing either Nintendo or Nintendo/Steam/mobile; the latter is also no longer the case as virtually every Japanese game PS5 gets is also on Xbox, or at the very least now Day 1 on PC platforms like Steam. So to address the software situation, it's going to have to come down to SIE's own 1P studios, and doing strategic collaborations with various other 3P studios.
Like, they're doing that currently with Arc System works for Marvel Tokon, but that game's a Day 1 Steam release too, so its effective impact in bolstering PlayStation install base in Japan is going to be potentially halved.
Do we know how large the Steam install base is in Japan? My impression was it is growing, but small; however it is highly engaged, so more influential in driving third party decisions than pure size would indicate. Is that incorrect?
Because if it remains true that the majority of the Japanese gaming population will prefer to play on consoles over PC, then even PC/PlayStation collaboration titles such as Tokon are going to be significant in driving the install base (all predicated on the games ultimately having broad domestic appeal, which I am assuming at least some will). It maximizes possible global adoption, is an easy way to placate the third party partner, is a concession that does not significantly undermine the value they perceive it brings to the ecosystem, and still has an impact as an exclusive in the domestic market, with minimal bleeding to the PC market.
It's not a bad strategy at all, I think it is far more effective than what they were trying with Final Fantasy, for example, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot more of this going forward, and fewer third party collaborations that are timed PlayStation exclusives, such as Rise of the Ronin, Final Fantasy, etc.
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LordOcidax
Member
Looks like MH Wilds sold more on Steam than on PS5, that could tell something.
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In Japan?
LordOcidax
Member
Yes.
Would you happen to have a source?
Mozza
Member
It's a console Jim.............. But not as the Japanese know it.
Mozza
Member
That's like saying one poor selling console in Japan has slightly outsold another poor selling console. I get the positive spin with this but in reality home consoles are pretty much dead in Japan.