CosmicSex said:
archbrix said:
Frankly, I think that Switch is highly benefiting from the fact that the PS5 is just not very popular in the region. Switch is in its 8th year, all of the big guns have already been fired, it's hitting its saturation point already and the system's successor is arriving soon. And yet, the PS5 just can't get any traction against it in Japan despite the aforementioned circumstances. Playstation 5 and its games are pretty expensive by comparison, but it's doing just fine elsewhere in the world.
I can only imagine how poor PS5 sales are going to be next year in Japan against Switch 2.
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This is a very poor take IMO because the PS5 sales are still above PS4 sales when aligned. Then again maybe you think the PS4 was also 'unpopular'. The situation in Japan is unique. But I think calling PS5 unpopular is disingenuous. Xbox is not popular in Japan. Also, I don't agree with the idea that Switch can only do well if someone else is seen as unpopular. Switch can be selling well and PS5 can still be outpacing the PS4 and doing well at the same time.
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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.
