Japan Sales Charts: PS5 Software Actually Sells for Once

That Metaphor marketing deal really helped shift some Xbox consoles.....😏

Seriously though Atlus should start putting their games on the Switch day one.

Japan is Nintendo land, I don't think Sony sees it has a competitive market anymore. Think there focusing on other Asian countries now to be honest.

@UltimateOtaku91 Seriously what the hell were ATLUS thinking?

Glad to see that XBox money Atlus got was well spent!

@Keyblade-Dan They were paid. There was no thinking involved.

@Keyblade-Dan Well the game even struggles a bit on Steam Deck and Rog Ally in more demanding areas, so just imagine how it would run on Switch

atlas takes the easy money from xbox.. they know most xbox fans do not play jrpg especiaily if they have to pay $70 bucks ..

Hardware sales are what Sony deserves for raising the price this many years in. Glad some games are selling relatively well, though I do miss the days when successful games like FF (13?) would sell 1m+ copies first week.

Metaphor goes in my list of GOTY. It's so hard to choose one this year.

@mariomaster96 Probably like garbage but I never even mentioned the Switch? 😅 I was referring to ATLUS' smoothbrain decision to give Xbox the JRPG haters the marketing rights to their games. I honestly rather they didn't hold their games back to run on Switch we'll see if that changes when it's successor comes out if it's like 2 console gens behind in power like usual then please don't 😅

I got the impression that the PS5 is bombing in Japan, however lifetime hardware sales suggest PS5 on just over 6 million while PS4 on just under 8 million? If this is correct did PS4 bomb over there too? I thought PS4 was massive success everywhere?

@Keyblade-Dan I see. I thought you were refering to the other part of the comment you were replying to about a Switch version

I love all of the comments gloating about how the PS5 and games is doing so much better in Japan than Xbox whilst completely ignoring that Nintendo is completely demolishing anything PlayStation do. 😂

On a separate note, these articles always mention that digital sales probably bump up the software sales quite a bit but I'm not sure it would be that much more.

Assuming a person buying their games digitally would be more likely to buy a digital only model, then it would only add another 16% in sales. Plus Japan still has a thriving physical market for consoles.

Dayum atlus got their 3rd pillar. But how do you make a series out of metaphor? It honestly looks and feels like a one off game

@mariomaster96 Ha ha yeah could've been a bit clearer about that lol 😅. No I play zero 3rd party stuff on Switch why get garbage ports when I have a PS5 for 3rd party games 😅

Imagine that: PS5 games that actually appeal to gamers in the region tend to sell well. I expect Monster Hunter to blow up the charts and drive PS5 sales for a while as well in February.

Anyway, extremely happy with how well Metaphor is selling worldwide. It improves on the Persona formula in all the right ways (a cast that's diverse in age; a far more balanced combat system; tighter pacing; etc.) without sacrificing the elements that make the modern Persona games so enjoyable in the first place.

@UltimateOtaku91 I imagine there'll be a veritable flood of delayed eighth and ninth-gen ports once the successor drops and developers don't have to spend months wrestling with wildly underpowered hardware.

@naruball I'm not going to defend it but an American company* selling things in Japan with its recent currency issues forced their hand somewhat. I still don't think Sony are actually making money on the console itself. it's killed any chance of them selling consoles in huge numbers there but I don't think that was feasible regardless of pricing. This has been coming a long time as much because of Switch dominance as anything else.

*Playstation (or rather SIE) has been headquartered in California for 8 years now but people keep calling them a Japanese company ¯(ツ)/¯

@Ralizah This very site was claiming Astro Boy was a success in Japan for selling 1/4 the units of PS5 Metaphor in its first week, and that week had no major game releases. In fact a remake of an 80s visual novel outsold Astro that week, and only by 5 thousand or so.

I would argue metaphor is an aberration of the typical ps5 game performance in Japan.

@__jamiie Japan still loves physical media but there is a trend towards digital there, it's just changing at a slower rate.

@StonyKL Japan was the last major region to get PS4 which caused some issues at the time. However they also got a wider software selection and the worldwide ps4 release wasn't exactly packed with japanese software so I'm not sure the earlier release would have made sense. I think it did suffer a bit from Switch syndrome in its later life. There has been a running suggestion for years that Sony gave up on Japan which I don't think is true as such, but they have much stiffer competition there than everywhere else where the two co-exist more.

And no I don't think Japan Studio being closed is part of the problem since they weren't making games that were very "japanese".

@LowDefAl Sony could have chosen to lose some money on each unit sold and make it up through software sales. It's what they used to do generation after generation worldwide. They were able to see the bigger picture. Now they're so focused on increasing profits that they're stuck with a terrible image in Japan and as a result have almost completely lost the market to Nintendo.

@LowDefAl Astro Bot also isn't some major Japanese IP or (like Metaphor) coming from a studio that's fairly popular in Japan. My understanding is the game didn't do great in Japan, but is succeeding overall.

I am genuinely surprised the PlayStation 4 did not outsell both Xboxes.

@naruball or they saw that that strategy wasn’t working

@MikeOrator Yep, thats about what I would expect as well.

Switch on the whole is pretty nuts in Japan as it is (merging their divisions has paid dividends) but I'm not sure why it's still doing these numbers when Nintendo have already said Switch 2 is out next year. Well Zelda has helped obviously but still it's hardly short of an install base.

@naruball Previous generation machines also went down in price on a regular basis as they become cheaper to make (helped by some feature trimmings).

That isn't happening now, and we know thats a complicated story.

Take PS4, they out right said that someone buying one game and one Plus subscription with the console was an instant profit even that first week of release. With PS5 if you buy one this minute? I'm not so sure.

I agree that Sony should take that hit, but what if they already are? Obviously the Pro isn't going to be subsidised much if at all but the reluctance to take that hit on the base machine may say more than Sony being cheap.

@StonyKL 6 million is decent units for non portable in Japan. You are noticing the disconnect between actuality, and what 'triggers' journalists will use to get some engagement! 😊
It's fair to say sales have reduced a bit, but if you factor in the extra sales they got before the well announced price hike and take a longer term view, these few months are likely to be a blip rather than the long term trend. I guess time will tell, but they are building on a decent base.
Of course these figures will be dwarfed when Switch 2 comes, but thats to be expected!