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 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.

@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

@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!

@LowDefAl I've thought about that and I realize that you may be right, but it seems to me that they've changed strategy altogether.

For example, in the past they said that only 6 out of 10 games they release make a profit, but they're ok with that because some are very successful and can fund the less successful ones. They no longer do that. Every game needs to be (or have the potential to be) a big hit or they won't bother making it.

@UltimateOtaku91 The Xbox marketing deal didn't even apply to Japan lol. Every ad over there for Metaphor only included only ps4 and ps5 and Xbox didn't even get a physical release over there.

@LowDefAl just looked it up. Apparently it was 10 years ago:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/691087-playstation-4/69579601 (and it was 4/10, not 6/10 that were making a profit)

(this was the link, but it doesn't work: http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/07/04/shuhei-yoshida-only-four-out-of-ten-playstation-games-make-money-but-sony-will-always-support-talent/)

• Nintendo Switch OLED Model – 33,253 (8,008,745)
• Nintendo Switch Lite – 16,975 (6,134,966)
• PlayStation 5 – 9,877 (5,222,944)

That's terrible numbers for PlayStation considering that it's also a Japanese gaming manufacturer and publisher.

The 425 Japanese people that bought an Xbox are the real MVPs of these charts! 😂🤣

Man, that price increase on the PS5 I'm Japan really hasn't worked out well

PS5 got shipped for 9877 unit.
Not bad. 🙂

The 1st four slots belong to playstation wow that's crazy

@LowDefAl Yep these numbers show people damaged controlled Astro sales hard in Japan. 12K obviously wasn’t good.

@Major_Player Technically PS is now American since its HQ is in California.

@UltimateOtaku91 Its Atlus. Remember how long it took to get Persona 5 on Switch? And besides, perhaps the Switch 2 will get the ultra special super edition of Metaphor that will probably come out in a year or 2.

@Shad361 What's your beef with Astro Bot exactly?

You seems really annoyed that the game received positively and sold well worldwide.

@AsterZero Even if PlayStation has lost their Japanese identity, they still are a Japanese company on paper which makes those sales number look quite bad for the whole company overall.

@anoyonmus : That makes the whole situation with PlayStation even worse, as on paper they are a Japanese company but on people's perspective they have lost their identity reflecting on how poorly their consoles are selling.

@PuppetMaster show me actual sales numbers that prove that and not cherry picked statistics like it sold more in Europe on launch…

Same people saying “It sold well” said Rebirth also sold well and FF16. Also define “well”, 1 million? 2 million? We don’t know.

@Shad361 So you need "actual sales numbers" when all the data gathered by people who's more capable than you showed the game did sold well? Lol, you clearly had beef with Astro Bot that you don't want to believe the game sold well.

And for AA games / platformers, 1 million copies already consider as sold well.

@PuppetMaster people fishing for engagement on Twitter are not “capable” people. And again,these people have literally been wrong before. They say what people want to hear mostly so they don’t get backlash and get followers, this is a hustle.

It’s the opposite actually, people like a game so much they’ll do anything to say it was successful. That’s exactly what happened to final fantasy(look at what this cherry picked guy on Twitter said, it sold well!)

@naruball They did have way cheaper price in Japan in Europe we payed premium and the console sells. In Japan it does not sell and its cheap why even bother.

@Shad361 Go cry in a corner somewhere the game was fantastic I loved it just like all the reviewers and tons of players.

@LowDefAl Ask the Japanese government.

@LowDefAl Because at heart it still is an Japanese company Because main holder is Sony which is based in Japan

They have spread there wings

@Flaming_Kaiser Why would I cry? I never argued quality,I’m arguing sales. 60+ million ps5 owners,how many supported the game?

It sold 12K in Japan, but that was “good” numbers and the “best the console could do”,yet metaphor completely proved that wrong. And it’s a new ip so you can’t even use that excuse.

@Shad361 Why should I care what you think it's a fantastic game with lots of labour and love put in it. For me its a succes why would I care if it's not as big as some other game.

I have tons of smaller games that were fantastic. ICO was a fantastic game a classic was it the biggest seller no it sold 700K worldwide so what.

The best games don't always get the recognition they deserve. Studio Asobi is a completely new team with a completely new title they got my money. Again cry me a river.

It's a fantastic game with lots of love and quality put in. The people who are missing this little gem are the real losers.

@Flaming_Kaiser because if you want more of these games you like, they need to actually sell?

I learned that lesson from gravity rush and plenty of other games.

@Shad361 Again what can I do about that I just enjoy every good game I get. The game is made by 65 people in three years I would love to see how much people work on Spider-Man and how much more it will cost to make.

@AsterZero Microsoft probably is also were the taxes are the lowest. 😆