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Xbox Series S by itself outsold the PS5 in Japan last week (May 9-15)
- Thread starter Biosnake
- Start date
Like I said, the market is declining for a few reasons, and SOME of those reasons are out of Sony's control while others are 100% wounds of their own making. If Japanese consumers felt like Sony was even attempting to appeal to them in any way, the sales wouldn't be as dismal as they are. There's just absolutely zero reason for a Japanese consumer to buy and hold onto a PS5 right now, and outside of FFXVI, there isn't even any reason coming down the pipe for them either.
And in this particular situation, where there is absolutely zero effort being expended by Sony to make the platform appealing, I place the blame more on their shoulders than on the consumerbase's. Japanese players shouldn't be expected to buy an overpriced, oversized piece of hardware when they have nothing to play on it whatsoever. Of course they're gonna prioritize the Switch over that.
Switch appeals to the handheld crowd as well though. The dedicated console market is shrinking / has been steadily shrinking AFAIK. Sony's approach to Japan just makes it shrink faster.
User Banned (5 Days): Platform Warring; History of the Same
is Japan doing it
embracing the good and throwing away the trash?
embracing the good and throwing away the trash?
It's an issue of tradeoffs. Sony could do that, but it would mean either creating another platform, which has a lot of risks or changing their strategy of going for cutting edge tech.
The price and size of the PS5 are a result of trying to build the best box they could at that price point.
At the same, the PS5 is still getting all the Japanese software.
I don't understand what's the need for this handheld vs home, it is a dedicated machine that plays videogames, and their games are all 60usd, not like before where some could be 30-40usd, etc.
Yep, you can't find PS5s there right now
But it's not like it (or Xbox) will be a big success in Japan anyway
Hey, it's part of their identity!
The top selling game this week is a 'dedicated console' only game too...
Or they could actually try to make and secure some software that appeals to people in Japan. Timed console exclusivity on FFXVI alone is not enough to keep interest in the platform afloat.
They don't need to change their entire strategy, they just need to prove they actually have a commitment to getting and releasing games people actually want to play. It won't make them the top platform in Japan, but they're used to that.
Japan preferring Series S over the X is interesting- I know it may just be stock issues but favouring the digital console and with the way Switch has done so well with portability, may suggest that when Microsoft properly releases Xcloud it could do quite well in Japan
Price, size, and availability. It's a killer combo. The Series S is easier to stock at retailers, it takes up markedly less space, AND it's much cheaper.
Series S is so interesting to me cause it's priced basically like home consoles used to be before HD consoles iirc (though I guess it's probably offset by being digital only). I'd be curious to see how well a PlayStation made with a similar goal would do in Japan, and other places.
(Really I'd love it if Nintendo made a $300 home console that was as powerful as it could be for that price and just played the same games as the main Switch, like the opposite of a Switch Lite)
(Really I'd love it if Nintendo made a $300 home console that was as powerful as it could be for that price and just played the same games as the main Switch, like the opposite of a Switch Lite)
I may be wrong but do physical Xbox games even sell there? probably no point on getting a Series X for disc games so might as well get the cheaper option.
I was under the impression Japan was a overwhelmingly physical market
Physical is a big part of Japan but Xbox Physical is absolutely a hardcore-only market. Games are rarely printed for Xbox there and most have come to terms that they'll need to import if they want physical. That aspect hasn't changed since the X1.
The Japanese software charts do reinforce the narrative that around half of all Japanese PS5 consoles sold leave the country, but for the Xbox it's hard to know because Japanese software sales charts will practically never track anything Xbox because of Game Pass and the best selling Xbox console being digital only.
Physical/retail is king in Japan.
However, Xbox retail shelf space is presumably very limited (I haven't been since the Series consoles launched because of the pandemic but during last gen you'd be lucky to find more than a handful of Xbox discs in major stores) so it probably doesn't make a great deal of difference.
Series S continuing to pay dividends. Starting to feel like stock issues will hinder this entire generation.
Yeah that's why I think the fabled xcloud puck will also likely do well as it will be small, specially if the advertise that you can continue from your TV to on the go with your phone. Like it won't probably do as well as the Switch as it has a long history of Nintendo investing in Japan behind it , but it will be a "console" that will tick a lot of boxes on what Japan seems to want in its market
I do think some of the posts in this thread are taking the wrong message from this news. It isn't that Xbox is somehow going to take over either Switch or PS5 (That will literally never happen). It's more so just impressive that Xbox is in a spot where it has a weighty enough niche that this can even happen.
If things were like last-gen, the XSS and XSX would've sold a combined 20 units that week and that would've been a high mark lol.
If things were like last-gen, the XSS and XSX would've sold a combined 20 units that week and that would've been a high mark lol.
It genuinely would have been hard to do worse, the xbox one was a disaster.
The news here is not really about Xbox at all, it's about Playstation 5 stock turning into a being a disaster for Sony.
It's not lol, PS5 has a stock issue that is even worse in Japan
OP
OP
Yeah, although the title of the thread certainly didn't help.
Japan is likely the only country where the PS5 is currently ahead of the PS4 lifetime to date. It's just a week of low shipment after they put out a larger stock for Golden Week, where they did about 25k per week.
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No, he said: "Though I guess people are trying really hard to take something away from a week of basically no stock out of context"
No one is doing this, everyone knows.
It's just a fun thread.
Haha, not a title I expected to read. It's been what, 13 years?
Microsoft should have some fun with it though "Xbox Series sells twice as many consoles than PlayStation 5 in Japan!!"
Those numbers seem so small across the board. Supply issues are insane huh??
People are having a chuckle at it. The thread title is also right, but we all understand the context.
Microsoft should have some fun with it though "Xbox Series sells twice as many consoles than PlayStation 5 in Japan!!"
Those numbers seem so small across the board. Supply issues are insane huh??
People are having a chuckle at it. The thread title is also right, but we all understand the context.
If any Xbox were to connect, it'd be the small, cute S. I'd be more interested to know how Game Pass adoption is going there. To me, that's way more important and likely. Japan has like top 3 digital infrastructure no? If cloud-based games will work anywhere, it'd be places like Japan or South Korea where they've got the capabilities, plus motivating factors like their not wanting the big 'ol consoles themselves.
I dunno, I'm seeing plenty of "Sony has abandoned Japan" posts even though, comparitively speaking, Japan has likely had the best percentage of PS5 shipments when compared to the PS4 as any country in the world.