I haven't seen anyone say it started with the Switch, so this seems like a strawman.

Also Splatton 2 tops 4 million (it has 2 skus)

It definitely started with PS3 (or post PS2).

PSP + PS3 combined have sold less software than PS2 in Japan.

People tend to look at PSP hardware sales without being aware that it sold less software than PS3 in Japan.

PSV is just the lowest point reached until now by the PlayStation brand in Japan, which is a hard proof that's patently stupid to put on every responsibility to the form factor without looking at the software side.

In general it's a rookie mistake to only analyze only the hardware sales when guaging the trends in a market.

PS1/PS2 were the dominant force in Japan because they had about 60% of the total software sales.

Nintendo comeback in Japan began for real when DS alone accounted for over 54% of the software sales in 2006 (and Nintendo platforms overal over 62%).

It's not a coincidence that since 2006, every year the Nintendo ecosystem has sold more software than the PlayStation ecosystem, bar one exception.

Finally the true leader in Japan that emerged with renewed strength since the mid 2000s is Nintendo because their first-party software gained more popularity while third-party software largely declined.

Yeah, I forgot that the abysmal stock the last few weeks gave up that lead. I suspect post Xmas, some point in the spring we'll see return to PS5 outpacing PS4 in total sales. Lets see

Instead of calling this the "Sony decline", it might be more accurate to call it the "PS1 fad".  After all Nintendo systems have been the most popular in Japan going back to the Famicom and Super Famicom.  Then the "PS1 fad" hit, which was Sony's peak, and since then Nintendo has been reclaiming it's dominance.

However, with the Switch, Nintendo is now doing better than it has ever done before.  I don't think there is another week in Famitsu's history where Nintendo systems had 99% of the hardware and every title in the top 30.  Not even the Famicom was that dominant.  The "Sony fad" is being completely overshadowed by Nintendo's unprecedented success.

Switch isn't just a handheld though; even in Japan the hybrid models outsell the handheld-only Lite despite being more expensive.

There's something I'm curious about the Switch software sales: did Nintendo ever release digital numbers for their Switch sales specifically for Japan? Are there any estimates for Switch digital sales in that region specifically?

We compare retail and sell through with overall shipments to get a rough idea for digital sales. Like ACNH should be close to 7100k retail by end of year and if sales are 9800k by Nintendo report then we can assume digital is in the ballpark of 2500k-2600k

What was last year's number?