I'd say yes, FF13 was such a dissapointing game, so it def. had some big influence. But it also didn't help that FFXV is the most westernized FF of the entire franchise and right from the start it was promoted as such, so i'd argue the japanese market was not as excited for this entry as it was for previous ones. We need the sales number from western markets to really measure how much of a success or failure this game was.

I'd say a little bit of that and the fact that Japan finds home consoles less and less appealing.

The problem with looking at numbers like how you just did, is that if you already are thinking something before you look at it then you will pretty much see exactly what you adid need to see to push your argument.

First off, Yakuza 5 opened with 350k+ on the PS3 in 2012 to an install base of over 8M.

Yakuza 6 opened with 210k+ to an install base of around 3M and you call that a flop??????

Secondly, look at FF13 and then the subsequent sales of the series since then. And then consider that in two weeks and not counting digital sales it's done almost 800k on a console that has sold only 3M units in Japan. With digital sales it could very well be over 1M by now and that's being conservative. Meaning that around 1 in every 3 people that owns a PS4 in Japan owns the game. And you call that a flop?

And Yakuza 0 launched on two platforms, PS4/PS3 with the bulk of its sales being on PS3.... what does that tell you?

If you are going to use numbers to push a point at least make sure you look at the full picture.

Japan's problem is the continued shift to Western-styled games. They just want their menu-based waifu games.

Smart phones are now the preferred gaming platform in Japan. Sad but true.

Switch is the only thing that can stop this, otherwise in 4-5 years we're going to start seeing mainline entries of major Japanese franchises basically being made for iOS/Android. 

Sorry Sony, you tried, but it wasn't good enough. The Playstation model of the 1990s/2000s does not work for modern Japan. 

Kingdom Hearts III, unless S-E has a Switch version to inflate sales. 

Kresnik.

You know, Tabata is free now...

He'll be missed!

Not by me. But by somebody, probably.