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[zedinen]

Jim Ryan was largely responsible for reviving PlayStation Asia, which was on the verge of collapse:

The PS3 nearly destroyed PlayStation.

Sony hit rock bottom in the early 2010s and the Vita became the worst-performing PlayStation.

The PS4 was delayed due to lack of Japanese games and its lifespan was cut short.

PS5 sold 2.54 M in Japan in 2023, the highest ever for a PlayStation home console since the PS2 in 2004.


Japan: LTD Week 35

2024 PS5 6,017,484

2010 PS3 5,465,392

2017 PS4 5,193,454

2015 PSV 4,037,034


Japan: LTD After 199 Weeks

PS5 6,017,484

PS4 5,654,958

PS3 5,465,392

PSV 4,108,845


Japan: LTD

PS3 10,274,113

PS4 9,504,101

PS5 6,017,484

PSV 5,863,022



China

India

SIE leadership

PS5 needs to lower the price to increase adoption. At this point in the PS4 cycle the system was ¥29,980 …

We've seen this before.

YTD: Operating Income

Yoshida and Totoki are about to loot PlayStation

Good bye, Europe and Japan

July EUR: PS5 -56% YoY

July JAP: PS5 -37% YoY

 

[XXL]

 

[StereoVsn]

Sony’s response - let’s raise prices, it’s selling too well.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Now sack Herman Hulst and put these men in charge of the entire PlayStation division.

First port of call, double the size of Team Asobi and get them working on Astro Bot 2 and a new Ape Escape.

 

[Rudius]

Does Wukong sells well in Japan too?

 

[FewRope]

That's about to change in Japan, dont worry

 

[HeWhoWalks]

Interesting.

 

[Hookshot]

Thank god for savvy Chinese shoppers making use of the cheap Yen.

 

[IFireflyl]

PS5 sold 2.54 M in Japan in 2023, the highest ever for a PlayStation home console since the PS2 in 2004.


Japan: LTD Week 35

2024 PS5 6,017,484

2010 PS3 5,465,392

2017 PS4 5,193,454

2015 PSV 4,037,034


Japan: LTD After 199 Weeks

PS5 6,017,484

PS4 5,654,958

PS3 5,465,392

PSV 4,108,845


Japan: LTD

PS3 10,274,113

PS4 9,504,010

PS5 6,017,484

PSV 5,863,022

The PlayStation 5 was released in Japan on November 12, 2020. The post says Life-to-Date sales for Japan were 6,017,484 after 35 weeks. We then see that the numbers never increased when we go to 199 weeks or total Life-to-Date sales. But the post kicked off saying that 2.54 million consoles were sold in Japan in 2023, which was between Week 35 and Week 199. What am I missing here?

 

[Woopah]

It's going to be really interesting to see if PS5 stays above PS4 after the price rise. MH Wilds and GTA VI will help.

 

[Woopah]

The PlayStation 5 was released in Japan on November 12, 2020. The post says Life-to-Date sales for Japan were 6,017,484 after 35 weeks. We then see that the numbers never increased when we go to 199 weeks or total Life-to-Date sales. But the post kicked off saying that 2.54 million consoles were sold in Japan in 2023, which was between Week 35 and Week 199. What am I missing here?

The first number is as of the 35th week of 2024 (which was last week).

Its not the 35th week since PS5 launch.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Damn, OP. You grilled those Sony execs hard, and deservedly so.

 

[Woopah]

Does Wukong sells well in Japan too?

We'd have to wait for the next monthly PSN chart, but it don't think sales were particularly high from what we saw in the weekly charts.

 

[Kotaro]

Chinese bought them up for Wukong

 

[IFireflyl]

The first number is as of the 35th week of 2024 (which was last week).

Its not the 35th week since PS5 launch.

If that is the case then this is a ridiculously stupid chart. It doesn't specify that it is the 35th week of a specific year, and only says LTD Week 35. Additionally, that causes confusion with the next part of the chart that says LTD Week 199 since there aren't 199 weeks in a year. That whole section is, to me, completely pointless.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Chinese bought them up for Wukong

I suspect there is some truth to this, I have zero evidence but I know in my heart of hearts it's true.

 

[Woopah]

If that is the case then this is a ridiculously stupid chart. It doesn't specify that it is the 35th week of a specific year, and only says LTD Week 35. Additionally, that causes confusion with the next part of the chart that says LTD Week 199 since there aren't 199 weeks in a year. That whole section is, to me, completely pointless.

Agreed, the "LTD After 199 Weeks" are the numbers which are actually useful. Knowing the total at Week 35 of a certain year isn't that helpful.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Just as we’ve seen with Wukong and PS5’s recent success in China, Sony are really investing in Asia and it’s paying off.

India now has the largest population in the world with a huge young population and a rapidly growing middle class.

Glad to see it’s the physical version that’s doing the best too, outside of the western bubble physical media is still big in many parts of the world.

 

[PeteBull]

Just as we’ve seen with Wukong in China, Sony are really investing in Asia.

India now has the largest population in the world with a huge young population and a rapidly growing middle class.

Glad to see it’s the physical version that’s doing the best too, outside of the western bubble physical media is still big in many parts of the world.

1% of chinese players with wukong, now time for some indian studio with their hit/classic to get those 1% of india ppl on board, sony playing 4d chess here =D

 

[tommib]

Now sack Herman Hulst and put these men in charge of the entire PlayStation division.

First port of call, double the size of Team Asobi and get them working on Astro Bot 2 and a new Ape Escape.

We should organise a NeoGAF party in Amsterdam when Hulst gets fired. Can’t stand that tacky idiot.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Just to give people an idea how how big a deal for Sony this is…

 

[Porcile]

Absymal software sales means most Japanese studios are still stuck on PS4 and Switch as the only way to viably release a product though.

 

[Da1337Vinci]

Nice hardware numbers for the market.
I hope it grows further with MH wild and the software numbers go up steadily.

 

[StereoVsn]

1% of chinese players with wukong, now time for some indian studio with their hit/classic to get those 1% of india ppl on board, sony playing 4d chess here =D

We need some Bollywood involvement. I can just imagine, there is an action game with a big fight going on and suddenly a QTE dancing mini-game breaks out right in the middle!

It’s going to be amazing.

 

[Woopah]

Absymal software sales means most Japanese studios are still stuck on PS4 and Switch as the only way to viably release a product though.

Only abysmal in Japan and some other South East Asia countries. Japanese studios can still sell a lot on PS5 in other regions.

 

[Killer8]

Why is Jim Ryan getting the praise when everyone, including the Japanese themselves, acknowledged that the Japanese games industry's output was dogshit during the seventh-gen? They had a renaissance on the PS4 and have now hit their stride again. No shit that the Japanese will be buying platforms with good Japanese support again.

Apologize to him.

 

[ByWatterson]

I wonder if that's due to the East's development resurgence in the last half of PS4 and now all through PS5.

 

[Woopah]

I wonder if that's due to the East's development resurgence in the last half of PS4 and now all through PS5.

Combination of the weaker yen + the growing strength of the f2p market on PS5. The two FF games on PS5 plus the popularity of Elden Ring and Hogwarts Legacy definitely helped too.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

Absymal software sales means most Japanese studios are still stuck on PS4 and Switch as the only way to viably release a product though.

We have no idea about the physical to digital ratio this gen in japan for sony consoles. We also don’t know how mig the GaaS market is in there but id bet its big as hell.

People aren’t buying these to stare at them so they must be playing something that outdated Famitsu isn’t covering.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

I wonder if that's due to the East's development resurgence in the last half of PS4 and now all through PS5.

Makes sense to me, the PS3 generation was the worst for Japanese developers, so many great franchises were either bad or average at best…

Resident Evil
Final Fantasy
Devil May Cry
Gran Turismo
Tekken
Pro Evolution Soccer

…thankfully they’d all be back on form for the PS4 generation.

 

[Elfstar]

All exported to China baybeee

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

We should organise a NeoGAF party in Amsterdam when Hulst gets fired. Can’t stand that tacky idiot.

When Fairgames bombs the official Hermen's sack watch thread will open.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

All exported to China baybeee

While that may still be happening to an extent, PS4 and PS5 are the first PlayStation consoles officially available to buy in mainland China.

So it’ll be nowhere near as prevalent as it was during the PS1/PS2/PS3 days.

 

[Woopah]

We have no idea about the physical to digital ratio this gen in japan for sony consoles. We also don’t know how mig the GaaS market is in there but id bet its big as hell.

People aren’t buying these to stare at them so they must be playing something that outdated Famitsu isn’t covering.

We don't know the digital ratio for Platinum, but it's highly unlikely to make the software sales good.

F2P is pretty strong in Japan on PS, as there are some popular titles in that area that aren't available on Switch.

 

[akira__]

Why is Jim Ryan getting the praise when everyone, including the Japanese themselves, acknowledged that the Japanese games industry's output was dogshit during the seventh-gen? They had a renaissance on the PS4 and have now hit their stride again. No shit that the Japanese will be buying platforms with good Japanese support again.

Apologize to him.

Ah you're a Japanese whisperer, you know what they think based on your anime watching experiences.

 

[Bernardougf]

When Fairgames bombs the official Hermen's sack watch thread will open.

Together with the "get fucked gaas initiative" party

 

[Celine]

At the same point in time PS4 was selling faster than PS3 in Japan however PS4 ended up selling 1 million units less than PS3.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

At the same point in time PS4 was selling faster than PS3 in Japan however PS4 ended up selling 1 million units less than PS3.

Ps4 life was cut short. Let’s not forget that. Covid changed a lot of things back then

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Ps4 life was cut short. Let’s not forget that. Covid changed a lot of things back then

PS4 is still being produced and sold, we’ve not had a sales update on it for years though.

We’ll likely get a sales total once it’s completely discontinued.

 

[Trab-Pu-Kcip]

PSVR2 got a price increase too? WTF?

 

[Woopah]

PS4 is still being produced and sold, we’ve not had a sales update on it for years though.

We’ll likely get a sales total once it’s completely discontinued.

For Japan specifically we get PS4 sales updates every week.

 

[Unknown?]

Makes sense to me, the PS3 generation was the worst for Japanese developers, so many great franchises were either bad or average at best…

Resident Evil
Final Fantasy
Devil May Cry
Gran Turismo
Tekken
Pro Evolution Soccer

…thankfully they’d all be back on form for the PS4 generation.

That's because they were all trying to westernize due to Xbox being popular and that userbase not liking Japanese styled games.

Once they went back to their roots, they were golden.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Ps4 life was cut short. Let’s not forget that. Covid changed a lot of things back then

I think they stopped manufacturing the PS4 Pro but PS4 Slim was still in production for a good while. I distinctly remember that my local retailer having like dozens of these MWII PS4 bundles in-store and almost zero PS5 and XSX (these were still supply constrained I think).

 

[RetroGamingUK]

That's because they were all trying to westernize due to Xbox being popular and that userbase not liking Japanese styled games.

Once they went back to their roots, they were golden.

I think Unreal Engine 3 having no Japanese documentation for developers didn’t help either.

It wasn’t just that those PS3 games were westernised, they were very janky too.

 

[Kerotan]

At the same point in time PS4 was selling faster than PS3 in Japan however PS4 ended up selling 1 million units less than PS3.

And with the continued super high price of the ps5 it will struggle also. PS3 had a lot of price cuts.

 

[Woopah]

I think Unreal Engine 3 having no Japanese documentation for developers didn’t help either.

It wasn’t just that those PS3 games were westernised, they were very janky too.

They really struggled with the jump to HD, but thankfully those growing pains are gone.

In general, most Japanese publishers are in a good/decent place now.

 

[pulicat]

In the next 7 weeks of PS4 sales launch aligned with PS5.

PS4 sold 568k units with ltd at 6.2m and that's enough to overtake PS5 launch aligned.

It's over for PS5 in Japan.

 

[Woopah]

In the next 7 weeks of PS4 sales launch aligned with PS5.

PS4 sold 568k units with ltd at 6.2m and that's enough to overtake PS5 launch aligned.

It's over for PS5 in Japan.

Yes it will be very difficult. Launch aligned we are coming up to the time when PS4 got a holiday boost and then Monster Hunter World.

It will be PS5's turn to get a holiday period after that. But last year it got 0 holiday boost.

They will get Japan's biggest game of the year (DQ3R), but that's on PC and Switch too.

We'll see if the holiday or Pro launch does anything for them.