Professor Layton is coming for blood, hope they promote it a lot in Japan !!

 All those games were historically not on Playstation.

Professor Layten was always from Nintendo DS and 3DS and only recently got ported to Playstation 

SMT IV was 3DS exclusive 

There is a line of Monster Hunter for 3DS that skipped PS4 and Vita (to a great cost for Vita, thst tanked Hard) 

Monster Hunter Stories 1 was 3DS exclusive until it got ported last year to PS4, PC and Switch

Nintendo is still missing more Japanese games than Sony. Where is Dark Souls 3, Elden Ring, any Resident Evil from the last 10 years, Final Fantasy 15, 16 or 7 remakes on Switch? 

There is still no Metaphor, Persona 3 remake, Like a Dragon, Tales of Arise, on Switch. Even Nier got a very late port 

Do you think any sequel for any of those games are going to simply skip Playstation because of Switch 2? 

There are no complaints about lack of 3rd party support for PS5. The constant complaint about PS5 is, in fact, the lack of 1st party support, specially on the Japanese side. Astrobot is the only thing they have produced in how many years?

Sony had made many questionable moves this generation, increasing prices on hardware and services, releasing fewer games and using too much their studios to create live services

But losing console units in Japan is like the least important thing for Sony userbase to be concerned about, indeed I only see Nintendo fans ranting about it lol

You are missing a big issue. Software sales. Software sales for the PS5 have been atrocious in Japan. Previously Sony centric developers have been shifting over to Nintendo in Japan because of how their software is selling on Playstation. 

The combined sales of both companies, I meant. So you have to think in Wii U+3DS vs PS4+Vita

That is Sony's mistake, they believed that they could coast on Japanese third party support and finish off Nintendo. But now Nintendo games are much more popular than the combined strength of Sony games and Sony supporting Japanese third party games in Japan, so instead they are just losing sales by skipping Nintendo while Nintendo breaks software records in Japan instead.

And you are in denial if you don't think it would be a huge boon for Sony if they could sell games in Japan. Imagine if Sony could sell 8-10 million copies of one of their games in Japan alone like Nintendo does.

The thied parties are not losing money. In fact the games I just listed are getting their all time peak sales thanks to Playstation and PC, because they are fairly popular abroad now. The only exception is Square with Final Fantasy

There is a clear diference between Japanese gamers tastes and western gamers taste. Those third party publishers are doing their best to make their games appeal as much people as they can. Of course it would be better for them if they could get more sales in Japan, but who in their right minds will choose to target a lower spec hardware like Switch and lose value in the eyes of PC, Playstation and XBOX gamers? 

Of course for any company selling more copies would be a boon. But for Sony it's better to appeal the markets where they are stronger (Europe, America and ROW) than to sacrifice their popularity to sell maybe a few more thousand units with their games in Japan. Sony just released a GOTY winner that is clearly designed with taste of Japanese gamers in mind, Astrobot. Yet, Astrobot is barely selling on pair with other Sony IPs even in Japan, and when it comes to popularity outside Japan... let's just say games like Horizon and Uncharted have all several times the sales potential of something like Astrobot

I also like to point being stronger in one market and weak in others is nothing new. Nintendo 3DS had weak sales in ROW, average in NA and Europe and only overperfomed in Japan and I still see it as a fairly successful system. PS2, DS and Switch are so far the only consoles to be major hits in all markets. PS5 flopping in Japan is not what Sony wants, but it by no means as detrimental to Sony business as people here are implying

Sony actually sell a lot of games in Japan, more than the vast majority of third parties. Spiderman 2 for example has sold over 300k physical, probably now 600k total including digital. Ghost of Tsushima sold 1m in Japan despite its physical tracked sales capping at around 500k

https://www.gematsu.com/2023/05/ghost-of-tsushima-sales-top-one-million-in-japan

The reality though is that no developer has been able to touch Nintendo's magic or even come close.  It doesn't matter what genre they approach, Nintendo are the exception not the rule when it comes to software sales... If it was a simple equation we would be be seeing lots of developers having 500k selling games on Switch but that is an extremely rare feat, essentially reserved for a few breakout hits like Momotaro, which often cannot be recreated and do not stand out as exceptional gaming experiences. Japan is simply a hard nut to crack. Most games regardless of platform are lucky to reach 100k at retail.

Nintendo has build their brand and identity over decades, releasing a few Astrobot quality Japanese games per year isn't suddenly going to make Sony competitive there. And I think the sensible take away is that the Japanese market shifted away from traditional console interests... if Sony dedicated the last 15 years towards chasing that and trying to be Nintendo they wouldn't be breaking their revenue records as they did last year. Sometimes things just don't align and that just happens to be the case with what Playstation has found global success with versus what the Japanese want. 

Also Gran Turismo sold over half million physical, likely reached 650-700k digital included. This is indeed better than the vast majority of third party games in Japan. Since PS5 release I can only think of the new Dragon Quest remake, Elden Ring, Monster Hunter Rise and Momotaru selling more and for Elden Ring it also includes PC sales...

Yup that's it. Playstation game sales, as judged by retail figures, have been abysmal in Japan this gen. Even in 2023 when PS5 actually sold a lot of hardware, game sales were still terrible because the only reason it sold a lot of HW that year is probably because a lot of those systems were being bought in Japan to be shipped elsewhere.

Sony rarely ever has a game or two selling even just a couple thousand copies retail in any given week.

Makes one think that while some people are buying the PS5, they perhaps are mostly only getting a handful of games for it and the rest of the time sticking to playing their Switch.

Much higher digital rate (it's why they now got the digital edition), new ps plus subscription tiers, more f2p games. All these Sony is making record profits with the PS5. But seriously we getting this every week of every year from Nintendo fans how Sony is failing. Nintendo always does better than Sony in Japan mainly because of being portable.  This generation it looks even worse for Sony because of how dominant the Switch is . Until Sony console start selling at N64, GC or Wii U level or sell a few million less than previous generation then we shouldn't worry about it every week