Japanese Sales Charts: Tomb Raider Leaps into the Top 5 as PS4 Stays Strong

It's kinda sad to see how Japan has changed when it comes to embracing tech like VR. If Sony would've been able to make a decent consumer VR headset mid 90's, they would've sold 8 million in Japan in the first year alone.

Growing up Japan was always this epicenter of new technology and innovative design, but it's as if the people in Japan stopped believing in a bright future, a future where man and tech would go hand in hand.

So the PSVR "kinect run" has started!

@Boerewors I don't think so. They are usually much more related to "on the go" gaming than the western world. And normally the flats/houses are also smaller than ours, so it's dommon that you meet your friends outside. Often you coop in a monster hunter game with your buddys sitting in a cafe.

And then lets not forget that its relative steep. So for many people the question remains: should I buy a PS4(Pro) and a headset on top of that?!

@Boerewors

it's as if the people in Japan stopped believing in a bright future, a future where man and tech would go hand in hand.

That might be so for gaming (other than handheld), but so far from the truth in every other area. I was there in April and pretty much spent two weeks seething with technological jealousy.

Only a couple hundred between Tomb Raider and Paper Mario...this is truly a strange world. Either Tomb Raider did really bad to be so close to what is considered by many to be a bad game, and an expected sales flop, or Paper Mario is doing better than expected.

I bet the latter.

Meanwhile, yum those VR numbers though. Japan is on the cutting edge of tech, but here's the thing with Japan: They aint stupid. If they know it can be better, or if the price is too steep for something that the market just doesn't want or isn't perceived as needed, then they wont care. Its as @Furtin said, the Japanese lifestyle, as much as people here love to say they have no taste (People, it's a different culture, it happens, welcome to Planet Earth), is vastly different. Living space is smaller, expectations are different and what they use to fit around their lives is portability and ease of use.

Think about it. Walking around the stations of Tokyo, what are you going to have on hand for entertainment? Your phone and/or 3DS. At home? 3DS is always there, as is your phone. Under your TV in a smaller room space? Console of choice. Many may not have VR space, or their lifestyles may not warrant it's use actively like the other devices which are most importantly: Quick, easy, minimal setup, and suited to a lifestyle.

paper mario couldve done worse so im kinda happy with that number loo

Looks like Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a sales disaster on PS4 as well. SE really blew it with this one. Hope that MS blood money was worth sacrificing one of the best games this gen and possibly the franchise as a whole.

Maybe they could see the future wasn't bright at all and jumped ship before it sank.

@PaperyWhiteBoy
Funny how your experience is completely different from mine. They used to have huge fairs in Japan, for the lack of a better term, displaying the latest technology and painting a picture of what the future would be like. These weren't events with press and people from within the industry, these were meant for the entire family to enjoy. I've seen a flatscreen TV on one of those occasions before widescreen was introduced for example and it was just magical being there.

Tech companies in Japan had money to burn ,we're not just talking Sony here, and they would spend enormous amounts to court the Japanese audience and get them to adopt their latest and greatest. But if you look at those companies now, they're struggling to catch up and some Korean, Taiwanese and Chinese companies are running circles around them.

As PSVR has shown you should never bet against Japanese design and ingenuity, but when I compare the Japan from my childhood to the current situation, I just get the feeling the people are less excited when technological novelties drop. I've written my master thesis in Japan and saw the transition to mobile devices really early -we were using our mobile phones to call, they were sending mails, browsing the web and playing games on it- but somehow I feel they haven't really progressed as much as others did the last 15 years.

It might be one of those distorted childhood memories, my admiration for Japan as one big engeneering marvel might have altered the reality. But when I hear my brother -who is fluent in Japanese and does business there- talk about Japan or when I visit it, I just feel it hasn't changed for the better somehow.

@Boerewors I think youre statement said exactly why PSVR doesnt seem to be big in Japan, at least compared to the west.

"Technological novelties".

Kr maybe Japan is savvy of how fast sony can drop something...that might be a factor

@Boerewors
Right, I see. Well I see where you're coming from now, and maybe it's true they're not the drooling adopters of hi-tech they were in our younger days, but I wouldn't say they've abandoned the idea of it as an integral part of our lives going forward, which was the part of your comment I was mainly addressing. Perhaps it's just that the focus has shifted from the 'shiny shiny' gadget for leisure to a more expansive vision. I was travelling all over so I'm not going to claim I saw everything there was or wasn't, but one standout example would be Tokyo's museum of emerging technology, where the focus was primarily on robotics and the development of systems aimed at climate change, healthcare, life quality etc. I'd argue that, while not as fun as the gadget-focused items we grew up reading about, that's a more worthwhile pursuit.

Also, even if it's true they've not changed for the better, as you say (I've only been once so couldn't comment on that), they're still a darn sight further along than us in the West. Maybe they're just waiting on us to catch up!

@gamer83 that blood money meant the game was made. Would you have been happier never getting the game at all?

Japan has never really got over the crash of the 90's.

To be honest I wouldn't expect VR titles to sell massively on disc anyway, surely it makes more sense to have these titles as digital so that you can simply change games without constantly taking the thing off, at least that's what I'll be doing when I get one.

Media Create states that PSVR shifted 51,644 units and finished FIRST in the hardware charts. Interesting really, especially as the sales numbers reported between the two sources are the same, yet the omission of VR is interesting...

It's a conspiracy!!!

@get2sammyb OK, I have to ask. Why does TW have the PSVR number but you don't? It's on the Gematsu page you linked to at the end of the article and it's on the 4gamer page as well on the bottom of the chart.

PlayStation VR – 51,644 (New)
PlayStation 4 – 30,154 (31,071)
New 3DS LL – 15,905 (16,548)
PlayStation Vita – 8,772 (9,282)
2DS – 8,203 (9,421)
New 3DS – 2,983 (3,084)
Wii U – 2,430 (2,545)
PlayStation 3 – 814 (820)
3DS – 346 (449)
Xbox One – 323 (90)
3DS LL – 71 (88)

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/10/paper_mario_color_splash_makes_modest_japanese_chart_debut

@dryrain
The game was getting made, this was the same as the Titanfall 1 deal.

@PaperyWhiteBoy
Lol, Japan is such a strange country when you think of it: in some ways they're incredibly technically advanced, like their public transportation, but in some other ways it's like going back into time. Unfortunately I've noticed that lots of the older buildings, restaurants and cafes are disappearing and making place for modern establishments or homes, but it's still a country where tradition meets tech.

But back in the 90s I was convinced that by 2010 Japanese families would have robots assisting them in their daily lives, and so were the Japanese. Robotics is still important in Japan, but not so much for consumers anymore; nowadays it's the field of universities and car manufacturers, but in the consumer electronics department it's awfully quiet. It seems that when the money started drying up to fund ridiculous but awesome projects like the Aibo, the interest of the consumer dwindled away.

If you would've told me in 1996 that Sony would one day launch an affordable VR headset for consumers and ended up only selling 51k in its first week in Japan, I would've laughed in your face and stated confidently that it would be at least 10 times more!

It (tomb raider) needs an anime!

Yeah was gonna say PSVR sold 51,644...

If PSVR sold 51, 644 but the only game to make it in the top 20 was PS VR Worlds and sell only 5,983 copies, should we be worried?

@N4LIFE Or they just track boxed stuff and not the digital downloads (as usual) which I'm pretty sure makes (also in this part of the world) the majority of VR sales.

@get2sammyb Well, I'm going to be nice and give it to you since you guys posted your article 2 hours before TW, BUT the Gematsu article you linked to does have them numbered 1-11, and they don't mention an update, but I can't know for sure. The 4gamer article does look tacked on as an afterthought, but I'm not even going to try and read Japanese.

I'm really enjoying ROTTR. Just exploring the large maps are the best parts, though i do groan at the Call Of Duty style action set pieces.