Japan Sales Charts: Astro Bot Barely Registers at Retail, PS5 Numbers Plummet After Price Hike

This what we need in Europe console sales drop and games sales poor.

But we never learn in Europe UK, we just pay and play 🤣

I'm guessing most people buy digital nowadays? Or else its not looking good for Astro Bot in Japan, which would be a shame

@OldGamer999 "Vote with your wallet" is a cliche but it's absolutely true.

@LogicStrikesAgain Yeah you'd imagine most sales will be digital, but even so, previous first-party PS5 games have done much, much better than this at retail, which makes you wonder about its wider appeal.

Pretty sad. The games fantastic.

I have no idea what to make of all this. If Astro Bot really doesn't end up selling well, I can only say to gamers in general: we get what we deserve.

@ShogunRok It might be that more people chose to buy this digital than other titles in the past. But i can see the wider appeal argument being true

I swear if Astro Bot isn't a financial success we don't deserve happiness as a species.

I really hope Astro Bot gets the sales numbers that the game deserves. Team Asobi is my favourite Sony first-party studio and we need more 3D platformers like the games they make. Heck, we need more Sly Cooper and Jak & Daxter, too! As far as I’m concerned, PlayStation really needs to go back to its roots.

No...! 😰
The PS5 sales in Japan.

@Ainu20 Well its just the retail numbers of one country, not including digital apparently. But yeah, you're right about the rest

If Astro Bot fails sales wise then Sony will just stick to live service and no one can blame them.

well, it might be more to that. Yes, price increases do not help, but maybe some which wnated ps5 which increased decided to go for pro. if they are now getting console so let it be more time proof.
As for Astro ..... if we, as gamers, fail in that ... we will not get more like those and it will be a F shame. We get what we deserve ...live service crap.

Hopefully Astro's digital sales are better, I really want the game to succeed.

Seems like the result of Sony's decisions lately.

Oof. That really sucks to see, and also kinda surprising. When Astro launched I remember seeing in my feed how it sold out a few times at different Japanese retailers. So I guess they just didn't have that many copies available(?). Still, I'm hoping the little dude succeeds.

But I thought good game = sales

What, no?

I know that people are disappointed by the sale so far but hear me out: there is a (looks like big) group of people that just don’t like platform games. I have these kind of people in my circle, and the all have PS5 and play Sony studios games. They are just uninterested in patformers. In ny case I will get the game but not now, price is higher and I have a large backlog. I get that ASTROBOT is a fantastic game, but it is still a platformer and are people that just don’t like that type of games. It’s understandable.

Worst Sony ever,Ps3 era is lite version,raising prices in home market where Nintendo is absolute king with nothing to offer is insane,and ffs why is ps5pro 800 euros in Europe? Nintendo will obliterate them with Switch 2.

@ShogunRok
Yep, if they start losing to many sales in Japan Sony will do something about it, I think.

But I’m very surprised about Astro Bot though, I thought the Japanese would have loved that game.

Probably the result of Sony’s decisions lately. A shame AB is low but digital may be higher. AB deserves a lot more people to play it.

But who knows. Let’s wait and see.

@dardel
UK here most PS5 owners I know are COD and FIFA and buy little else outside of those games every year.

12K? I thought at least 50K for Astro since i've read the report it's no 1 at Amazon Japan and sold out at some retailer. Either the report is fake or it's true but Sony doesn't print many physical copies for Japan...

But this is sad, like really really fking sad and i don't blame Sony for this since they thrown a lot of marketing for this game.

Sony seem to be determined to screw up in their home market....are the executive team stupid, incompetent or both....

If Astro Bot failed then please do not ever complain if Sony decided to go back to cinematic and live service games.

I think personally it should have launched a month or so out from Christmas and had a bigger marketing budget. The game is really good but then again so was Concrete genie and look how well that sold. Hopefully sales pick up physically and its sold gangbusters digitally as id hate for sony to think people sont like Astro and can any future games in the series. They like to do that.

I mean these numbers aren't as bad as they seem. There are 33 million switch consoles sold in Japan compared to 5.9 million PS5 sold and yet the highest new game entry for switch only has 4000 more copies sold than Astro bot. Then you look at hardware and the PS4 has sold 7.9 million units in its lifetime in Japan and PS5 is sitting at 5.9 million already. Seems pretty good numbers to me. The only thing these low numbers tell me are Japanese are a lot less interested in video games than they used to be, most likely due to the rise in mobile game popularity over there.

You reap what you sow I guess

@naruball bad game = more sales.

Examples: EA FC, COD, Madden

Japan is weird and finicky. The same Switch titles that's been charting for years. Glad Japan isn't the U.S. and U.K.

@get2sammyb At least Sony can tell themselves, “Hey, console sales here are low, but we’re not XBOX IN JAPAN low!”

If Astro doesnt do well then the only message Sony (+ others) will get is never try anything else new, because if games players arent willing to 'take a punt' on such a well praised game, why should they risk making them!

@dardel I assume you mean the big group of people who don’t like platformers are in Japan.

I really hope that Astro Bot has done gang busters at retail as it’s a solid title with huge mass appeal. Not really my thing, but something I do think needs more representation on PS.

People are not worried about overall Astro sales, right!?

This is only pertaining to Japanese physical copies.

The chart shows weak sales for every title in the top. Either there are a lot of digital sales or Japan is just a poor region. There's no denying that selling 10000 ps5s a month is not going to move the needle very fast, but every console is a promise of software bought for many years to come. Maybe a seventh or more of these numbers subscribe to a service (people choose this on and off). It adds up.

It’s not looking good for Astro Bot, you can already see how the hype is nearly gone after just a week (PS5 Pro certainly didn’t help), and the sales in both Japan and UK have been disappointing…

This is what I feared to be honest, PS audience have never been too excited about platformers, I really thought that Astro’s demo on PS5 would sell the full game to millions of people and so far it just didn’t happen.

Relax, the game is trending very high in the playstation store with more than 12k ratings so far. Also it's selling really good in my small country at retail and offcourse amazon is an indicator for healthy sales. Spiderman or TLOU sale numbers won't happen though and everybody knows that.

Once again, I thought the point of propping the game up was that you don't need to make a billion dollar budget game and in turn expect it to sell a billion copies to make up for the budget. Altho 12k is definitely far lower than expected

The hardware sales are the real shocker, if it stays that low for weeks, Sony literally just killed themselves and for what. It's crazy how many horrible decisions they're making and they still are not saying a word about it. I would've expected some kind of back track and apology and promise to do better by now. But they're just doubling down and going all in on killing Playstation lol

These Astro Bot numbers make me sad.

While I am sure Astro Bot doesn't need to be a mega-million seller to be profitable, having mega-million sales would send a nice message to Sony that people still love these smaller first-party games that Sony abandoned in favor of blockbusters.

Hopefully it's just a matter of Japanese consumers preferring to buy digitally rather than physical.

I also hope it resonated more on in other regions as Japan really is Nintendo territory these days.

Guess Sony will go all out on "deep cinematic experience" and live service, and I will go full Nintendo next gen. Well, nice knowing you.

@IOI I dont think the hype is gone at all

With Japan and UK retails doesn't looks good, i hope Astro do well at US. If it chart at top 10 NPD or Sony announce it sold 500K-1 million copies then there's some hope.

But if not...well gamers brought this to themself and Sony has more fuel to stay with live service and 200-300 million budget games. sigh 😐

Edit: new report said UK sales actually good, 21% above Rift Apart. There's hope.

@LogicStrikesAgain tbh, I think it kinda is. And now it’s replaced with anger towards the PS5 pro price.

And ofc MS also decided to anger people by announcing layoffs.

Hopefully this game will have a longer lifespan with sales over time, especially Christmas or potentially even a console bundle later on.

The fact that the game isn't on a portable device, weak currency, and only on a further price hiked home console also doesn't help in that market.

@IOI The hype is gone? My youtube reccomendation showed tons of youtubers / Vtubers are playing this game.

terrible numbers for sony this week plus astro bot not selling in uk and japan..

maybe ps fans don't care about kid 3d platform games and only care for live service and story driven games like god of war or horizon looks that way to me..

if raising prices in japan for the base ps5 is indicative ps5 pro will be a flop..sales wise..

i expected between 50-100 thousand copies of astro bot to be sold in japan where a lot of nintendo fans love the game but only 12k physical sales that is as bad as it can get..

As much as I want games like Astro Bot to do very well, Sony deserves to fail through and through in Japan after raising the regional price of their console yet again.

@PuppetMaster that might have to do with the fact you may have looked up Astro Bot a lot on YouTube so YT will recommend that for you.

Because for me it went from Astro Bot to the negative reaction of the PS5 pro.

@johnedwin wait where did you get the UK chart?

Sony should have tried a 49.99€ pricetag. I am in world 3, found everything on my own so far and it is a great game. Nowhere near the 95 on opencritic in my book, probably a 90.

I wish them good sales. Japan is hard to read, Switch still sells 70k units a week, that is crazy.

Unfortunately ,too many bad decisions mask your good ones in most cases. Concord and ps5 pro where massive Ls for sony.

I think it's selling better in the U.S. It is currently the best selling physical game on Amazon here so that's good. I hope it sells good anyway.

@LogicStrikesAgain Physical media is generally more popular in Japan from what I understand.

I bought one of the 12,000!

@anoyonmus astrobot is a game i thought the japan audience would love a nintendo type game yet physical sales were 12 thousand which is terrible..

@NoHope isn't 90 relatively near to 95? It's only a 5.56% difference.

@HammerKirby3 very popular are physical sales in japan even for sony games..

@Ainu20 Perhaps many gamers in general aren't into this type of game on PlayStation. I think the game will break even and generate some profit. Not every game will be huge even exclusives. In the earlier days of consoles many games were launched by first parties and third parties. Then there were big hits.

@somnambulance true the japan economy is bad but when the new zelda game arrive snot comparing the two the sales will be off the charts.. even for a 2d zelda game. but sony has had games that sold better then what astrobot even the meh visions of mana sold 30 thousand physical sales first week in japan recently

@Vaako007 it looks that way yet some said this si what sony needs to do go back to it's roots..

@UltimateOtaku91

So if one platformer, which is a niche genre these days outside of the recognised brands like Mario (that was also made on a small budget with a small team) fails, then that for you justifies Sony to chase live service cash grabs which have been also proven failures only with a highly inflated cost instead (£200/300m Concord)

Makes perfect sense chap!

I don't think the PlayStation audience is so big for this type of game compared to Nintendo. I think many people set such high expectations for this game. Due to the fact that we have a drought of current generation only exclusives from Sony.

Sony’s greed will cost them a substantial chunk of their player base if they don’t change course soon.

@johnedwin by roots IMO, it means making more games across many genres. Not everything needs to be a large game.

@anoyonmus I only watched like 2 Astro Bot videos today but watched more videos about fighting games since MvC Collection just released. And i still got many reccomendation of popular youtubers / Vtubers playing Astro and i didn't subs to their channel.

@somnambulance Yeah, i've watched Japan stock index has fall and it was the worst since 1987. Japan economy doesn't looks good at all.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iqzrjAYFHI4&pp=ygUVamFwYW4gZWNvbm9taWMgY3Jpc2lz

@ShogunRok @Gamingfan4Lyf I think it's time we consider Japan's gaming tastes to just be too unpredictable unless the publisher's name starts with N.

Astrobot is exactly the type of game you would think would sell extremely sell even physically. I hope I'm wrong and next week it's #1 but I'm worried.

@Boxmonkey Sony is in a good position because Microsoft isn't running their Xbox brand well. Sony still has plenty of good grace left from the PS3/PS4 era. Although this old prestige will run out.

and people wonder why we don't get more games like Jak and Daxter or Sly Cooper.

It also shows that the Internet does not reflect reality.

That's why this PS5 Pro ***** storm is completely ridiculous the people who want to buy it (I'm not one of them) will buy it. no matter what any self-proclaimed freedom fighters claim.....

Shame astro not selling good after all the 10/10 reviews n almost guaranteed it's gunna be goty with those reviews how can it be bad 😥 not to argue or troll but all the times you see ps owners saying Xbox don't buy games where are all the h ps owners buying games for a top single player game to show Sony what you want especially after the concord flop. Hoping digital sales are through the roof as the game looks top notch😎

@somnambulance @johnedwin no, the economy in Japan is not doing poorly. In fact, many global companies are surging in Japan while they languish elsewhere and Japanese companies continue to invest and hire. Spending power is down especially for imported goods (which PlayStation effectively is) but a lot of fuss being made about the weak yen is misplaced and reaction to inflation is a bit exaggerated because there was none for the last 30 years. The actual rate of inflation is still well below any other economy and thus the standard of living in Japan remains high.

I thought Japan loved these cutesy, colourful, Nintendo-like games?

@3Above What publisher has the name N 🤔🤔🤔🤔

(Sarcasm)

Astrobot is out of stock.
The hardware is obviously due to the price increase.

@MrMeeeseeeks They do.

But only if it’s Nintendo.

Joke said, I do hope AB sells well in Japan.

@MrMeeeseeeks

It's out of stock.

I would assume more people bought it digital.

@UltimateOtaku91 i agree, this is why Sony won’t make certain games we want. Cause they don’t sell. I bought Astro Bot day 1 and it’s the most fun i have had in gaming since maybe the launch of the Switch. I love the game. But if it don’t sell then, we can’t ask for these types of games which is a bummer.

@MrMeeeseeeks They do when they are on the Switch HAHA

There's a massive reset coming from somewhere in gaming soon.

Either gamers will need to fork out for more expensive hardware and games or developers will need to make cheaper games which will either be shorter or won't take advantage of the high end kit.

The whole thing is the picture of unsustainability right now.

@NEStalgia Looks like Japan are similar to the UK at least when it comes to physical sales of Astro Bot. The hype died down almost instantly due to the PS5 Pro debacle, it’s actually mad.

@hi_drnick After a solid rebound in economic activity in the first half of 2023, Japan's economy has since struggled. Real gross domestic product fell 0.5% in the first quarter of 2024 from the previous quarter and was down 1.3% from its peak in the second quarter of 2023.

@Leon_93 or complain about shutting down Japanese studios. Simply put, the average Playstation gamer couldn't care less, sadly.

It's why the brilliant Tearaway failed miserably on ps4.

@nessisonett cant say there is a correlation astrobot came out last friday sony ps5 trailer was tuesday it had nothing to do with the ps5 pro debacle..

@Vaako007 "I don't think the PlayStation audience is so big for this type of game compared to Nintendo"

Maybe not as big as Nintendo but they're not small either since R&C Rift Apart managed to sold 4 million copies and Sackboy sold 1.2 million copies. Crash N'Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited trilogy also did well on PS where they got top 10 at PS charts.

So platformers always has a pretty strong audiences on PS since PS1 days. I mean, we got Crash, Spyro, Jumping Flash, Ape Escape, Klonoa, Tomba, Rayman, Oddworld, Ratchet, Sly Cooper, J&D, LBP, Mega Man, Maximo, etc. Some of those series are even exclusives or started their debut on PS and sold well.

@DonJorginho I meant as in a lot of people moan about Sony's live service push and want single player games that aren't "dad sims" and yet they finally give us one which by the sounds of it has failed to sell well. And the same happened with Ratchet and Clank, Sackboy, Sly, Jak and Daxter etc poor sales lead to Sony not making these type of games.

Team ASOBI (aka Japan Studio's spirit) puts out a goty banger and the general public just doesn't care. I thought Japan of all regions would embrace Astro Bot and they probably would if it had a Nintendo logo on the cover 😒

If this GOTY contender that has as much charm as anything else this gen doesn't do well then we absolutely deserve endless Live service games! If it's confirmed that it didn't sell much I hope Concord 2 gets announced along with Concord the animated series!

@get2sammyb @ShogunRok Isn't it your jobs as PS writers to spin this as the Japanese were waiting to buy the oft rumoured PS5 Pro, as @Sergo said, which is why PS5 sales were low, in addition to the price increase? Of course if PS5 sales jump next week you can spin it as now that the PS5 Pro price was announced they decided not wait and buy PS5s now instead.😁

Which if it turns out to be the case I want a writers credit. 😉

Team Asobi carrying on the proud Japan Studio tradition of creating amazing games that people don't want to buy, for whatever reason.

@LogicStrikesAgain 95% of all gaming revenue was digital in 2023. So yes.

Sony knows the removal of disc drives won’t have any tangible effect on their software sales.

To be fair to Astro Bot, sales look soft for all software based on those figures. Hardware sales are atrocious though. Who'd have thought raising the price would put people off...

Maybe they are waiting for the Pro 😅

@ShogunRok I don't understand how these poor sales numbers are possible. In my country Astro bot has been continuously sold out at retail, and some people who pre-ordered are still waiting for their copy to be delivered.
I believe it was sold out on EU variants of Amazon too.
Did they just not distribute enough physical copies?

As usual, a lot of people drawing immediate conclusions lol

I feel like Astro is selling somewhat decent in Japan if we found out digital sales, but I think Japan might just be in a position rn where they aren't buying as many games because of the economy, and if Sony's audience in Japan would be wanting to come in with the PS5 and Astro, they are probably being stopped because of said price hikes, making it even more out of reach in their economy

Nintendo still doing crazy well in japan. Im kinda worried for PlayStation faith in their origins country. Release more indie and AA games sony.

@hi_drnick

Absolutely, my verdict will most likely change, once I played through it completely. There are only small things bugging me right now. Major one is, that there is no challenge whatsoever right now, way to easy as of now. Anyone else got that feeling?

Something not related to my rating of the game, but has to do with AstroBot. It received an update today and since then, it crashed 2 times within the hour, before that not once.

So sad,Astrobot is probably the best and most fun I've had in years! What's wrong with these people??

Didn't do that well in Japan but the 1st week sales for Astro are 21% higher than Rift Apart in the UK according to Christopher Dring.

@Ainu20 not everyone enjoys platform style games no matter how polished or good they may be.

I am not buying it for that very reason it's not my cup of tea.

@Vaako007 That good grace has nearly all gone I'm afraid. It's been a terrible generation for them.

If the good will from the end of the PS3's life cycle (combined with Microsoft's disastrous Xbox One reveal) contributed to PS4's success, and then the fantastic run that console saw them through to the PS5 generation, if they continue on current form, any good will remaining will have been lost by the time PS6 releases.

Whilst there have been some good games, the communication has been awful, and there have been way too many missteps. General sentiment I am seeing seems to be moving from frustration to indifference at this point.

Worrying times. Hope they can turn things round sooner rather than later

@Cikajovazmaj It is possible that physical editions are relatively limited for some reason.

But even if Sony did limit retail shipping, those numbers are still surprisingly low, to the point where we almost certainly would have heard about shortages.

@johnedwin Not a correlation about sales, the fact is that public perception of Sony was at an all time low after Concord, Astro Bot brought it back up again…. only for the last few days to bring them right back down again.

@Secryt

The 95% is rather unspecific. Is it all media, is it PS5 only or all gaming? Does it include games bought on disc, that offer digital only add ons, cosmetics and so on?

I love this kind of statistics.

@RiverGenie Of course, anyone can have valid reasons not to buy it, be it a matter of personal taste, financial situation or anything else. And no one should have to justify that decision.

But collectively, enough of us should be buying games of this quality. If not, we'll need to accept that we're not giving companies any incentive to create games like this or diversify their library.

I remain hopeful that this figure is not representative of a broader narrative though.

@anoyonmus @johnedwin What’s up with the doom and gloom? Almost seem you guys whish this game to fail 🧐

@Wazeddie22 It has no underage girls in it (or it’s not Nintendo).

I don't quite get what Sony was thinking.

Japan finally adopted a home console. Which wasn't a handheld and had very good sales to then jack the price up there?

Non of what Sony is doing makes any sense.

Crazy to think astro bot isn't selling even I've handed over my crash for it.

I wonder though if people.may wait for Christmas as it is a kids game more than anything, so they just haven't bothered, just yet.

But I mean how long has it been since a true platformer hit a Sony console, I've always felt console gaming has literally grown up with me and we are in an age now that every triple game is mature rated.

I wonder if that's had an effect on a lot of casual or semi gamers out there that the only games they'lltouch are mature games.

@OldGamer999 yep that's why things won't change. The idiots keep buying the same ***** over & over again. And Sony especially are loving it, personally they need a reality check. PS5 pro is yet another example of corporate greed but no doubt some will swallow.

@Ralizah I know the industry & gamers in general have lost there friggin minds!!

Looks impossible to break Switch's domination there. But it wasn't a full week of sales (came out on Friday), so you can't read too much into this. Also, none of those game numbers seemed stellar to me, but maybe that's just me.

@Ainu20 couldn't agree more

Not exactly on topic

But launch sales for Astrobot in the UK are 21% higher than Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart (Digital + Physical)

Just goes to show that physical is (sadly) becoming more and more irrelevant.

@LogicStrikesAgain Agreed. It hasn't even been a week yet. People need to calm down. These numbers don't paint the whole picture.

@Medic_alert It will be the developers. You can't force consumers to buy your product. Let's hope this house of cards all comes crashing down and the consumer can get back to some sort of normality.

@Fighting_Game_Loser Nintendo is still doing exceptionally well. And ps5 has sold enough consoles for Astro Bot to be a huge success. Yet here we are.

@Axelay71
Going by the fact you can hardly get a PS5 disc drive and we have sold thousands in the UK and most shops are sold out. Smyths Toys across the UK have zero stock now and Argos are on back orders most places ,after the all digital PS5 Pro got announced, is telling us the PS5 Pro will absolutely fine sales wise.

@PuppetMaster

Astro sales are 21% higher in the UK than Rift Apart. So it's not doing bad at all. The first report only tracked 2 days of sales.

@OldGamer999 just a sales spike, don't kid yourself that the pro is going to be a sell out.

I’m not surprised. Astro didn’t show up on the upcoming games section of opencritic until the week of its release and that list seems to be driven by user activity. Most AAA games show up on it a couple months before releasing.

@LogicStrikesAgain For us vivid PS users which this game is basically tailored for of course not, today I’m getting the platinum and it’s my second favorite game of the year (after FFVII Rebirth).

But it’s clear we’re not representative of the entire market, taking a look at gaming outlets or media surrounding gaming almost no one is talking about Astro Bot anymore, Sony really made a huge mistake unveiling the PS5 Pro with such a big controversy due to pricing, it basically stole all thunder Astro was getting.

Reminds me of Valkyria Chronicles on PS3. Fantastic game, great reviews, fans practically begging others to buy it… It still flopped and led to a long hiatus in the series, till it was released on PC and VC4 restored some faith in people’s tastes. I’m starting to think the PS3/4 era was when Playstation peaked for fantastic single player story-driven games. All we’ll get now (especially if Astro Bot turns out to be a bust) is bound to be more live service nonsense. Guess I’m happy I can go back to PS2/3 classics on my ROG Ally. Fingers crossed it’s just Japan being Japan.

@OldGamer999 That really depends. We don't know how much stock was available for the disc drive when Pro was announced. Many people already had a PS5 before the slim was released November last year. Sony wouldn't have supplied drives 1 for 1 of every console sold. There will be a large number of people who wouldn't have bought the drive for their slim console. Sticking to all digital (heretics!). While I agree there has been a surge of people who are pre-purchasing the drive for the Pro console. I do not think there was huge stocks of these drives sitting in a distributor's warehouse waiting for retailers to order them. Sony would have thought about scalability.

@Bizzy
Tire maybe but Smyths Toys has a good few in each store and taking orders online.
Until now.
Correct it isn’t a massive indication but a dam good one in the right direction especially after the price of the Pro reveal.

@Axelay71
We shall see. I’m on the fence but slowly edging towards pre ordering one on the 26th.

I have a new top end Sony tv and sound bar system with sub and rear speakers.
I like top end equipment.

I'm no expert, but if the first place sold just 4,000 copies over Astro that means it was a weak week.

Overall hardware sales don't look that bad, Switch is the best selling console over that side and that will hardly shift, Playstation being second is just natural at this point.

@Sanquine Did I say I wished for the game to fail? No. I want the game to do well but it looks it isn't (at least in Japan and physical wise). I have stated that digital sales might be more though.

As Push don't seem to post the UK chart any more

Here are the top 10 best-selling titles for the week in the UK:

Astro Bot - NEW
Star Wars Outlaws
Hogwarts Legacy
Elden Ring
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
EA Sports FC 24
Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
Minecraft

These numbers for Astro Bot are basically pointless to me without digital at this point. The game has been top 5 - top 10 digitally since it released over there. Those PS5 sales though;(

@anoyonmus Namco OBVIOUSLY 🤭

@Ralizah Sadly I think you are right. As much as Western gamers (myself included) have pointed to other western gamers for not buying their games, Japanese gamers didn't support Japan Studio with the kind of numbers we have seen them do for other games.

First off, BUY ASTRO BOT D*****! I think I read that the sales in Europe weren't looking great either. What's the market become when one of the big 3 puts out an amazing love letter to their gaming history, and it goes mostly ignored? I would still blame Sony's marketing first if it really fails, but it's definitely an uphill battle to sell this game to their playerbase when it shouldn't be.

If Nintendo managed to knock the Switch 2 out of the park (which I have my doubts about), I can really see them killing the PS5's momentum. Maybe not in the UK, but Japan's already there, America generally prefers Nintendo to PlayStation, the PS5 Pro already looks to be a niche console that's not going to move the needle much for the PS5 et al. And I still don't know of any system sellers Sony has at the ready.

Switch 2, Q1 2025, $300-400, launching with Mario and Animal Crossing, fully backwards compatible and backwards augmenting, bundled with the next big casual game. It's difficult to imagine a landscape where this comes out and the general public doesn't completely stop caring about what Xbox and PlayStation have going on. It was somewhat genius of Nintendo to wait for the midlife slump of their competitors, even.

Consoles sales are bad. Game sales are bad. How do we fix it? I know! Let's launch a $1500 console option! That'll fix things!

I think this says a lot about who is buying Playstations today, it says a lot about the industry at large, and it says a lot about physical not mattering much anymore, which we already knew. I hate to go by the physical charts for any evidence these days, as digital is certainly better, but if Japan isn't buying hardware to play this game, game sales are probably low, and most new games have mediocre sales at best, it seems like the average PS5 player buys the console to play an evergreen game endlessly. Fortnite, or CoD, or Conco...oh nvm..... It seems more and more like the modern console market is simply a chunk of hardware to play that one or two forever games on, and no new game really moves the market much. Some of that is cultural, and some of that is the industry pricing themselves out of relevance. And before someone goes with the 1990's fallacy of "oh games were $90!" (when they included HARDWARE with them), if games that were infinitely fun forever for FREE with incremental payments over a long time were available on N64 against those $90 games, guess where the money would have gone.

There could be others like me waiting to buy it for the holidays and/or waiting for a PC release (I really would prefer that PC release.... for VR reasons alone.)

@nessisonett I really can't believe Playstation decided to become Xbox. That's now both of them across 4 months who have great high moments that then then sabotage with disastrous ones. Their one single high point this year was Astrobot, and they sandwiched it one week either side between the disaster of Concord and the disaster of Pro. All that's left of for Xbox to announce Forza and Halo on Playstation to save Playstation and ruin Xbox and we have a perfect circle.

Sony may still be a Japanese company but I don't really consider the PlayStation brand to be so anymore.

Also, I'm not convinced by Astro Bot myself. I love Rescue Mission on PSVR but this one is dull IMO. It offers very little invention and is pitifully short. I genuinely have no idea why people are comparing its quality to a Mario game.

It's insane to me how a country with 125m people changed.
Ps5 sold to only 6m of those people.
The switch sold to 25m which is far more impressive, but still only 1/5th of the population.

With the PS5 price hike, I wouldn't be surprised if the sales of Astrobot has to do with japanese players not financially stable enough to own the console yet. I've seen plenty of japanese gamers praising Astrobot online so it less has to do with people not caring it and more so of being forced to spend your entire allowance on a pricey console.

Again, this isn't something i worry about. Sony has said time and time again that nearly 80% of all PlayStation game sales came from digital. And since Astro's Playroom was a free launch game on PS5, the game may have fared much better digitally.

It is worth mentioning that Astro came out on a Friday, meaning it only had a few days of sales to make this list.

Having said that, PlayStation is becoming less and less relevant in Japan and its future is bleak.

With three successive price rises the base PS5 has become prohibitively expensive for the average Japanese family, reducing the likelihood of the next generation of gamers growing up with a PlayStation in their home. Given the average Japanese salary, this generation will still struggle to afford a PS5 even upon entering the workforce (assuming there are enough games on the system that appeal to them).

Following the recent announcement of the PS5 Pro, I am seeing comments from Japanese gamers stating that the PS4 will now be their last Sony console - it is not just the astronomical prices that turn them off, but PlayStation's focus on chasing frames and graphical fidelity over fun gameplay.

Nintendo's dominance in Japan is surely to grow when the Switch's successor arrives, restricting PlayStation sales to the more hardcore, affluent gamer. Given Japan’s declining birthrate, the pool of customers willing and able to buy PlayStation consoles will only continue to shrink.

@MrMeeeseeeks yes but everyone here that likes these kind of games has a switch and very few people can afford a ps5.
This news doesn’t surprise me at all

@Jrs1 "Obviously not enough under age school girls in astro bot, so no chance of high sales in the native territory."

What a silly and salty comment. The best selling games of last year in Japan were Zelda, Mario, Pikmin and Kirby. None of these franchises are about underage school girls.

The reason why Astro Bot is not selling well in Japan is because all the players who want adventure or platform games, have Nintendo Switches instead. Sony has long lost the market in Japan. That's just a fact.

@Rafie
Well, if you consider GTA V, eafc, COD and Rainbow Six Siege always dominate US and UK, nothing strange about the JP market.

@johnedwin stats don't tell the whole story. I've lived and worked in Japan for 20+ years. There's always been pessimism about the economy but Japan keeps motoring along. I speak with business leaders at multinational companies on a daily basis and more often than not the Japan entity of said business is the only one performing well globally. This includes popular consumer brands that we make use of, indicating that people continue to spend. The Japan economy can be a hard one to read because people are very good at saving their money and personal debt has traditionally been low. The aging population is a massive issue but even so, the doom and gloom does not reflect daily life here in Japan.

As for Astro Bot, I've not seen any marketing for it all in Japan. Perhaps that's the issue? Or could be that people here, like elsewhere, have transitioned to digital.

@TheTony316 Yeah i just saw the report. Hopefully Astro sold well in the US.

@gollumb82 VC 1 on PS3 actually sold well one year later after price cut and anime adaptation released. PS3 ver alone sold 1 million copies worldwide and the series wasn't on hiatus since SEGA made VC 2 and 3 for PSP back in 2010 & 2011 (they should remaster these games especially VC 3) and VC D for mobile in 2012.

I myself bought 2 copies of PS3 version and when PS4 remaster came out i bought the steelcase edition on day 1. Sadly VC 4 probably the last game in the series despite it sold 1 million copies all PS, Switch, Xbox, Stadia, and PC ver combine...

With the other price hike they got yeah not surprised, and very few games or many happy with Switch for family, for being outside during time they have or just more compelling console/game preferences.

Is Astro great yes but would they get it for 1 game (2 because Playroom is free with the console) or if they see much difference/wanted more Astro bot at all. Or get the console for other reasons. Sure the slim is smaller but how many even look at that if the first model impressions.

Yeah to me I'd go if I wanted the Japan Studios (which obviously Asobi are the remaining of) games or more particular games that fit what they were going for like a Little Big Planet (Sackboy was a 3D World clone that has it's good points sure, Sumo Digital could try better really),

or the way many Japanese games are more plentiful or more exciting on Switch of AAs even besides the AAAs going to any platforms, I'd say yeah I'm happy getting my Japanese AA games on Switch.

PS5 has some but not many. Even Valkyria Chronicles I got 4 on Xbox One for $5, the 2 for PSP on Vita digitally and 1 for PS3 cheap. I considered the PS4 version physical but had to order it but got 1 on PS3 in a retro game store.

Got Demon Turf for Xbox as it was only physical on Xbox for some reason. Don't mind having an Indie platformer on Xbox beside Banjo, Blinx, Psychonauts or others. Most would get platformers on Switch as Nintendo offers many options besides at least 1 IP in other genres.

Sony focuses on the west and mostly other genres or modern game tropes. Some Japanese games do, others don't. The big Japanese IPs go to Switch I think, sure PlayStation in some cases besides like AA remake of Neptunia and the spin off sequels or whatever else of their fighting games, other JRPGs to play on either platform. But for platformers yeah I'd say Nintendo's the way to go for Indie platformers or their first party/third party platformers unless just PlayStation is someone's core platform regardless of their phone, Portal or otherwise for remote play.

Got Disgaea 6 & 7 on Switch, demo for 7 played on PS4, physical nope so Switch it was. Other games of other sorts I'd consider Switch probably.

Many digital games (some like Grid Autosport) or because too fan service like yep Switch or Steam going Switch. For old IPs then Vita sure but if particular IPs I would go handheld or remote play or particular gameplay/presentation then likely Switch. Xbox said no to Gal Gun, Sony did too, Switch it is for Gal Gun Returns a PS3/360 IP. Got 2 and Double Peace on PS4. Senran Kagura maybe.

I got racing games for Switch even if many I'd get for PS4/Xbox One but if I don't always find them then yeah for Switch a platform I'd usually never consider such a genre.

Whatever the case I'd get my Japanese games on Switch too due to what IPs they are or what platform seems the more viable to get them on if they don't have physical PS4 copies I'd go Switch as no interest in playing them on PS5.

@Korgon or it means that people felt it wasn't priced right... just because you (or let's say everyone on the PushSquare comment section) thought it brilliant - I've not played it, but happy to assume it is - maybe this is saying that people are holding off because there's no need to rush to purchase. Especially at full price.

For me, and this is just my personal position, I have a crap-tonne of new-ish games in my backlog that I've already bought, and in Australia AstroBot retails physically and digitally at 110AUD (or USD74) - including on PlayStation's digital shopfront. You can get it down as low as 90AUD physically (60USD) - assuming you aren't digital only. So for me - $110 is WAY TOO MUCH TO PAY. But that's just me. I feel no FOMO to wait until it gets cheaper.

@NEStalgia so I totally agree there's some cognitive dissonance going on in Sony (and the rest of the gaming industry). As someone that values physical releases however, I would point out that PS5(disc) is still outselling PS5(digital) 9:2 in Japan. Which says something - at least in terms of legacy games.

I personally think that the sales in Japan most likely represents a lack of real interest or poor pricing (or perceived value)... looking at FF16, that sold about 340,000 physical copies in Japan in the first week, so sales are there for the right game, and sufficient interest - though this is about half previous entries, which likely points to changing tastes and increasing digital sales proportions.

I know I haven't bought AstroBot - because in my case I don't feel a rush to buy it, and I think the digital price on the storefront (110 AUD / 74 USD) is too high in Australia (even though I could buy at a cheaper 90AUD / 60 USD) price physically. I want it to succeed - but I've just spent too much money in the last 6 months on games I've yet to play. I also think that this points to a possible disconnect between people in comment sections, and the general population (as you were alluding to).

(https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-16-sales-numbers-drop/#:~:text=In%20its%20first%20week%20on,other%20entries%20in%20the%20franchise.)

People just can't afford to pay full price for games nowadays the more you ask the less you get do you want to sell 100 games at £50 or 50 games at £100

Playstation has moved further and further away from Japan, and Japan has moved further and further away from Playstation. It still has a significant presence there, but nothing like it once was.

Pro is going to sell miserably over there.

@NEStalgia yeah it’s a hard pill to swallow sometimes that we’re part of a niche (or very niche) audience that are more invested into gaming than most. for the longest time people that i knew that had a console almost always had only NBA2k/Madden/COD/GTA with an occasional outlier like need for speed or something, but that was it. Nowadays its Apex/Fortnite/Cod/nba2k/madden .

Is it me or is New Sony becoming a bit...."Apple-ish"?
Overpriced hardware which the Sheeple will lap up and everyone else isn't that bothered? Been a problem ever since PS decamped to the USA.

Nintendo's "Switch 2" is going to crush Sony in their actual home country, even more than they are at the moment. PS5 and Xbox wil be level pegging in terms of sales.

I think people are mistaken if they think games like Star Wars Outlaws will sell less than Astrobot, eventually. That's why companies are saying that exclusives are dead. There aren't that many customers..

@dardel Yeah, to be honest I haven't wanted to play a platform game since I was about 11. No one I know does either. I'm not saying this to diss people who do like to play them (play what you like, of course!), but for everyone I know, it was a thing you'd play back in the Mega Drive or SNES days. Even my 7 year old nephew is drawn to games like GTA, THPS, Hogwarts Legacy or FFXVI - more 'adult' art styles and more to gameplay than, frankly, jumping to the right place at the right time. Also, and to be honest I haven't checked, but I doubt anyone I know even knows this game exists, other than my one friend who's a terminally online guy.

Long story short, it's a genre that doesn't generally appeal to most adults, and less kids nowadays than in the 90s, and this particular game isn't backed up by being a household name like Mario.

@waynesworld This isn't because it's an exclusive. As the chart above shows, there are 6 million PS5 owners in Japan. Only 12,000 of them wanted this game. That's 0.2% of owners. 99.8% of Japanese PS5 gamers didn't want to buy this game.

Yes, this is physical only but that's still awful. Yes, it will sell more over time but games almost always sell way better in the earlier weeks than they do in later weeks.

Tbf astrobot is pretty good although I don't think it's a 94/95 metacritic but I personally don't know anyone else that's all that intreasted in getting it especially at full price.
Don't know how much of a market there is for a new 3D platformer

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
Perhaps you may have taken my comment a bit too seriously. 😅

Everyone has their own financial situation and view of value. You can feel that it is priced wrong and whatnot just like I can feel like it's some of the best value available on the system. Neither is a wrong way to feel about it.

However if someone (not saying this is you personally, just a general statement) has been begging Sony to make more games like this...well you need to support it. Vote with your wallet as they say.

I read an article about Japan might not be that important to Sony. Maybe they want this year to be a slow year? I don't know the answer to that but why raising the price when you are about to launch the game that appeal to Japanese gamers the most? Maybe they want the price to be a little closer to the pro. I don't know what else to think.

Exactly the problem with gaming these days fantastic games like astro bot failing yet other games making millions in Micro transactions

Astro bot is a real gem. I have got both Space Marine 2 (big w40k fan) and I’m loving it but I’m finding I’m playing Astro Bot more. Sheer joy. It’s all the little details, the consistency and classy way they tied it all back to PS history. It’s more than the sum of its parts (and it’s pretty polished in every department). Fantastic game, and I hope more people buy it over time.

@RoomWithaMoose "If Nintendo managed to knock the Switch 2 out of the park (which I have my doubts about), I can really see them killing the PS5's momentum"

I don't see that happening. Even though there is some overlap, they're vastly different audiences.

@TruestoryYep "The reason why Astro Bot is not selling well in Japan is because all the players who want adventure or platform games, have Nintendo Switches instead. Sony has long lost the market in Japan. That's just a fact."

That's... not what a fact is.

@LogicStrikesAgain Not in Japan

@Ainu20 The same reason the Japanese studios are shut down all because of the gamers.

@Matroska I guess its true the Japanese consumer has no taste.

Not surprising.
Japan doesn't care about consoles anymore, only handhelds.

And when are they gonna include digital sales?
I'm the only one, among my friends, that still buys physical, so we sure are a dying breed.

I found one sad truth from Astro Bot sales in Japan:
Japan market is a lost cause for Sony. The majority of Japanese just doesn't care anymore with Sony / Playstation.

The last Sony 1st party game that sold really well in Japan in the 1st week was Ghost of Tsushima back in 2020 that sold 200K copies (and 3 years later it sold 1 million copies). After Ghost, all Sony 1st party games sold less and less copies in the 1st week like GT 7 sold 130K, Horizon FW sold 91K, GoW Ragnarok sold 40K, and Spidey 2 sold 30K copies.

So let's say Sony doesn't closed Japan Studio and they put a lot of resources for Japan market including greenlight games that the Japanese will enjoy like Wild Arms, Ape Escape, Alundra, Legaia, Dark Cloud, Freedom Wars, Soul Sacrifice etc. I bet those games will end up just like Astro Bots with 10-12K copies in the first week no matter how good the game is.

And looking at 3rd party exclusives like Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, they only sold 10K and 60K in the 1st week in Japan. Heck, big exclusives games like FF XVI and VII Rebirth only sold 330K and 310K copies where they usually sold at least 1 million copies in the 1st week.

This is the reason why Sony didn't go big anymore with Japan market and spread their wings at other market. That's the reason why we had China Hero Project, India Hero Project, Middle East Hero Project, collabs with Korean devs, and all those gacha games from Mihoyo. Those devs had a lot of potentials and some of their games sold really well at international market. But working with them doesn't need tons of money compare to Japan or western devs.

I'm not surprised if we see Sony do more and more collaboration / exclusives games with Korean, Chinese, and non-Japanese devs for the rest of PS5 life cycle.

People aren’t gonna buy a game if they can’t afford the system to play it on.

Getting people, especially children off garbage/addicting games like Fortnite, Roblox and whatever is popular in Japan and eliminating them off the store entirely would lead to Sony earning more money via multiple products but this what you get I suppose which is leading the industry to were it is today by having live service games a priority first and foremost.

Another thing is having things like YouTube on these gaming devices, my friends son, as soon as he gets home from school he instantly goes on YouTube and watches tosh like skibidi toilet but he will go on Roblox, see some random promoted mode then try another, get reward, try another mode and get rewarded until the dopamine addiction pops and then back on YouTube due to the way that game or many others are designed which leads kids to think that nothing else is better which also leads to other games not seeing the light of day like astrobot.

It's like being addicted to drugs, you try it, you want more, you get bored, you stop, a detox/withdrawal happens and then boom back to the square one cycle of not knowing any better but more fool the industry I suppose.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Yeah, although despite changing tastes, I can't imagine Japan not having and interest in Astrobot. If anything I think the bulk of Japan that would be interested in Astrobot has no interest in a PS5. Especially at current pricing in the current Japan economy. It makes MS's idea of multiplat everything almost make sense, as it's clear not all markets are receptive to all games on all platforms, and platform holders have to decide if their first party games exist to lose money to get people to buy their platform, of if their games exist to make money like any other publisher's. For the most part Sony and MS seem to be choosing the later, though Sony, only one toe in.

I also think @Dampsponge really hits the nail succinctly. Enthusiasts in comment sections come in two flavors "I have a huge backlog already, I buy a lot of games, I wait for sales" and "I have FOMO and can't control at and need everything day 1 at any price and can't let anyone else play it for me because my insatiable appetite for social media will spoil it for me"

But for the general consumer that's not as enthusiast? Really, who WOULD pay $70 for a video game? The industry can justify why a game is worth $70 all they want, huge teams, licensing fees, asset factories, so. much. hair., lighting, whatever. But at the end of the day to the consumer it's "$70 for a video game" and consumers by and large will never assign a $70 value to a video game. Ever. Launch sales are almost ONLY about the hardcore FOMO crowd and not the general public anymore.

Meanwhile on PC, and increasingly on console, it's the old games, on deep sales that sell forever and ever and ever, and that people play most. The consumer has assigned the value they place on the product, and it's well below the current price the industry wants, and it's become this awkward space where there's this "premium" whale market that does most of the spending, buys into the FOMO, and then the rest of the market follows on some years later when the cost comes down. In a way, console has successfully duplicated the mobile market.

@Matroska I question if 6 million PS5s were bought in Japan vs if 6 million PS5's were sold in Japan and then shipped elsewhere for profit. Game sales are terrible, the price of the console is terrible in the Japanese economy. Japanese interest in "power consoles" couldn't be lower, and meanwhile PC interest has picked up, where PC used to be almost unheard of in Japanese gaming, it's now common, meaning a chunk of what would have been console buyers became PC buyers. Probably laptops and Ally's and some enthusiast mini-ITX builds, because I don't see Japan doing giant ATX builds eagerly, but still, PC.

Or put another way, if Astrobot were ported to Switch, I bet it would sell quite well in Japan. If Astrobot was ported to PC.....50/50, not sure the Japanese PC market and Astrobot market overlap.

@nomither6 Yeah, it's a different scene. In the 80's, 90's the console scene was all about all the many games coming, and comparing to arcade machines. Around that time I jumped to PC, and it continued, PC was really about every big game coming down the line, and in PC a lot of "small" games were "big" games through that time. And there was a ton of stuff. But sales expectations were low. When Baldur's Gate 2 came out in 2000, 100,000 copies was a HUGE milestone. These days a game selling under 2 million is considered total failure. Sometime around the PS2 the console started changing to that 1 or 2 games, madden/nba/fifa market. We criticize the industry, and they do deserve it for executives overspending to chase audiences that don't exist to please investors to which they promised growth like a rocket and borrowed all their money. But I think the industry is now about 10-15 years into trying to figure out exactly what the market even is without any answers .

Alright, I am gonna buy this and spend Friday evening draining my dualsense batteries haha. Need to support good developers.

@Korgon I do think it should be supported - however, I also believe that you shouldn't support poor pricing... but to be real, I just don't need to play it now... it's not going anywhere.

@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare
I think it's well worth full price myself but like I said, different interpretations of value. 👍

@MrMagic yeah but Astro launched with far many more PS5 units sold then when Ratchet came out. So i am not sure that say’s anything really. Sadly i think this game is going to be mediocre at best in sales even tho it’s such a fun game and really well made. I am enjoying it a lot. However i loved Ratchet on Ps5 also. I was always told on here that PS owners buy games and the exclusives matter but Astro is not getting that love.

I cannot even blame Japan. I would have felt betrayed if something I loved in my country jumped ship to move to another country. Then have the gall to increase the price of their products in your said country too boot. Soyny needs to be brought down a peg or two. But it looks like that is happening.

I'm starting to get annoyed with "poor sales numbers", I'm guessing most people are going digital and you know it. So stop ***** posting for the clicks...

Imagine how low the ps5 pro sales will be given the ridiculous price they want for it

@HonestHick Definitely didn't set the sales charts alight but it was Dring who compared it to Ratchet. Now he's comparing it to Crash Bandicoot 4 and Sonic Frontiers, he's saying it had better 1st week sales then both of them and they are are cross gen and multiplatform games.

@MrMagic we will know the real numbers in time, but it’s not looking great which again is upsetting cause it’s such a well made game. Plus i would love to see more of it or Sly Cooper. But we sadly might not and it’s cause not enough people buy the games they ask for. I thought for sure the hardcore Sony fans would have snagged this early and it would have has a solid first week or two in sales.

@HonestHick True, there's plenty of people saying they want these kind of games but then they don't actually buy them. It's still at #2 on UK Amazon just behind Space Marine and #3 on UK PSN though.

Dring thinks it will have a longer tail and Christmas is coming up. Hopefully lifetime sales will be okay for this type of game in the end.

Well maybe now Sony will pay more attention to their commercially and critically better performing older franchises like Little big planet?

@UltimateOtaku91 Ratchet and Clank and Little big planet are much better commercially than Astrobot... And Little big planet's first week in Japan saw it sell almost 50k units, with Little big planet 3 selling better than all other Lpb games. Nothing against Astrobot inherently, just wondering what Sony's thought process is in light of the aforementioned information

@PuppetMaster

According to Chris Ding, the game is now the fastest selling platformer outside of Mario in the UK. Yes, bigger than Kirby, Sonic, Yoshi etc.

It's funny how we went from Astroflop to this in a matter of days, lol.

@MrMagic yeah i want to see it pick up in sales. Cause it’s such a fun game. I could have beaten it a day or two ago and instead i am not moving on until i collect all the bots and puzzle pieces. I am at 197 bots now. So i am getting there. Really hope people buy this game. Otherwise back to hero shooters and Hollywood movie games we go.

@NoHope https://www.trade.gov/media-entertainment-video-games-sector#:~:text=The%20video%20game%20industry's%20global,and%20PC%20games%20(23%25).

@Secryt

Thank you. So almost 50% is generated by mobile, means digital and only 28% from consoles, so the 95% digital in total is not a good statistic value to work with in this regard.

@NoHope Your logic isn’t checking out. Console gaming is 83% digital. If Sony genuinely thought they were leaving money on the table by not including drives they would put the drives in.

Here’s another breakdown that goes a little deeper. There’s plenty of articles like this out there that break it down.

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/95135/digital-to-make-95-of-video-game-revenues-in-2023-or-174-5-billion/index.html

@Secryt

Again, they take the whole revenue from the console market. That is the first factor that washes down the numbers. Many games are digital only, than there is a small thing call GTA shark cards, Fortnite whatever they name it(basically all the ingame digital only stuff). Factoring this in the whole digital is not logical.

As an example, GTA V made revenue around 7 Billion, most of it from micro transactions.

@NoHope but really the point is revenue/profit. They don’t necessarily care about which product it is. That’s what keeps the lights on and shareholders happy. If money is made from DLC then a company has more incentive to retask resources to make more of it. Certain IPs only exist as vehicles for DLC, meaning the development of games is seen as possibly a loss leader for attachment rate.

It doesn’t matter if it’s full games or DLC, they’ll follow the money. I know it’s been said before but PC gamers haven’t had physical games in what, 20 years? The industry knows it will not fundamentally affect their profits and then they don’t need to support the hardware anymore. (And fwiw many like me would rather see the company save money by not including the drive).

I think it’s a little like when we transitioned from discs to streaming. There was a period of time that Blu-ray players started to have streaming services built in (deep cut - remember the Netflix streaming disc you would put in a networked DVD player???). And then standalone streamers came about and the majority of money was made with streaming, so companies had little incentive to maintain disc drives. The gaming industry is in the same place. These companies know where their money is made. They’re just following the consumer spending.

@Secryt

I understand you, however it was not the point or argument of our conversation. Some statistics are just useless in certain situations.
Of course Sony wants to push everyone to buy digital, they get a 30% cut of all purchases, unless they made a special deal with some publisher.

Also, comparing PC digital, to consoles digital does not add up. In the PC market you have different options to purchase via Steam, GoG, Epic store, key sellers snd so on, Sony does not give you the option.

On PC I can play a game from 40 years ago with little to non effort, try this with a PS3 game on PS5 and tell me how this works out.