We’re conditioned to expect the worst in this industry, and when images of PlayStation 4 stock started flooding out of Japan over the weekend, many assumed that it spelled disaster for Sony’s new black box. The region has, of course, been transitioning to mobile and handheld games for the past few years, so it wouldn’t be an enormous surprise if Sony’s latest home format flopped. Fortunately, it hasn’t.
Famitsu reports that the device has already sold an impressive 322,083 units in its home territory since its launch on 22nd February, which should be enough to convince everyone to breathe an enormous sigh of relief. The jury will still be out on how well the hardware will hold up over a longer period of time, but this is still a positive start. Hopefully the platform holder can maintain the momentum, as we’d like to see more content from Eastern developers in the future.
Naturally, this injection doesn’t exactly hurt the system’s overall install base either, with the manufacturer surely nearing the 6 million units milestone at this moment in time. Considering that the company only expected to sell 5 million units by the end of March, we reckon that Kaz Hirai and crew will be on cloud nine. It’s important that the major executives don’t get complacent, though, as there are still battles to be fought.
[source famitsu.com, via vg247.com]
Comments 17
5 million was probably a slightly conservative estimate as more than likely they'll hit 7 million by mid march. I think well see a real boost towards the summer/autumn when big titles start coming out every week.
I looking forward to see the Japanese chart this week.
@artemisthemp Haha, me too!
Wii u just break 1mil over japan
less hope ps4 could break it sooner
Well anyway the true trial will be next week...
There's a lot of reports of doom and gloom about the death of the traditional games console as we know it, but you see the figures of how the PS4 and Xbox One are selling and it really doesn't seem bad. I mean the bubble could burst, sure, but both look like they're selling themselves without any real killer apps to boost sales yet. Plus, the micro consoles that were said to be the next big thing have thus far been pretty shabby. Change may be coming, but it looks like it's a ways off.
The PS4 has sold better than any other console to date, obviously this includes the PlayStation & PlayStation 2. It wasn't long ago the media was giving the impression that the PS4, XboxOne wouldn't sell much better than the WiiU, given the PS4 hasn't really got any 1st party titles yet. It is impressive how the PS4 has sold on hardware alone, once big 1 st party titles start releasing the sale numbers will only go up. What Sony is doing is a smart move by saying we have software, but not actually saying what it is. So when thay do announce the games thay can build hype giving the PS4 sale's boosts, and more importantly other don't known the type of games your working so at the time of release there might be nothing else like it on the market. Also people think the PS4 will have a slow start much like the PS3, the PS3 had a slow start for a reason and was also very hard to develop for so games would be in development for a lot longer again unlike the PS4. I'm not saying thay are going to be dropping bombs every five minutes, but I think Sony will have more content than what the PS3 did. Sony's not messing around this gen thay also known what made the PS2 popular, software you could not play anywhere else.I also don't think consoles are going anywhere any time soon.
That sounds cool for Japan Hopefully in future weeks it can do good sales weekly.
That Japanee article says it was only for the 2 day weekend, so it could be higher than that already today - I think Tuesday is already over in Japan. I'm sure sales will slow down tremendously from here on out though. Didn't TV Vita sell about 42,000 it's first week and only 7,000 every week since? Probably a lot less by now.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2013/12/japanese_sales_charts_ps_vita_tv_suffers_a_sharp_decline_in_viewers
Interesting note in the article - the PS3 - which launched in the much more shopping oriented period of Nov, sold only 88,000 it's first 2 days, so the PS4 is doing about 4x better.
@rjejr I see sales slowing down, but not tremendously. The Vita TV and PS4 are 2 totally different systems, so they obviously aren't going to perform the same.
Speaking of the Vita TV, I wouldn't be surprised if sales actually went up a little after the launch of the PS4.
@BornOfEvil - It sold 160,000 PER DAY over the 2 day weekend. Even if it continues to sell 50,000 per week - what the 3DS and LL sell combined - thats only 7,000 per day. If a drop of 160,000 to 7,000 per day isn't "tremendous" that I don't know what would qualify.
This is getting ridiculous, now.
@Big-Boss How so?
No doubt these are some incredible numbers but is anyone else slightly underwhelmed
Unfortunately the trend is going downward for the industry as of late. From 2008 to 2013, software sales are down by almost 50% (from Pachter). Maybe this generation can turn things around?
@DaftPlayStation Just amazes me how each time the PS4 launches in a region, my expectations are exceeded to the point where i'm in shock.
Great job Sony! Fantastic job!
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