By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
archbrix on 15 March 2024
Edit Thread
Otter said:
archbrix said:

Except that the PS5 is not doing well at the same time. 

No, the PS4 wasn't as "unpopular"; it was up against WiiU and 3DS, with the successful latter only about 3 years old when PS4 launched and the handheld had plenty of room to grow, with big games still to arrive.  So the PS4 had a fight on its hands and still managed its respective sales.  The Switch, on the other hand, is 7 years old now, has already played its biggest cards and the new system comes out in a year... and the PS5 still can't beat its sales for more than a week or two here or there - sometimes even when big games come out for it. 

And as others have pointed out, unlike PS4, some of those PS5 sales are not accurate for the region due to exporting.  What does it matter whether you can say the same thing about Switch?  Switch's sales numbers aren't a problem in that regard because, unlike PS5, sales are still great for its age and saturation point when factoring in exporting.

And sugarcoating the physical PS5 software sales with the "digital now being higher" argument only helps so much.  We're not just talking Switch beating PS5 on the top 30 physical charts, but dominating it.  That is bad no matter how you spin it for a console just coming off of its peak year up against one that it is being succeeded in a year, with years-old evergreens still outpacing much of PS5's new stuff weekly.

Do you really expect PS5 to be able to keep pace with PS4 aligned once Switch 2 arrives?  Now should be the time we see the bigger PS5 numbers because there is little chance that's going to happen next year in Japan.

Not really sure of your logic here. Switch is way more competitive then Wii U & 3DS. The PS4 essentially had a home console generation to itself lol

PS5's last year sales were already record breaking for a playstation system. If that was it's peak, it's not a bad one.

And judging PS5 sales in context of Switch makes no sense. The Switch is a phenomenon and already the best selling console of all time in Japan. It's also seeing a lift exclusively in Japan that makes no sense to most observers in this thread unless you can explain it? 

I do however agree that the PS5 sales should be judged with the expectation that a fair amount is being shipped abroad. But for that you must have a base expectation which is more than just comparing it to whatever switch sold for the week. 

I agree with much of what you've said but it still highlights what I'm getting at.  Since the Switch launched, the idea of a stationary home console in Japan is even less desirable.  The Switch has merged handheld and home console into the form factor that Japan clearly prefers.  It's possible that the PS4 wouldn't be faring any better right now than the PS5 is, since you can't expect the traditional Playstation design to compete with the Switch design in this region anymore, which is why I don't think the PS5 will do well at all once Switch 2 arrives.  Now, if Switch 2 were to bomb, then I could see people embracing the PS5 a bit more, as in, the next big thing they were waiting for didn't deliver, so that would change things up.  However, I don't think that's a likely reality, most notably when you factor in what games and IPs are popular in Japan.

This is why I think the Switch continues to sell like it does week-to-week against the PS5.  People are still choosing the old, outdated, highly saturated system with no massive games left that's being succeeded in a year over what is the newer kid on the block that is clearly leading in current sales globally.  It's not that the PS5 is a bad system or that Sony made the wrong kind of console in the grand scheme of things, it's just the wrong kind of console for Japan.