It lastly occurred: I noticed a PlayStation 5 on the shop cabinets in Tokyo.
In truth, now that the console is lastly in additional plentiful provide, PS5 {hardware} managed to cross the three million gross sales mark in Japan this month – accounting for slightly below 10% of the overall 32 million models bought worldwide since launch.
The PS5 launch was rocky in all places around the globe, however right here in Japan, it felt egregiously so. For the primary two years following the console’s November 2020 launch, I by no means noticed one within the wild. Like, actually by no means. When inventory was out there, most chain shops restricted gross sales to these with a loyalty card, and with prior purchases on file, and different insanely strict measures – earlier than then putting you in a lottery for the possibility to perhaps have the ability to purchase one.
As somebody who’s good at dropping lotteries, I had no probability of shopping for one myself.
“
Inventory bought out in all places immediately each time, after all. Does that imply demand was excessive, or provides had been low? Or each? Effectively, with complete weekly gross sales hovering across the 15,000-20,000-units mark for a lot of 2021 and 2022, and lots of players complaining that they couldn’t pay money for one, it appeared fairly clear that Japan was getting a disproportionately small slice of the worldwide PS5 inventory. This for a rustic of some 130 million folks, one of many prime three gaming markets on the planet, and the birthplace of PlayStation – plenty of followers right here felt forgotten by Sony.
The shortage of PS5s turned one thing of a meme right here, even discovering its manner into wider standard tradition. For instance, idol pop group Dempagumi Inc referenced the shortages of their tune Mikata Sezu ni ha Irarenaiwith a determined lyric that interprets as “Life is helpless with out buddies – even the PS5 is all bought out”. And when the worth of the console went up final summer time by 5,500 yen (round $42), Twitter was awash with “as if we might purchase it anyway” sort bitter feedback.
Instances had been tough certainly. However not essentially an enormous shock. PlayStation watchers in Japan might need seen this coming, as Japan has grow to be much less and fewer of a precedence marketplace for PlayStation.
In February 2014, the PlayStation 4 lastly launched in Japan – round three months later than it did in the USA. It took a few years for gross sales to actually take off right here. Whereas the PS2 bought over 20 million models in Japan and the PS3 nearly crossed the ten million line, PS4 fell simply in need of 10 million models – a generation-by-generation decline. It started to grow to be clear that the USA and Europe had been a lot, a lot stronger markets for PlayStation house consoles. (The hand-held PSP and Vita blazed brighter trails in Japan than elsewhere.)
In 2016, the PlayStation enterprise moved its headquarters from Tokyo to San Mateo, California, signalling a shift in SIE’s priorities. In 2021, Japan Studio – the oldest PlayStation studio – was unceremoniously dismantled. Closing Japan Studio underlined Sony’s dedication to AAA Western video games like The Final of Us and God of Battle over the countless selection however middling gross sales of Japanese video games like Gravity Rush and The Final Guardian. PlayStation could also be owned by huge Japanese conglomerate company Sony, however the coronary heart and soul that drive it are as American as hamburgers, apple pie and revolting chocolate bars.
(For full disclosure, I labored at Japan Studio for a interval myself as Group Supervisor, and I cherished just about each sport the studio made. Besides Knack. After all.)
Which brings us to at present. PlayStation is after all nonetheless a beloved gaming model in Japan, and demand for PS5 has been excessive. Simply… Not as excessive as it’s for Nintendo Change.
A look on the multiformat charts in Japan on any given week over the previous few years paints a constant image: In Japan, Nintendo is king. For instance, within the general software program charts for 2022, 18 of the High 20 had been video games for the Change, and almost all of these had been first-party Nintendo video games; Elden Ring on PS4 managed to snag tenth place, and Gran Turismo for PS5 was 18th.
Nonetheless, now that PS5s are lastly on the cabinets in Japan, the drought seems to be over, and we will get a greater concept of what the demand actually is. Since December 2022, gross sales figures have crept up, peaking in February at round 93,026 models in a single week, in keeping with knowledge printed by Famitsu (combining the usual PS5 and the discless model). From there it has been a gradual decline however nonetheless often No.1 within the {hardware} gross sales charts, with a wholesome 64,869 in the newest week on the time of writing. For comparability, the Change – which is now in its seventh 12 months – has bought round 60,000 mixed models per week in 2023, for a working complete of over 28 million in Japan alone.
So, PlayStation 5 is promoting effectively in Japan as provide has caught up with demand, however the Change has an extended, lengthy lead general.
However now that gamers in Japan can lastly get their fingers on a PS5, what video games are they shopping for? In all probability not those you’d count on. Like PS4 earlier than it, PS5 launched with a paucity of video games that enchantment to the Japanese market, its lineup largely dominated by Western-made or Western-facing video games; however home releases and backwards compatibility with PS4 have undoubtedly helped to bridge the hole.
“
When it comes to lifetime gross sales of bodily disc video games, Gran Turismo 7 is in pole place as PS5’s greatest vendor, with 294,714 bodily copies bought on PS5 – this appears to be the closest the PS5 has to a system-selling killer app in Japan. That is adopted by Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, Hogwarts Legacy and Resident Evil Village. God of Battle: Ragnarok, however, simply scrapes in at No.10 with 53,816 bodily copies bought on PS5.
SIEJA doesn’t usually announce figures for digital gross sales, but it surely does publish rankings. The highest digital video games of the previous couple of months have included Monster Hunter Rise, Forspoken, One Piece Odyssey, Hogwarts Legacy, Wild Hearts and Like a Dragon: Ishin.
We’re even seeing some PlayStation video games within the weekly multiplatform bodily charts. In latest weeks we have seen chart spots for Wild Hearts, which appeals to Japan’s Monster Hunter loving viewers; Wo Lengthy: Fallen Dynasty, which is scorching amongst Soulslike followers; and Hogwarts Legacy, which is having fun with a magical reception in a rustic the place Harry Potter is ragingly standard and the place language and cultural limitations have prevented its writer’s on-line feedback from damaging the model.
The multiplatform charts additionally embrace the occasional PS4 sport, as that older {hardware} stays in folks’s houses – Tales of Symphonia Remastered, Ultimate Fantasy Theatrhythm Ultimate Bar Line, and Deadly Body: Masks of the Lunar Eclipse are all doing effectively. Then once more, in instances the place a Change model is obtainable, as with Theatrhythm and Deadly Body, the Change model often charts increased.
So the place does this depart PlayStation 5 in Japan? Now that {hardware} is extra available, there’s little doubt that Sony’s console has loads of potential to do effectively in Japan. Sure, Nintendo continues to eat Sony’s bento, however 3 million consoles bought is to not be sneezed at, and with the precise video games, demand is more likely to improve.
For instance, Insomniac’s Spider-Man video games do effectively right here, so the launch of Spider-Man 2 later this 12 months can be fascinating to look at, and Ultimate Fantasy – whereas not as massive in Japan as Dragon Quest – is standard sufficient that FFXVI and FFVII Rebirth will certainly encourage gross sales of PS5 consoles.
And whereas multiplatform video games promote higher on Change when a model is obtainable, PlayStation nonetheless often fares higher than PC and Xbox. PS5 will certainly be the default platform of alternative for multiplatform video games that won’t be on Change, similar to Resident Evil 4, Avenue Fighter 6 and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Identify.
“However what about PS VR2?!”, I hear you ask. And because you’re asking it so loudly that I can hear all of it the way in which over right here in Tokyo, permit me to reply. We’ve but to see any gross sales figures in Japan for PS VR2, however… In case you thought the $550 price ticket appeared harsh within the US, 75,000 yen in Japan is sticker shock of a excessive order – it’s significantly greater than the already excessive price of the PS5 (60,000 yen) and PS5 Digital Version (50,000 yen). Mixed with the smaller current PS5 set up base right here and as soon as once more an absence of killer video games for the Japan market, there are definitely loads of hurdles. However not essentially insurmountable ones. With the precise video games and companies, there might nonetheless be hope.
It’s been wild to see PlayStation lose a lot floor in Japan to Nintendo over time, and certainly the rise of cellular gaming – which in Japan is a market as giant as all the console and PC gaming market mixed – makes issues all of the starker. The PC gaming market is rising quick right here, partly due to the shortage of new-gen {hardware}, and even Xbox seems to be doing higher this era.
I do assume PlayStation is at a turning level in Japan, although. Having PS5 consoles extra available right here with out irritating lottery methods does lots to dispel a few of the detrimental sentiment and to make the platform extra tangible. And with a robust raft of upcoming video games that enchantment to the Japanese market – albeit lots of them third-party – the PS5 stands to carve out a really robust second-place place in Japan. PS5 gross sales are nearly outpacing the PS4 at this stage in its life, so I’d guess we’ll find yourself someplace increased than PS3 numbers.
Which is sweet. ? Japanese players appear to want SIE would deal with the land of its beginning with somewhat extra love, they usually have a degree. The elevated inventory availability of PS5 consoles is a good first step.
Daniel Robson is Chief Editor of IGN Japan. Yow will discover him on Twitter here.
Comments