Japanese Sales Charts: PS4 Numbers Drop Like a Rock Just Two Weeks After Metal Gear Solid V

@get2sammyb Yeah, it's the drop that's crazy. You'd expect something at least a bit more gradual, like 25k, 20k, 18k, but to fall by 35,000 units just shows that there now has to be a constant string of blockbuster releases, which is obviously never going to happen.

Metal Gear confirmed dead.

and the drop its freaking huge, and no... the price drop announcement was after the data (week).

@Faruko Yep, if it was a drop after yesterday's announcement, then it'd seem more reasonable, as everyone would be waiting for the price to fall before buying. As such, there's a good chance this week's numbers and next week's numbers will end up falling to some embarrassing levels!

A Wii U jump of only 10k for the release of Super Mario Maker seems pretty mild. It's only going to drop again after that, you'd think.

But again, it doesn't seem that bad. The New 3DS is about 1/3 of the price of a PS4 and is widely accepted as doing really well in Japan, yet it only sold 3k more than the PS4 after its "awful drop". And that's with a new Monster Hunter game on 3DS, albeit a kind of kiddy spin-off. The Wii U just had a new Mario game - Mario, for crying out loud! - and is only 2k ahead.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if it had stayed at selling about 50k a week, that would mean the PS4 would be selling about as much in Japan as it is in Europe, a continent with five times the population of Japan, and as much as North America, a continent with about three times the population that also happens to be the largest gaming market in the world. So yeah, that really wasn't going to happen.

I would call a cold reception for Mario Maker. WiiU jumped from 10k to 20k, and in japan where it seems stronger than here in the West.
I was expecting something more close to the reception of MGSV and Ps4 at launch week (that was amazing tbh).

@get2sammyb if that's right about the total numbers then MGSV has a pretty decent attachment rate. Things may pick long term over there when the likes of Yakuza, Dragon Quest and Persona 5 start showing up.

Sony can hardly complain though as they're not doing too bad elsewhere

Mario Maker is going to have legs so Wii U should settle around 18K to 25K the rest of the year with some big end of the year releases bumping it quite a bit around the holidays.

The drop off for both PS4 and MGS V is massive and should be very concerning for Sony. It looks to me like the company is trying but no matter what, it will never catch on in Japan and the continued support of PS3 isn't helping.

@arnoldlayne83
I wouldn't call 138K and topping the software charts and a 10K to 20K jump for hardware a cold reception.

Sony just announced a price drop in Japan for PS4. Likely people are waiting until October 1 to purchase at the lower price.

@arnoldlayne83 I think the numbers are pretty decent, it will have legs, and MGS5 numbers are super front loaded, they will do good for 1 or 2 weeks then dead.

@DarthDiggler These are last week's numbers - so these were before the price drop.

PS4 games tend to sell through most their stock right at launch, while Nintendo games tend to sell year round, throughout the generation.

@ShogunRok Good point I didn't consider the data wasn't real-time. Perhaps the price drop leaked? Honestly this isn't all that surprising, many in Japan were probably waiting for the new MGS game so a drop off is to be expected.

@DarthDiggler I guess it's possible that some potential buyers were waiting for TGS before seeing if there was a price drop, so there could be something in that.

I honestly don't care anymore about japan and the console market. As important as it is, when it comes to console gaming, Japan is dead. Time for them to move on and stop trying to grab those japanese sales because it's just not going to happen.

@JaxonH
Yup, it seems that's been the trend the past couple gens at least.

@DarthDiggler
A drop to 40K, sure, even 35K. But from 54K to 18K, that's significant and has to be concerning.