PS5 games still sell poorly at retail in Japan

Now that the stock is becoming more and more available, the PlayStation 5 is selling much better in Japan. It’s still not particularly spectacular, but in terms of hardware units, it has overtaken the PS4 and PS Vita during the lineup launch, and is now catching up to the Nintendo Wii U. The latter might not surprise you particularly, but she was the source of many memes early in the generation.

The problem is, software doesn’t sell well at all – at least not at retail, anyway. Obviously, there’s an important context here: Famitsu’s data – which this article is based on – only includes physical sales, so we don’t know if these games are selling better digitally. Obviously, global trends have slowly started to tilt towards the PS Shop, so this is an important context here.

Nonetheless, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade only managed 20,889 units. This one isn’t that bad actually, as you could possibly get a used copy of the original PS4 game and upgrade it, which many savvy gamers have certainly done. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, however, could only muster 14,663 units. It’s not great.

Meanwhile, the next-gen version of Guilty Gear Strive didn’t even make the top ten; the PS4 edition only sold 11,722 units. To put that in context, Nintendo’s new game creation software, Game Builder Garage, debuted with 71,241 units. Sure, it’s on a much more popular platform with a much higher install base, but you can see the difference.

The problem here is that the PS5 is actually sold out in Japan, so it’s not like the hardware is readily available. But with the install base now approaching a million units, it’s likely that consoles will be bought by scalpers and shipped across Asia, as software numbers don’t seem to be improving at all – at least. not retail, anyway.