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[Bragr]

There are fourteen times the number of Switch owners. There should be more people who own both a Playstation and Switch that bought the Switch version instead for the ~~~pOrTaBiliTy~~~.

Why? I would much rather have it on a better-performing console.

Third-party is doing great on the Switch, look at other titles, it's not an issue. This is something to do with the Final Fantasy audience.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Why? I would much rather have it on a better-performing console.

Third-party is doing great on the Switch, look at other titles, it's not an issue. This is something to do with the Final Fantasy audience.

I hope that is truly the case! Japanese devs need as much support and sales as they can get... I feel like some other games had soft sales too but maybe I'm misremembering the magnitude.

 

[remember_spinal]

I hope that is truly the case! Japanese devs need as much support and sales as they can get... I feel like some other games had soft sales too but maybe I'm misremembering the magnitude.

Not all third party games are guaranteed sales success on switch, even in genres or franchises that traditionally do well. Harvestella bombed recently, and Dragon Quest Treasures also isn’t doing that great.

It’s still a toss up as to whats gonna land and what isn’t.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

I honestly dont even know what you’re talking about there is plenty of series S in stock in Japan right now.

Which is why I said the X.

Though there have been times when the S runs out of shipments too but MS usually has those replenished.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

There are 27 million Switches in Japan yet Crisis Core sells 6k higher on the PS5?

There are only 3 or 4 third-party dev & published games that sold over 1 million copies on the Switch in japan. Nintendo's strategy is throwing third parties on the way-side despite the Switch being the only handheld of relevance in Japan and the biggest gaming system in the country. It would explain the Japanese devs who are more open to going to PC and Xbox, or running to mobile.

So it's not just a Square and FF issue.

 

[Deerock71]

NSW is taking weeks after weeks on that top 10 list.
Is the PS software sales that weak?

This is why a hardware refresh is not in the cards any time soon for Nintendo. A price reduction would be the next logical step.

 

[sandbood]

There are only 3 or 4 third-party dev & published games that sold over 1 million copies on the Switch in japan. Nintendo's strategy is throwing third parties on the way-side despite the Switch being the only handheld of relevance in Japan and the biggest gaming system in the country. It would explain the Japanese devs who are more open to going to PC and Xbox, or running to mobile.

So it's not just a Square and FF issue.

It's the other way around, third parties refused to release their games on Switch because of their allegiance towards PlayStation in Japan. Some companies like Falcom had realized their errors after failed to meet their financial expectations.

Konami has been rewarded handsomely by releasing a lot of games on Switch. They're bigger than SQE in term of sales in 2021.

 

[thismeinteil]

PS5 doing great.

I’m starting to think Series consoles were indeed over estimated by Famitsu…and they are now similar to Media Create.

Definitely. According to someone who had access to the Media Create numbers, Series had almost twice as many sales on Famitsu. My guess is they are now lowballing numbers slightly and will eventually be inline with each other.

 

[shiru]

I think the issue is that the Switch is becoming a machine entirely for playing Nintendo games and Nintendo games only, and I don't know what that is going to end up doing to third parties in the long run because of the lopsided console sales - people are being conditioned that console games = Nintendo. Literally the top 20 Switch games worldwide in terms of sales are all Nintendo games. Mario Kart 8 alone sold over 6 times more than the highest selling third party game - and Mario Kart is still charting. There are 27 million Switches in Japan yet Crisis Core sells 6k higher on the PS5? And the PS4 outsells the Switch version too? I'm sorry but I don't care about where the brand is popular or whatever, that should simply not be possible.

Well, no. Stop talking out of your ass.

 

[remember_spinal]

It's the other way around, third parties refused to release their games on Switch because of their allegiance towards PlayStation in Japan. Some companies like Falcom had realized their errors after failed to meet their financial expectations.

Konami has been rewarded handsomely by releasing a lot of games on Switch. They're bigger than SQE in term of sales in 2021.

And ironically SE released more exclusives on nintendo this year than any other platform

 

[shiru]

Not all third party games are guaranteed sales success on switch, even in genres or franchises that traditionally do well. Harvestella bombed recently, and Dragon Quest Treasures also isn’t doing that great.

It’s still a toss up as to whats gonna land and what isn’t.

What's the alternative? Not all games can be sales success for a variety of reasons. I think the Switch has already proven it can move software a lot better than the competition. And as expected Crisis Core has plummeted on Playstation consoles. The Switch version will sell more in the long run.

1. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet – 375,665 / 4,338,931
2. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 121,173 / 3,687,814
3. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports – 44,465 / 887,722
4. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 41,887 / 5,014,375
5. [NSW] Minecraft – 37,935 / 2,960,006
6. [NSW] Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – 25,727 / 71,900
7. [NSW] Dragon Quest Treasures – 23,097 / 198,403
8. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 22,148 / 5,065,191
9. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars – 22,001 / 1,114,132
10. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! – 20,426 / 2,782,933



11. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival – 20,165 / 115,251
12. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land – 19,415 / 969,047
13. [NSW] Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star – 17,832 / NEW
14. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 16,815 / 7,394,204
15. [NSW] Ace Angler: Fishing Spirits – 15,874 / 80,024
16. [NSW] FIFA 23 Legacy Edition – 13,723 / 64,465
17. [NSW] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion – 12,606 / 61,133
18. [PS5] Gran Turismo 7 – 11,780 / 218,013
19. [NSW] Ishu Saikyou Ou Zukan: Battle Colosseum – 9,655 / 20,856
20. [PS4] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion – 8,865 / 62,346
21. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics – 8,840 / 1,054,887
22. [NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 8,379 / 1,107,633
23. [NSW] Earth Defense Force 4.1 – 7,998 / NEW
24. [PS5] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion – 6,878 / 61,400
25. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure – 6,845 / 3,318,883
26. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 – 6,473 / 1,264,959
27. [NSW] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 – 6,369 / 187,585
28. [NSW] Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 6,269 / 2,114,201
29. [NSW] Human: Fall Flat – 6,255 / 309,567
30. [NSW] Dragon Quest X Offline – 6,246 / 252,028

 

[remember_spinal]

What's the alternative? Not all games can be sales success for a variety of reasons. I think the Switch has already proven it can move software a lot better than the competition.

They can easily move their software but its not a slam dunk for third parties on switch just like it isn’t on playstation and xbox. Outside of Minecraft and Monster Hunter i can’t think of that many smash hits on nintendo from 3rd parties.

They do well with a lot of smaller release AA and Indie titles but those are still only like 1 million unit games

 

[shiru]

They can easily move their software but its not a slam dunk for third parties on switch just like it isn’t on playstation and xbox. Outside of Minecraft and Monster Hunter i can’t think of that many smash hits on nintendo from 3rd parties.

True, but the few franchises with any sales potential that have arrived on Switch have performed adequately I'd say. There's not that many big releases from 3rd parties on Switch, so sales are what they are.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Well, no. Stop talking out of your ass.

Have you ever actually looked at the sales numbers? Let me show you a real Pac-Man:

Numbers from Wikipedia but they are likely not materially incorrect.

 

[Ronin_7]

Considering that X was selling around 5,000 range when they had better stock earlier, and haven't been that high since, yes I would say relatively, it is, despite your knowledge lacking sarcasm.

It's right there in the chart for YTD, X would be way ahead of the S if it had the stock. This was always the case.

If they allocated more stock Series would have passed Xbox 1 LTD in Japan months ago, and would be heading toward 3DO and 360 numbers right now.

Demand so crazy for Xbox in Japan PlayStation can't compete! DAMN

 

[remember_spinal]

Almost crazy to think that going into 2023 xbox is competing with the PS4 in Japan

 

[Physiognomonics]

Switch is more than ever a dedicated tablet for Nintendo games. This is good for Nintendo (and consumers who love Nintendo games) but people should not be surprised when the big AAA games are not released on that console (or only via streaming...).

Even Wii U had more third party games on it.

 

[Celine]

FAMITSU 2022 FULL YEAR SOFTWARE RESULTS AT RETAIL (27th Dec. 2021 - 25th Dec. 2022) with incomplete data (only data available in the weekly Top 30 charts):

Platforms marketshare:
NSW: 20,942,819 (89.6%)
PS4: 1,527,798 (6.5%)
PS5: 912,615 (3.9%)
TOT: 23,383,232 (100.0%)

Top 3 publishers marketshare:
Nintendo: 9,400,068 (40.2%)
Pokemon Co: 7,059,244 (30.2%)
Square Enix: 1,450,890 (6.2%)

Nintendo First-Party (Nintendo+Pokemon Co): 16,459,312 (70.4%)

 

[Fully engaged]

Switch is more than ever a dedicated tablet for Nintendo games. This is good for Nintendo (and consumers who love Nintendo games) but people should not be surprised when the big AAA games are not released on that console (or only via streaming...).

Even Wii U had more third party games on it.

what are you even smoking? There are over 8000 games on the Switch.

 

[Celine]

Even Wii U had more third party games on it.

Don't talk out of your ass.

In Japan the numbers are a little different however NSW number of physical third-party game releases (1112 as March 2022 and counting) is way above WiiU (73).

 

[sandbood]

FAMITSU 2022 FULL YEAR SOFTWARE RESULTS AT RETAIL (27th Dec. 2021 - 25th Dec. 2022) with incomplete data (only data available in the weekly Top 30 charts):

Platforms marketshare:
NSW: 20,942,819 (89.6%)
PS4: 1,527,798 (6.5%)
PS5: 912,615 (3.9%)
TOT: 23,383,232 (100.0%)

Top 3 publishers marketshare:
Nintendo: 9,400,068 (40.2%)
Pokemon Co: 7,059,244 (30.2%)
Square Enix: 1,450,890 (6.2%)

Nintendo First-Party (Nintendo+Pokemon Co): 16,459,312 (70.4%)

Complete domination by Nintendo.

That's still didn't paint a complete picture of Nintendo utter domination in Japan because there's no digital inclusion where it's around 5 million units sold for Pokémon SV and Splatoon 3 digital software combined.

 

[jm89]

FAMITSU 2022 FULL YEAR SOFTWARE RESULTS AT RETAIL (27th Dec. 2021 - 25th Dec. 2022) with incomplete data (only data available in the weekly Top 30 charts):

Platforms marketshare:
NSW: 20,942,819 (89.6%)
PS4: 1,527,798 (6.5%)
PS5: 912,615 (3.9%)
TOT: 23,383,232 (100.0%)

Top 3 publishers marketshare:
Nintendo: 9,400,068 (40.2%)
Pokemon Co: 7,059,244 (30.2%)
Square Enix: 1,450,890 (6.2%)

Nintendo First-Party (Nintendo+Pokemon Co): 16,459,312 (70.4%)

The NSW marketshare insane. I think Sony will be lucky if they can convert all those PS4 users over to ps5.

 

[DenchDeckard]

How is ps5 doing vs ps4 and ps3 now?

Lifetime sales

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Top 30

Famitsu Sales: Week 52, 2022 (Dec 19 - Dec 25)

01./01. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet # <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2022.11.18} (¥5.980) - 375.665 / 4.338.931 <80-100%> (+44%)
02./02. [NSW] Splatoon 3 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2022.09.09} (¥5.980) - 121.173 / 3.687.814 <80-100%> (+76%)
03./06. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports # <SPT> (Nintendo) {2022.04.29} (¥4.980) - 44.465 / 887.722 <80-100%> (+35%)
04./09. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) - 41.887 / 5.014.375 <80-100%> (+84%)
05./08. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) - 37.935 / 2.960.006 <80-100%> (+63%)
06./10. [NSW] Mario + Rabbids: Galaxy Battle <SLG> (Nintendo) {2022.12.02} (¥5.980) - 25.727 / 71.900 <80-100%> (+71%)
07./07. [NSW] Dragon Quest Treasures # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2022.12.09} (¥7.264) - 23.097 / 198.403 <60-80%> (-27%)
08./11. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) - 22.148 / 5.065.191 <80-100%> (+76%)
09./14. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars <ETC> (Nintendo) {2021.10.29} (¥5.980) - 22.001 / 1.114.132 <80-100%> (+96%)
10./19. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! <TBL> (Konami) {2020.11.19} (¥6.300) - 20.426 / 2.782.933 <80-100%> (+119%)
11./13. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival <ACT> (Bandai Namco Entertainment) {2022.09.22} (¥5.980) - 20.165 / 115.251 <60-80%> (+75%)
12./16. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land <ACT> (Nintendo) {2022.03.25} (¥5.980) - 19.415 / 969.047 <80-100%> (+75%)
13./00. [NSW] Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star <HOB> (Imagineer) {2022.12.22} (¥6.980) - 17.832 / NEW <40-60%>
14./17. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2020.03.20} (¥5.980) - 16.815 / 7.394.204 <80-100%> (+66%)
15./18. [NSW] Ace Angler: Fishing Spirits # <SPT> (Bandai Namco Entertainment) {2022.10.27} (¥5.980) - 15.874 / 80.024 <60-80%> (+67%)
16./20. [NSW] FIFA 23: Legacy Edition <SPT> (Electronic Arts) {2022.09.30} (¥3.909) - 13.723 / 64.465 <80-100%> (+71%)
17./05. [NSW] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion <RPG> (Square Enix) {2022.12.13} (¥6.200) - 12.606 / 61.133 <40-60%> (-74%)
18./21. [PS5] Gran Turismo 7 # <RCE> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2022.03.04} (¥7.900) - 11.780 / 218.013 <80-100%> (+50%)
19./15. [NSW] Ishu Saikyou Ou Zukan: Battle Colosseum <RPG> (Nippon Columbia) {2022.12.15} (¥5.800) - 9.655 / 20.856 <60-80%> (-14%)
20./04. [PS4] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion <RPG> (Square Enix) {2022.12.13} (¥6.200) - 8.865 / 62.346 <60-80%> (-83%)
21./24. [NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics <ETC> (Nintendo) {2020.06.05} (¥3.980) - 8.840 / 1.054.887 <80-100%> (+100%)
22./22. [NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury <ACT> (Nintendo) {2021.02.12} (¥5.980) - 8.379 / 1.107.633 <80-100%> (+77%)
23./00. [NSW] Earth Defense Force 4.1 for Nintendo Switch <ACT> (D3Publisher) {2022.12.22} (¥5.436) - 7.998 / NEW <40-60%>
24./03. [PS5] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion <RPG> (Square Enix) {2022.12.13} (¥6.200) - 6.878 / 61.400 <60-80%> (-87%)
25./25. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure # <HOB> (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} (¥7.980) - 6.845 / 3.318.883 <80-100%> (+61%)
26./30. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.06.28} (¥5.980) - 6.473 / 1.264.959 <80-100%> (+92%)
27./27. [NSW] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 <ACT> (Bandai Namco Entertainment) {2020.03.26} (¥7.800) - 6.369 / 187.585 <80-100%> (+65%)
28./26. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980) - 6.269 / 2.114.201 <80-100%> (+59%)
29./00. [NSW] Human: Fall Flat <PZL> (Teyon Japan) {2020.06.25} (¥3.500) - 6.255 / 309.567 <80-100%>
30./23. [NSW] Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Offline # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2022.09.15} (¥7.800) - 6.246 / 252.028 <80-100%> (+40%)

Top 30

NSW - 27
PS5 - 2
PS4 - 1

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Regional Software Shipments

Switch must be close to selling the most software of any platform ever in Japan with 175.08 million as of 30th September 2022.
From the fiscal year data it is easy to work out Calendar year software sales and compare to Famitsu which of course lacks digital sales.

Switch software shipments per year (Japan)

2017: 9.81 million
2018: 20.52 million
2019: 27.01 million
2020: 41.53 million
2021: 44.32 million
2022: 31.89 million from 1st Jan to September 30th.

2022 needs 12.44 million software shipments from 1st October to 31st December to be Switch's peak year and with Pokemon Scarlet & Violet contributing around half of that by itself it should easily happen.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

How is ps5 doing vs ps4 and ps3 now?

Lifetime sales

In Japan? PS5 is tracking slightly behind PS4.

PS5: 2.38 million
PS4: 9.42 million
PS3: 10.47 million
PS2: 23.18 million
PS1: 21.59 million
PSP: 20.01 million
PSV: 5.73 million

 

[lyan]

There are fourteen times the number of Switch owners. There should be more people who own both a Playstation and Switch that bought the Switch version instead for the ~~~pOrTaBiliTy~~~.

95% (random number out of my ass, but you get it) of these top 10 software sales are just parents buying games for their kids, they ain't gonna choose Final Fantasy over something with cutesy animals / Mario on the cover for them.

 

[zedinen]

Switch must be close to selling the most software of any platform ever in Japan with 175.08 million as of 30th September 2022.

The Japanese console market is dead for third party publishers and developers.

Without them, software sales and ratios are in free fall; Nintendo is declining and PlayStation is a shadow of its former self.

The good news: Nintendo/Pokemon games still sell extremely well in Japan, while japanese third parties are breaking records in NA and EU (thanks to PSN and Steam)


Japan - Software Shipments

1. PS1 286.00 m

2. PS2 228.00 m

3. NES 225.86 m

4. NDS 213.82 m

5. SNES 194.85 m

6. NSW 175.09 m



Japan – Software / Hardware Ratio

1. PS1 13.24

2. NES 11.67

3. SNES 11.34

4. PS2 8.96

5. NDS 6.48

6. NSW 6.39


NSW – Software / Hardware Ratio

Americas 9.12

Europe 9.09

Japan 6.39

In Japan? PS5 is tracking slightly behind PS4.

PS5 hardware sales are outperforming PS4 in both Japan and China (already 3.5 million PS5s combined).

PS5 abysmal software sales in Japan are explained by the collapse of software ratios in the country (PS1 13.24 vs PS2 8.96, etc)


Check out FY sales in Japan before falling into the "aligned launch trap":

FY1

PS5 600,966

PS4 491,899



FY2

PS5 927,217

PS4 785,094



FY3 (week 38)

PS5 849,206 (LTD 2,377,389)

PS4 826,823 (LTD 2,130,733)

 

[sandbood]

There are fourteen times the number of Switch owners. There should be more people who own both a Playstation and Switch that bought the Switch version instead for the ~~~pOrTaBiliTy~~~.

Imagine thinking Final Fantasy is at the same tier as Pokémon.

Pokémon S/V alone is bigger than FF16+FF7R2+Forspoken+DQ12 combined.

 

[Celine]

Nintendo is declining and PlayStation is a shadow of its former self.

Switch hardware sales declined YoY in 2022 (still sold over 4.5M units) however there is a very good chance 2022 was the peak year for software sales at retail.
PlayStation is indeed a shadow of its former self and it's getting totally dominated by Nintendo.

PS5 hardware sales are outperforming PS4 in both Japan

PS5 isn't outperforming PS4 in Japan, neither in hardware nor software sales.
In particularly PS5 physical software sales are so terrible that even doubling up (that is with digital sales ratio at 50%) won't make the picture much prettier.

(EDIT: there is an error in the below chart title, the data is as 2021)

Japan - Software Shipments

1. PS1 286.00 m

2. PS2 228.00 m

3. NES 225.86 m

4. NDS 213.82 m

5. SNES 194.85 m

6. NSW 175.09 m

NSW software shipments in Japan (note: Nintendo excludes digital-only games from the count) are going to surpass everyone of those numbers except 286M and it won't take long, there is a good chance it will happen within the next fiscal year.
By the way the PS1 and PS2 numbers don't refer to software shipments for Japan but for the whole Asia continent (in the words of Sony: "*Figures for Japan include shipments to Asian countries and regions including South Korea.").

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

So I have a question: what do y'all think Sony could do for the Japanese market to reposition PlayStation better against Nintendo, while not gimping their Western appeal?

Because any way you look at it, hardware sales may be improving to a point of stabilizing for PS5, and maybe some of these games are doing a lot more digitally than physically, but even with all of that factored it's just utter Nintendo domination in Japan. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that: it's a result of Nintendo providing the overall best balanced product for the market of Japanese customers and Japanese developers. They may have a monopoly on the Japanese gaming market in a sense (excusing mobile) but they earned that through selling a product customers resonated with and chose to buy of their own volition over Sony & Microsoft products. That's their reward for providing better competition (just mentioning this because some people think having a majority market share is all that matters when talking monopolies and it clearly isn't).

I think the obvious thing for Sony to do, personally, is to make another portable device. I've been saying this for a while now: make a PS4-spec'd equivalent portable device (in this case one you can repurpose into a high-end smartphone product and sell that as a different SKU for that specific mobile market), that can run PS OS and Android (save the dual OS-boot mode stuff for the smartphone version), can serve as a legacy device for native PS4 BC and taking all those games on the go, and providing a market alternative for Japanese devs who may not have the resources to target PS5-level games but would want to target specs at PS4 level just with the added bonus of doing so for a portable device, knowing their games would be seamlessly playable on PS4 & PS5 consoles as well. And, obviously, enable it to have Remote Play with those consoles.

IMO this is such a clear-cut route to go with that I'm surprised nothing's happened yet. It doesn't create a resource drain on 1P or 3P current-gen games targeting PS5 if they're cross-gen for example because that would mean they're also developing a PS4 version meaning it would run with no adjustments on the portable if it provides base PS4-level performance. Not EVERY current-gen game is going to require the full scale of PS5 or be designed in a way where scaling down actually hurts the game's scope (maybe the general design scope is more limited and the game's graphics can be easily scaled down from something running on PS5 to something running on PS4. Think of games like Sackboy's Big Adventure), so these games can easily have native builds for the PS4 and therefore this hypothetical portable.

Beyond that, like I said before it opens a new window of opportunity for Japanese developers who may want something more performant in a portable form than Nintendo's hardware, and that has the added benefit of having millions of home consoles for their game to natively run on for those who'd rather play the game that way (which would potentially be the case for many in the West who have a PS4 or PS5), AND they now have a reason to (potentially) make an Android version of the game if they so choose to run on the smartphone version of this hypothetical portable system (though since that would (should) have dual-boot support for PS OS as well, it may be redundant to build an Android version unless the dev wants to provide an Android version for other devices at some point). Having a smartphone variant opens up a means of adding in additional expected hardware and also selling the hardware for a higher profit margin while working with carriers to provide contract plans for cellular users, though I don't think the non-smartphone version would sell for a loss, either, and can probably be sold with a decent profit margin at $349. $399 might push it but I think that can work if Switch 2 comes in at $349 (and that might end up happening going by the pricing for the OLED model); while I expect that to be a good jump over the Switch spec-wise I doubt it'll hit PS4-tier performance levels.

There are other benefits to this as well IMO, but it all comes down to pricing and timing. I don't know how popular the Steam Deck is in Japan but it's found a pretty great following in NA and parts of Europe. I think the Switch 2 will have to be designed with some consideration for that device, but it could really screw over a new Sony portable if price/performance is better with a Steam Deck 2. That said, again it's down to timing, and Valve have a vastly different business model than Nintendo & Sony do. However, for Sony to make this work, hardware & pricing are only two parts of the equation: what they REALLY need is the right software, particularly for Japan.

The good news is that they can ensure that software has a home not just on the portable, but also PS4 & PS5 consoles so that choice helps them out particularly with Western customers because even if they choose to buy it for the console and not get the portable, Sony can just reallocate those portables back to Japan and other markets where it would sell better, and the software itself still can find its audience in all of these territories. Also say they may want to bring the game to Android in the future; well now that gives people with the smartphone version of the hardware another option to play it through, and gives the game a home on non-Sony portable devices running Android. But like I said, they need the right type of games and this is where some of their focused scope 1P-wise over the years has been a bit of a detriment. Maybe they'll get these kind of games through Asobi, Haven, Pixelopus etc internally but Sony really needs some big exclusive software that can function similarly to a Splatoon or Pokemon for the Japanese market, while having global appeal.

Right now they have IP with the potential to do it but none in effect doing such. I'm not counting stuff like GOW, GT or Horizon here: I know those have appeal among some Japanese gamers and (much more) appeal to global audiences, but they're not necessarily "all ages" kind of family-friendly stuff and the degree of their effectiveness as trans-media IP is still up for debate. Sony need something that can have an impact like a Pokemon, or Yu-Gi-Oh etc., that can be a big thing not just in gaming but also anime, manga, toys, maybe some kind of card game, clothing etc. Something that has big global appeal but crucially has huge mass appeal to markets like Japan.

They need software like that to drive a successful portable platform in Japan and the good news is, those games would be natively playable on PS4 & PS5 consoles anyway. They aren't designed as technical showpieces (nothing where they can only run on a PS5), therefore you aren't clogging up your production pipeline with arbitrary mandates creating needless bottlenecks (like what we'll eventually start seeing with Xbox unless MS removes the mandate that all games must have native Series S versions). And there are some legacy IP Sony have which I think could work to serving that need, such as:

-Parappa/UmJammer​

-Tomba​

-Ape Escape​

-Ratchet & Clank​

-Astro bot​

Those are the ones that come to the top of my head. However I'm not saying Sony to just bring these back as-is; rather they should expand on them to be experiences that can work in terms of expanded lore and story, deepening what parts of them can have more depth while still staying true to what make the games work & appealing in the first place. Maybe make a new type of multiverse IP combining these and making original game systems taking elements of gameplay from the respective IP, but also making sure there are some mechanics that can work well for say a card game, an anime/manga series etc. They'd have to get pretty creative, whether they use legacy IP or just make a completely new IP, but it's worth considering.

In fact, there's maybe other IP they could potentially tap for this, though it'd require bringing them into the 1P fold, probably through acquisitions. Those IPs are Kena and DokeV. I think there are overall worlds and lore with say Kena that could expand out into trans-media stuff, have a particular appeal with the Japanese market, and make for a good innovative card game & toy line; I think the basis are there in a lot of ways. However, I think there's a lot of potential for DokeV to do similar. Issue there though is we don't know a lot about the game yet, and from what's been shown seems specifically designed for systems like PS5 only. How much of that could be scaled down to run on a PS4 without affecting the game's design scope negatively? Well we'd need to see more of the game to actually know the answer to that, first.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

95% (random number out of my ass, but you get it) of these top 10 software sales are just parents buying games for their kids, they ain't gonna choose Final Fantasy over something with cutesy animals / Mario on the cover for them.

I agree, that is actually my point regarding third parties. Those parents aren't buying a Ys game (as example) either.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Don't talk out of your ass.

In Japan the numbers are a little different however NSW number of physical third-party game releases (1112 as March 2022 and counting) is way above WiiU (73).

How many indies games in those?

 

[Celine]

How many indies games in those?

The data I've posted comes directly from Nintendo which explicitly single out only game releases with a physical edition (digital-only releases are excluded) this mean that someone (the publisher) had to fork good money in advance to manufacture the physical goods to sell in stores just like with past physical-only consoles.

Only a clueless person (who presumably never owned either) would ever try to convince people that WiiU had better third-party support than NSW.
It's that dumb of a statement!

 

[Fully engaged]

So I have a question: what do y'all think Sony could do for the Japanese market to reposition PlayStation better against Nintendo, while not gimping their Western appeal?

Because any way you look at it, hardware sales may be improving to a point of stabilizing for PS5, and maybe some of these games are doing a lot more digitally than physically, but even with all of that factored it's just utter Nintendo domination in Japan. And there's nothing inherently wrong with that: it's a result of Nintendo providing the overall best balanced product for the market of Japanese customers and Japanese developers. They may have a monopoly on the Japanese gaming market in a sense (excusing mobile) but they earned that through selling a product customers resonated with and chose to buy of their own volition over Sony & Microsoft products. That's their reward for providing better competition (just mentioning this because some people think having a majority market share is all that matters when talking monopolies and it clearly isn't).

I think the obvious thing for Sony to do, personally, is to make another portable device. I've been saying this for a while now: make a PS4-spec'd equivalent portable device (in this case one you can repurpose into a high-end smartphone product and sell that as a different SKU for that specific mobile market), that can run PS OS and Android (save the dual OS-boot mode stuff for the smartphone version), can serve as a legacy device for native PS4 BC and taking all those games on the go, and providing a market alternative for Japanese devs who may not have the resources to target PS5-level games but would want to target specs at PS4 level just with the added bonus of doing so for a portable device, knowing their games would be seamlessly playable on PS4 & PS5 consoles as well. And, obviously, enable it to have Remote Play with those consoles.

IMO this is such a clear-cut route to go with that I'm surprised nothing's happened yet. It doesn't create a resource drain on 1P or 3P current-gen games targeting PS5 if they're cross-gen for example because that would mean they're also developing a PS4 version meaning it would run with no adjustments on the portable if it provides base PS4-level performance. Not EVERY current-gen game is going to require the full scale of PS5 or be designed in a way where scaling down actually hurts the game's scope (maybe the general design scope is more limited and the game's graphics can be easily scaled down from something running on PS5 to something running on PS4. Think of games like Sackboy's Big Adventure), so these games can easily have native builds for the PS4 and therefore this hypothetical portable.

Beyond that, like I said before it opens a new window of opportunity for Japanese developers who may want something more performant in a portable form than Nintendo's hardware, and that has the added benefit of having millions of home consoles for their game to natively run on for those who'd rather play the game that way (which would potentially be the case for many in the West who have a PS4 or PS5), AND they now have a reason to (potentially) make an Android version of the game if they so choose to run on the smartphone version of this hypothetical portable system (though since that would (should) have dual-boot support for PS OS as well, it may be redundant to build an Android version unless the dev wants to provide an Android version for other devices at some point). Having a smartphone variant opens up a means of adding in additional expected hardware and also selling the hardware for a higher profit margin while working with carriers to provide contract plans for cellular users, though I don't think the non-smartphone version would sell for a loss, either, and can probably be sold with a decent profit margin at $349. $399 might push it but I think that can work if Switch 2 comes in at $349 (and that might end up happening going by the pricing for the OLED model); while I expect that to be a good jump over the Switch spec-wise I doubt it'll hit PS4-tier performance levels.

There are other benefits to this as well IMO, but it all comes down to pricing and timing. I don't know how popular the Steam Deck is in Japan but it's found a pretty great following in NA and parts of Europe. I think the Switch 2 will have to be designed with some consideration for that device, but it could really screw over a new Sony portable if price/performance is better with a Steam Deck 2. That said, again it's down to timing, and Valve have a vastly different business model than Nintendo & Sony do. However, for Sony to make this work, hardware & pricing are only two parts of the equation: what they REALLY need is the right software, particularly for Japan.

The good news is that they can ensure that software has a home not just on the portable, but also PS4 & PS5 consoles so that choice helps them out particularly with Western customers because even if they choose to buy it for the console and not get the portable, Sony can just reallocate those portables back to Japan and other markets where it would sell better, and the software itself still can find its audience in all of these territories. Also say they may want to bring the game to Android in the future; well now that gives people with the smartphone version of the hardware another option to play it through, and gives the game a home on non-Sony portable devices running Android. But like I said, they need the right type of games and this is where some of their focused scope 1P-wise over the years has been a bit of a detriment. Maybe they'll get these kind of games through Asobi, Haven, Pixelopus etc internally but Sony really needs some big exclusive software that can function similarly to a Splatoon or Pokemon for the Japanese market, while having global appeal.

Right now they have IP with the potential to do it but none in effect doing such. I'm not counting stuff like GOW, GT or Horizon here: I know those have appeal among some Japanese gamers and (much more) appeal to global audiences, but they're not necessarily "all ages" kind of family-friendly stuff and the degree of their effectiveness as trans-media IP is still up for debate. Sony need something that can have an impact like a Pokemon, or Yu-Gi-Oh etc., that can be a big thing not just in gaming but also anime, manga, toys, maybe some kind of card game, clothing etc. Something that has big global appeal but crucially has huge mass appeal to markets like Japan.

They need software like that to drive a successful portable platform in Japan and the good news is, those games would be natively playable on PS4 & PS5 consoles anyway. They aren't designed as technical showpieces (nothing where they can only run on a PS5), therefore you aren't clogging up your production pipeline with arbitrary mandates creating needless bottlenecks (like what we'll eventually start seeing with Xbox unless MS removes the mandate that all games must have native Series S versions). And there are some legacy IP Sony have which I think could work to serving that need, such as:

-Parappa/UmJammer​

-Tomba​

-Ape Escape​

-Ratchet & Clank​

-Astro bot​

Those are the ones that come to the top of my head. However I'm not saying Sony to just bring these back as-is; rather they should expand on them to be experiences that can work in terms of expanded lore and story, deepening what parts of them can have more depth while still staying true to what make the games work & appealing in the first place. Maybe make a new type of multiverse IP combining these and making original game systems taking elements of gameplay from the respective IP, but also making sure there are some mechanics that can work well for say a card game, an anime/manga series etc. They'd have to get pretty creative, whether they use legacy IP or just make a completely new IP, but it's worth considering.

In fact, there's maybe other IP they could potentially tap for this, though it'd require bringing them into the 1P fold, probably through acquisitions. Those IPs are Kena and DokeV. I think there are overall worlds and lore with say Kena that could expand out into trans-media stuff, have a particular appeal with the Japanese market, and make for a good innovative card game & toy line; I think the basis are there in a lot of ways. However, I think there's a lot of potential for DokeV to do similar. Issue there though is we don't know a lot about the game yet, and from what's been shown seems specifically designed for systems like PS5 only. How much of that could be scaled down to run on a PS4 without affecting the game's design scope negatively? Well we'd need to see more of the game to actually know the answer to that, first.

Sony stole their original audience from Nintendo with the Square deal, no such deal now exists. You could argue that Sony tried to get Nintendo's audience again with the Monhun World and DQ 11 deals for the PS4. That didnt work because the Switch had a new generation of players. Nintendo didnt do much right with the Wii U, but they struck gold with Splatoon, and on the back of that game alone the Switch was always going to have a great start in Japan.
Nintendo launched Splatoon 2 in July of 2017 and it made a huge impact on the momentum of the console.

Sony does not have a Splatoon in them.
They dont invest in that kind of talent. Sony's audience is 30 plus in Japan. They do have a chance of capturing a limited number of 15 plus male gamers in Japan.. But their market is basically dying day by day.
Sony's brand is attached to this sort of cool gamer image that is in Japanese furukusi. Stale, or old and shit.

A New Handheld solves nothing for Sony. It just splits their development teams and would be competing with a cheaper Switch and the Steam Deck.

 

[sandbood]

Forspoken is the next big triple A that's going to bomb so badly in Japan.

7 points of preorder in less than a month from release date is basically flop certified title.

 

[Ronin_7]

This week seemed to be pretty big for PS5 in Japan, let's hope Console starts selling good Numbers.

Big hits will be needed also, Final Fantasy XVI, Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, Kings Hearts etc.

 

[Woopah]

That's what I meant. Why? Are they exclusive?

I don’t think Media Create shares actual numbers with the public like NPD, but maybe someone from IB that post here can give you more specifics

Media Create stopped releasing as much information publicly as they used to. Famistu now releases more information each week so we use them instead.

Having said that, Media create do release a top 5 games each week for Taiwan and South Korea (but without number unfortunately) and they release a yearly hardware and top 1000 software chart for Japan (with numbers)

pokemon scarlet/violet are average games at best, and this tells a lot about japanese taste and gaming habit; Nintendo sells software mostly thanks to the hardware, the Switch, the quality of software is often average, I'm sorry if I might offend someone.

The life style of Japanese is in part responsible of the decline of the true Home Console gaming...their games are not better than Sony, to say the least...

Nintendo software sells for the same reasons every other software sells. People buy hardware because it enables them to play games they are interested in. This is true for PS5, Switch and Xbox series.

Also if Pokémon's popularity "tells a lot about Japanese taste and gaming habit" then it must also tell exactly the same thing about USA's and Europe's taste and habit.

I think the issue is that the Switch is becoming a machine entirely for playing Nintendo games and Nintendo games only, and I don't know what that is going to end up doing to third parties in the long run because of the lopsided console sales - people are being conditioned that console games = Nintendo. Literally the top 20 Switch games worldwide in terms of sales are all Nintendo games. Mario Kart 8 alone sold over 6 times more than the highest selling third party game - and Mario Kart is still charting. There are 27 million Switches in Japan yet Crisis Core sells 6k higher on the PS5? And the PS4 outsells the Switch version too? I'm sorry but I don't care about where the brand is popular or whatever, that should simply not be possible.

Its the opposite, Switch started with very poor third party support in 2017 but since then it has got a lot better. Third parties game well, and that's why they keep supporting the platform. There's still room for improvement and still developers/publishers that Nintendo has to bring on board, but when publishers put their big games on Switch they sell.

If we were to judge third parties on "do their games sell as well as the biggest Nintendo games" then nearly every third party would be a failure. They'll judge their success on their own targets and costs, not on outselling Nintendo.

On the bolded, brand has a huge impact on software sales. When the Phoenix Wright Collection launched in 2019, the PS4 install base was a lot higher than the Switch userbase. And yet the game sold 4x more on Switch than PS4, because most of the Phoenix Wright fanbase are on Nintendo platforms. It shouldn't surprise anyone that most of the FFVII fanbase is on PlayStation.

There are only 3 or 4 third-party dev & published games that sold over 1 million copies on the Switch in japan. Nintendo's strategy is throwing third parties on the way-side despite the Switch being the only handheld of relevance in Japan and the biggest gaming system in the country. It would explain the Japanese devs who are more open to going to PC and Xbox, or running to mobile.

So it's not just a Square and FF issue.

How is Nintendo "throwing third parties on the way-side"? Japanese third party support for Switch is improving not declining.

 

[Celine]

If Switch is "throwing third parties on the way-side" then what's PS5 doing?
Japanese third-party publishers were cautious to support the innovative Switch, in fact what have driven Switch to a permanent success originated mainly from within Nintendo (their unique hardware/software integration and in-house software).
The enduring success and support from the get go of the popular multiplatform middleware meant that third-party support would slowly but surely come and would be additive to Nintendo's push.

(Note: there is an error in the below chart title, the data is as 2021)

 

[Celine]

FAMITSU 2022 FULL YEAR SOFTWARE RESULTS AT RETAIL (27th Dec. 2021 - 25th Dec. 2022) with incomplete data (only data available in the weekly Top 30 charts):

Platforms marketshare:
NSW: 20,942,819 (89.6%)
PS4: 1,527,798 (6.5%)
PS5: 912,615 (3.9%)
TOT: 23,383,232 (100.0%)

Top 3 publishers marketshare:
Nintendo: 9,400,068 (40.2%)
Pokemon Co: 7,059,244 (30.2%)
Square Enix: 1,450,890 (6.2%)

Nintendo First-Party (Nintendo+Pokemon Co): 16,459,312 (70.4%)

Based on the incomplete data (only data available in Famitsu weekly Top 30 charts), Sony Interactive Entertainment was by far the number one publisher on PS5 during 2022 with a marketshare of about 44.9%.

Publisher NSW - PS4 - PS5
Square Enix: 68.8% - 19.2% - 12.0%
Konami: 85.9% - 15.1% - 0.0%
Bandai Namco: 90.7% - 7.0% - 2.3%
From Software: 0.0% - 82.9% - 27.1%
Capcom: 96.0% - 2.8% - 1.2%
Koei Tecmo: 78.6% - 21.4% - 0.0%
Aniplex: 88.1% - 11.9% - 0.0%
Atlus: 62.5% - 23.8% - 13.6%
Sega Sammy: 74.5% - 11.5% - 14.0% (crappy year for Sega, below D3 Publisher, DMM Games, EA, Spike Chunsoft)

FAMITSU 2022 FULL YEAR SOFTWARE RESULTS AT RETAIL (27th Dec. 2021 - 25th Dec. 2022) with incomplete data (only data available in the weekly Top 30 charts)

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

How is Nintendo "throwing third parties on the way-side"? Japanese third party support for Switch is improving not declining.

And sales aren't.

This has been a complain about Nintendo for several handhelds now and it's been getting worse at an accelerated pace since post-DS. Third-parties are being pushed aside for outreach and sales, the only reason why numerical support outside of that has increase (well, kind of that's not entirely honest either) is because the other choices aren't currently in a position of viability in regards to reach and profits, which is why you see many japanese devs moving more to PC, and some of the lower budget ones running to Mobile. Otherwise the Switch is the only current choice. But people aren't buying the same games as much on the Switch, as other platforms before, even with the high installbase and audience attached to the Switch, they are not being given balanced shelfspace by retailers due to Nintendo's Infuence and sell overall poorly, or decent over time, with few exceptions, and all few of those exceptions are the only few that are sold at least over 1 million published/dev by a third-party.

 

[Fully engaged]

And sales aren't.

This has been a complain about Nintendo for several handhelds now and it's been getting worse at an accelerated pace since post-DS. Third-parties are being pushed aside for outreach and sales, the only reason why numerical support outside of that has increase (well, kind of that's not entirely honest either) is because the other choices aren't currently in a position of viability in regards to reach and profits, which is why you see many japanese devs moving more to PC, and some of the lower budget ones running to Mobile. Otherwise the Switch is the only current choice. But people aren't buying the same games as much on the Switch, as other platforms before, even with the high installbase and audience attached to the Switch, they are not being given balanced shelfspace by retailers due to Nintendo's Infuence and sell overall poorly, or decent over time, with few exceptions, and all few of those exceptions are the only few that are sold at least over 1 million published/dev by a third-party.

Nothing you wrote is true. Nintendo isnt the reason for large Japanese devs to seek PC is down to the total failure of sales on PS consoles.
Sales of games like Momotaro, Monster hunter rise and numerous other 3rd party success stories prove that if a company invests in a "Switch first" game the sales follow. Capcom has not put out a New RE game for switch, Square Enix have actually seen considerable success considering meager investments.
You cant say Nintendo consoles are damaging third party sales when third parties are spending huge budgets on Sony first products and seeing unremarkable sales.
Retailers in Japan buy games and display them based on their research on what sells.
You make this assumption that people arent buying the same games on the switch? What games are you talking about?
Elden ring? Resident evil Village? These games arent on the switch.. Those are the only two big games that have launched in Japan in the last year and a half that could have had any impact close to the sales you are talking about. Nothing has sold a million on a PS console in Japan since Mon hun World.

The Switch is not the issue the issue is Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and Capcom investing heavily in Sony first products and not balancing their books. This is the reason these companies are chasing PC sales. It has nothing to do with Nintendo. The big 3 Japanese publishers are making their own grave in Japan.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Nothing you wrote is true. Nintendo isnt the reason for large Japanese devs to seek PC

I didn't say that.

the only reason why numerical support outside of that has increase (well, kind of that's not entirely honest either) is because the other choices aren't currently in a position of viability

You basically repeated what I said by saying the PS5 isn't currently viable, and neither is the dying PS4, or the XBS.

Meanwhile you completely skip over rapidly declining Third-party large sellers on NIntendo consoles that continue to get worse. Instead, you bring up random games I never mentioned and say they aren't on the Switch, there are several games from big franchises that are selling less on the Switch than that series sold on other consoles despite the Switch having a large installbase in Japan.

Not to mention, that we are looking at less top selling third party pub/dev games on Switch than the 3DS which sold considerably less, with more compromised quality, and less overall shelfspace.

 

[Fully engaged]

I didn't say that.



You basically repeated what I said by saying the PS5 isn't currently viable, and neither is the dying PS4, or the XBS.

Meanwhile you completely skip over rapidly declining Third-party large sellers on NIntendo consoles that continue to get worse. Instead, you bring up random games I never mentioned and say they aren't on the Switch, there are several games from big franchises that are selling less on the Switch than that series sold on other consoles despite the Switch having a large installbase in Japan.

Not to mention, that we are looking at less top selling third party pub/dev games on Switch than the 3DS which sold considerably less, with more compromised quality, and less overall shelfspace.

Monster hunter rise just sold 4 million copies. Momotaro is over 2 million. The only difference between the 3ds and the Switch is there are less 3rd party exclusives. minecraft has sold millions on the Switch in Japan.

 

[Gambit2483]

Switch is more than ever a dedicated tablet for Nintendo games. This is good for Nintendo (and consumers who love Nintendo games) but people should not be surprised when the big AAA games are not released on that console (or only via streaming...).

Even Wii U had more third party games on it.

Lay off the drugs. There are more 3rd party titles on Switch than have been on a Nintendo console since the SNES.

If it's going to lose 3rd party support it's going to be because of aging hardware that's too weak. Not because of anything else.

 

[Celine]

Only a clueless person who don't know the dynamics of the japanese console market will argue that NSW is going to sell less third-party software than 3DS.
The key element to consider is that even if the third-party sales ratio is likely going to be higher on 3DS than NSW (which is recognizable by looking at total physical software sales data from Media Create Annual Top 1000, 3DS is the only Nintendo platform released since 2004 for which Nintendo first-party software has less than 50% of the total packaged software marketshare), NSW is going to sell massively more software than 3DS (the difference will be at a range above 100 million units).

Nintendo hardware and software sell-in data in Japan as September 2022:

Note:
Virtual Boy total shipment is until March 1996.
NES (Famicom) software sales includes both format: cartridges and disks. In total 53.39 million game disks were sold-in for the Famicom.

* What is referred as "First-party software" is actually an approximation calculated by summing every games for which sell-in data is known therefore it's incomplete.
It's meant to indicate a minimum for the first-party software sales.

** Only software which has physical version is considered.
If a game has a physical version and a digital version then it is included but if it is digital only it is excluded.

Graph by Chris1964 on InstallBaseForum (note: CY6 for NSW is missing the big holiday Q4) which shows how NSW is crushing 3DS on the software sales front in Japan (as is doing everywhere else).

 

[Woopah]

And sales aren't.

This has been a complain about Nintendo for several handhelds now and it's been getting worse at an accelerated pace since post-DS. Third-parties are being pushed aside for outreach and sales, the only reason why numerical support outside of that has increase (well, kind of that's not entirely honest either) is because the other choices aren't currently in a position of viability in regards to reach and profits, which is why you see many japanese devs moving more to PC, and some of the lower budget ones running to Mobile. Otherwise the Switch is the only current choice. But people aren't buying the same games as much on the Switch, as other platforms before, even with the high installbase and audience attached to the Switch, they are not being given balanced shelfspace by retailers due to Nintendo's Infuence and sell overall poorly, or decent over time, with few exceptions, and all few of those exceptions are the only few that are sold at least over 1 million published/dev by a third-party.

Pushed aside how? Nintendo includes third party games in their Directs all the time; they get a cut from every third party sale and want them to sell as well as possible.

With the bolded, are you saying that Nintendo is telling retailers not to give shelfspace to third party games? Do you have a source for that?

those exceptions are the only few that are sold at least over 1 million published/dev by a third-party.

Which third party games released on Switch do you think should have sold over 1 million physical, and why?

 

[Ronin_7]

No Numbers this week apparently but seemed like a huge week for PS5, maybe 100K+.

Stock situation getting really good, Sony should relaunch PS5 this year at 399$ 1 SKU only to finally achieve the magical 100M number.

 

[Eddie-Griffin]

Monster hunter rise just sold 4 million copies. Momotaro is over 2 million. The only difference between the 3ds and the Switch is there are less 3rd party exclusives. minecraft has sold millions on the Switch in Japan.

You're proving my point entirely read through the last few posts again.

Only a clueless person who don't know the dynamics of the japanese console market will argue that NSW is going to sell less third-party software than 3DS.

Good thing i didn't actually say that then, and you misquoted me so you can post a chart irrelevant to the topic.

 

[Celine]

Good thing i didn't actually say that then, and you misquoted me so you can post a chart irrelevant to the topic.

And sales aren't.

This has been a complain about Nintendo for several handhelds now and it's been getting worse at an accelerated pace since post-DS. Third-parties are being pushed aside for outreach and sales, the only reason why numerical support outside of that has increase (well, kind of that's not entirely honest either) is because the other choices aren't currently in a position of viability in regards to reach and profits, which is why you see many japanese devs moving more to PC, and some of the lower budget ones running to Mobile. Otherwise the Switch is the only current choice. But people aren't buying the same games as much on the Switch, as other platforms before, even with the high installbase and audience attached to the Switch, they are not being given balanced shelfspace by retailers due to Nintendo's Infuence and sell overall poorly, or decent over time, with few exceptions, and all few of those exceptions are the only few that are sold at least over 1 million published/dev by a third-party.

I repeat third-party software sales will be overall up on NSW compared to 3DS in Japan.
Not only that but strictly looking at Media Create Top 1000 sell-through at retail there is only one Nintendo console released since 2004 on which Nintendo first-party games have a marketshare lower than 50% and that's one released post-DS (3DS).
The reason that the other choices aren't currently in a position of viability (namely PlayStation) is that they have based their past successes on having strong third-party support (most of which, in the distant past, was granted as a de facto exclusive).
However since the advent of DS the power balance between Nintendo and third-parties has decisively shifted toward Nintendo because it has done a tremendously better job at catering at a wide range of japanese consumers than all the other japanese publishers put together (to the incredible point that in 2020 and 2022 more than half of the software sales at retail are from Nintendo first-party games).
If in the Japan of mid '90s there was a King with a few big kingmakers that may have decided his fate, today there are no kingmakers anymore and this is the result of one company outgrowing everyone else.
Even scarier for Sony, we live through a multiplatform development age, so for the first time with PS4/NSW a lot of the third-party releases are actually shared between the PlayStation ecosystem and the Nintendo ecosystem.
On Switch Nintendo is going to sell way way more software than it did sold on 3DS and third-parties will also sell more software than what they did on 3DS.