Why ? They increased the prices, now decreases them to their previous one, the sales go back at the same level they were last year with the same price, why is this bad ? It's even good, since normally without the price increase and decrease it would've been down year on year now, but it's at the same level with the new price. How is that bad ? If PS5 can maintain the same baseline, it would be great.

They went to the same levels they were at post-price hike, not pre-price hike. That’s not great when you cut the price of your system as much as Sony has. It’s definitely much better than the 7-15k/wk range PS5 was stuck in, but I was anticipating closer to late-2023 figures.

Take in account that by now, even without price hikes from 2023 onwards, the PS5 would be down in sales in Japan, just like it's in the US, so in all scenarios it's okay the PS5 to be down from it's 2023 levels. PS5 did between 35 and 55k per week for most of the time in 2023. Take the price cuts and hikes out of the situation, and by late 2025 it's okay PS5 to do around 35k, slight drop from it's 2023 level. So it's not bad. The more important question here is if it will keep this new baseline. To me it seems like PS5 just went back on course, on the course it was going to be anyway, without doing any price hikes and cuts, assuming it keeps the level of course ..

That’s a fair point… IDK I guess with it being the holiday season, and the “demand bottleneck” is currently being “popped open,” I guess I was just expecting a lot more at least for these first few weeks. If PS5 could move nearly 100k in a single week with the launch of the Slim model in 2023, I would’ve thought something similar could be achieved upon dropping a major price cut.

It certainly not the best effect it could have, but it's not as worse as you initially explained. Also keep in mind that the over 100k week of 2023, was big not only because Slim is launching but also because the 5 weeks prior to the launch it was out of stock there, therefore 5 weeks most of the people who wanted PS5 couldn't get one. So this boosted the week additionally.

Yeah it's clear with these results that cost was not the only thing holding PS5 back, as even with a big price cut it's still selling on par with post-replacement Switch 1.

It's not doing bad per se, but clearly there's more at play than just "it was too expensive".

The REAL problem with PlayStation in Japan is not the price - It's the games.

SImple as that.

They could cut the price down to $200 over there and that would shoot the baseline up to 60-70k for a nice period of time, but until Sony actually prioritizes and makes games that cater specifically to the Japanese market, it's not going to change anything in the long run and it'll just go back to the dismal levels it was selling at before, which is exactly what will happen to the PS5 once this initial price-drop phase wears off.

To add to that, it’s the fact that PlayStation exclusives are becoming a thing of the past. Now if you want to play a game such as FFVII Remake or Stellar Blade, it’s no longer that you have to purchase a PS5: you can purchase these games off Steam. This is a big problem once you consider how rapidly PC gaming has grown in the East in recent years.

Top 30: https://nintendoeverything.com/famitsu-software-sales-11-24-25-11-30-25-top-30/

1. [NS2] Mario Kart World – 49,586 / 2,251,711
2. [NS2] Kirby Air Riders – 46,287 / 241,881
3. [NSW] Pokemon Legends: Z-A – 35,225 / 1,306,801
4. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu 2 – 22,361 / 141,141
5. [NS2] Pokemon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – 20,031 / 818,046
6. [NS2] Momotaro Dentetsu 2 – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – 15,730 / 93,288
7. [NS2] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment – 9,647 / 109,786
8. [NSW] Minecraft – 7,386 / 4,057,382
9. [NSW] Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake – 7,262 / 293,851
10. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 7,245 / 8,265,856
11. [NSW] Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 6,188 / 106,902
12. [NS2] Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake – 4,936 / 113,115
13. [NS2] Donkey Kong Bananza – 4,869 / 383,445
14. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 4,055 / 6,476,640
15. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 3,895 / 5,820,432
16. [NSW] Super Mario Party Jamboree – 3,625 / 1,418,140
17. [NSW] Lover Kiss Endless Memories – 3,435 / NEW
18. [NS2] Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV – 3,431 / 84,639
19. [PS5] Death Stranding Director’s Cut – 3,058 / 53,539
20. [NSW] Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero – 2,739 / 18,264
21. [NSW] Contra Anniversary Collection – 2,715 / NEW
22. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet – 2,355 / 5,636,985
23. [NS2] Tamagotchi Plaza – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – 2,193 / 70,622
24. [PS5] Ghost of Yotei – 2,190 / 186,725
25. [NSW] Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2 – 2,102 / 151,887
26. [PS5] Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake – 1,976 / 115,640
27. [NSW] Tamagotchi Plaza – 1,943 / 200,179
28. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports – 1,901 / 1,662,641
29. [NSW] Sumikkogurashi Create a Wonderful Sumikko Island – 1,853 / 4,385
30. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 1,735 / 4,486,624

NS - 18
NS2 - 9
PS5 - 3