PS5 Sales Just Aren't Stopping in Japan as Sony's Console Is Still King

There's still hope in japan, now all sony need to do is releasing ps4 portables that's as powerful as steam deck, call it Playstation Portable 2 😃

@wiiware Sony knows not to go to war with Nintendo in that department - especially if Nintendo continues with the hybrid console design (which it should because Switch has been ridiculously popular).

On topic: Congrats to Sony. Glad to see stock shortages have been sorted there. North America is still pretty barren - I have yet to see a PS5 on a store shelf. I already have a PS5, but it would be nice to see them on shelves.

I saw a Series S in the wild, once, at Wal Mart.

@wiiware imagine a playstation 5 handheld, I would get one day one and I'm sure it would be a massive success in Japan depending on the price.

Good sales there means we'll still get a lot of jrpgs here, though nothing from Sony first party sadly. They only have a Gran Turismo studio there now.

Crazy the difference between the disc version and digital. You’d think sales would be the reverse.

I'm surprised PS5 sales are so low, Just over 3 million. I would have thought they would allocate more stock to their "home" market given the competition from Nintendo. I guess it's an indicator of where they see their primary markets today.

@GamingFan4Lyf regarding Switch - true, but still there might be a lot of potential on other platforms for Sony, since there's lots of users having huge game library, which they would appreciate to play somewhere else...

For example, I have over 1k games and playing them on a vacation from a portable device would be a dream...

Looks like Wo Long was a big contributor to those figures.

@AhmadSumadi
Why? Any digital version is far worse value for money.
Also, still a lot of collectors of physical in Japan.

@UltimateOtaku91 @wiiware I'd like a new handheld too. One that runs PS4 and PS5 games which can also use PS Plus extra and premium.

Would be sweet to play the games digital and for us physical owners download a digital version but maybe use the PS5 to confim we own the game after so many days

@thefourfoldroot1 Physical is only significantly cheaper if you rent your games, i.e. buy them and sell them on when you’re done. If you like to just own games it’s not really cheaper.

People often cite how new games are cheaper because retail discount means you can get a £70 game for £60 or less but they forget you can also buy credit at about 15% off(from third party sellers) and a £70 game is £59.50 if you have credit at 15% off.

Additionally older games have much lower sales prices than physical is able to replicate. MGSV definitive edition is regularly on sale on PSN for £3.19 for example, but the physical game production plus distribution probably costs more than that, putting a natural limit on how low prices can go.

@TooBarFoo considering stock issues its to be expected, still almost 10% of total Sales.

@ChrisDeku
Yeah, I get old games digitally or small games that don’t have a physical release or a limited run.

I disagree physical is only cheaper if renting though, because you can buy second hand games which, even if kept, is often far cheaper than digital.

But I do “rent” now, and so rarely spend more than £10 on a game. In fact, I’ve made money on more than a few. The tipping point came when I had to clear out my mum’s house and me and my brothers had hundreds of games with no space for them. We all just sold them. Got about £300 for all mine, but if I would have traded them back in the same generation I would have got a lot more money. Have no interest in more dusting and looking at boxes, it’s all just going to hit the landfill / charity boxes when I’m dead anyway.

@ChrisDeku Yep. And if you never use discs anyway, then digital edition is 100% the cheaper choice!

@Majk_SVK But unless this handheld has some kind of a bulky disc drive, I just don't see that being popular. Sure, you have 1000 games, are they all digital versions?

I don't see people double-dipping on getting digital versions of their physical games to run on this handheld. Sure, some people would, but would it be enough to justify returning to the handheld market?

Logistically speaking, unless Sony decides to go 100% digital (or switches storage mediums to cartridges), I just don't see that kind of handheld being broadly accepted.

Sure, you could probably come up with some convoluted way of like "leasing" access to a physical game that would require linking to your PlayStation and getting a temporary license for said game for a few days, but it's just impractical in the long run for a lot of people.

Bottom line, Sony would need to design its entire console ecosystem with handheld options in mind.

I'm not saying it's impossible. There is always room for another handheld on the market; but it has to be something simple to use for all games and not be convoluted to those who choose to buy physical copies.

@thefourfoldroot1 discs are just coasters now , anybody that still thinks they actually own a game if they can touch the disc is misinformed lol

@GamingFan4Lyf switch is a portable & very underpowered , $ony definitely has a fighting chance more than ever now since the DS line is gone , switch is their new portable and it’s barebones .

@GamingFan4Lyf If sony make ps4 portable it will be just another form of playstation 4, just a choice between playing on portable or home console, with the same game and same purchase. Like steam deck/steam on pc, unlike psp/ps2 or psvita/ps3.

@UltimateOtaku91 I'm okay with ps4 or ps4 pro power since it's more realistic lol, I want to play all indie 3rd party games on portables and continue it on ps5, like with psvita and ps3 back then.

@nomither6 And yet that didn't stop it from outselling the PS4.

Any dedicated portable is going to be weaker than a console unless you don't mind playing for 1 hour at a time and need to recharge.

The thing is, a Switch 2 (if Nintendo takes that route) only needs to be strong enough to run modern games at least 1080p/60 when docked and really only 720p/60 when portable (720p is perfectly fine on a small screen).

Nintendo's partnership with Nvidia didn't stop at the current Switch, so DLSS can supplement the delta to 4K on a TV.

@wiiware I get it. But, again, what do you do about the physical games you already have?

I mean, I guess Sony could just say "well, buy them digitally", but what kind of an uproar would that cause to people outside of the comments section of this website?

Also let's look at what that tells Sony "Our fans are so dedicated in our ecosystem that they will spend more money on the exact same game just to play it on a portable."

I just don't see the mass appeal enough for Sony to invest for the PS4/PS5 era.

I could be wrong, and no problems being wrong. It just feels like a PR nightmare to tell people to ditch their physical copies in favor of buying digital to play games on said portable.

And, like I said, some convoluted "leasing system" might be too cumbersome for people with limited tech knowledge.

Steam Deck works because Steam is already 100% digital. I don't even know if physical discs are even made for PC games anymore, so it's safe to say that all PC gaming is 100% digital.

Wow, PS4 sold better than Xbox X/S combined. Thought PS4 production already stopped?

@GamingFan4Lyf it took years after the ps4 was discontinued for the switch to outsell it my guy . Factor in that the switch is technically a ninth gen & the PS4 absolutely smashed the wii u .

& i’m not even talking about power in comparison to consoles, why would i compare a portable to console ? the switch is just genuinely an underpowered machine on a mobile/portable level , that’s useless beyond playing a (offline) game on it . everything else about it is horrendous - buttons , online , features , friend codes in 2023 , etc

& current gen games have already and are skipping the switch 😂

the series S is already on the chopping block for current 9th gen games

@TooBarFoo given ps4 lifetime sales are under 8 million, it shouldn't be that surprising how much the ps5 has sold there so far.

@mrbone people reported that last year but sony confirmed they were still manufacturing them. Most sony consoles stop being manufactured at 12 or 11 years so ps4 has atleast another year of manufacturing if they stay will trend

@nomither6 It's fine if you don't like the Switch. There is no reason to trash the systems success just because you favor Sony's system. It's okay to give credit where it is due.

Since you want to talk numbers

From Wikipedia:
"Its successor, the PlayStation 5, was released in November 2020, with Sony discontinuing in Japan all PlayStation 4 models except the Slim version in January 2021, with it still being produced in Western markets following their statement of 3-year support of PS4"

Switch surpassed lifetime PS4 sales in November 2022. According to this, 2023 is when Sony will pull the plug on PS4 support.

My whole point about Sony making a handheld to support games for console and handheld would need to be carefully thought out and easy to use.

Simply having a portable that "runs PS4 games" is going to be very niche because of physical game collections not being compatible.

I am not knocking PlayStation. Just that Sony would need to craft everything with portable in mind for it to work and be worth Sony's time and effort to appeal to more than the people in this comment section.

Again, it's not impossible, but I just don't see it being worth Sony's time.

Yes, the Wii U was a disaster - we don't talk about Wii U (lol).

@GamingFan4Lyf is that info globally or just japan ?

still took the switch five years
by the way, switch is nintendos only flagship hardware right now like i said, console is gone and its only portable, so their sales arent split between a console and a handheld. nintendo just consolidated the high-sales of their handhelds and their console sale into one .

sony would be just fine, they could even have some innovating interaction between the ps5 console and the handheld.

I love to see Wo Long in second place! Well deserved.

@nomither6 Japan was the only place where all models except the Slim were discontinued. Globally things are still "normal" until supposedly this year.

Perhaps Sony would be fine. But I think after losing against Nintendo with the PSP/Vita, Sony gave up on its portable ambitions to focus on its strengths: dedicated consoles.

Thank about it:
Sony would now have to compete with Steam Deck and a theoretical Switch 2 - where the sole focus can be on only portable hardware and nothing else.

Plus, I do believe Sony's games on PC are Steam Deck compatible already. So, in that sense, Sony kind of already has the "handheld" part covered without actually making the hardware. And with more and more Sony exclusives hitting PC, it's kind an indirect win right there.

If we can have a Mod Nation Racers 2, that would be Incredible!

@GamingFan4Lyf I think I remember reading at pushsquare that playstation digital games sales are like 70-80% of the total sales, it's better to focus on that rather than the remaining 20-30%. As long as the machine support sdcard (like switch) it's not a problem for most gamers I think. At least it probably will sells better than psvr 2, I don't see any hype at all for psvr 2. Oh well, I don't think sony is interested on portable or japan anymore.

Makes sense how Switch sales would be slowing down in Japan, because they have sold a record amount of consoles there. PS5 has a lot of catching up to do.