Games console sales are supposedly on the decline in Japan. Despite this, PS4 sales since the launch last weekend have been strong, outselling the previous iteration, the PS3.
Sony took an odd approach with the release of the PS4, deciding not to release in its home country first. In fact, they left it a whole three months after releasing the console in the western world before bringing it to Japan. It’s a sign that the market has changed massively since the days of the PS2 which sold 630,552 consoles in its first two days. Saying that,the PS4 has sold 322,083 units in Japan over the weekend which is four times what the PS3 managed in 2006 when it arrived.
If you take into account that Sony only shipped an initial 350,000 units to Japan, you can see that it’s almost sold out already, in one of the quietest periods for gaming to boot. Compare this however to the fact that in 2012 the Wii U sold 308,570 units on launch week, it’s not that impressive considering how quickly sales of the Wii U flopped after that initial burst.
Microsoft has opted to continue its policy of silence regarding a launch in Japan, and with the Xbox and Xbox 360 never really taking off there it’s not likely that the Xbox One will arrive there either.
Japan is a market that has never cared for FPS and action games so sales will most likely be slow, with the only game that’s likely to grab its nation of gamers being Sega’s samurai adventure Yakuza Ishin (aka Restoration), which is also available on PS3. There are also the many old PS3 ports that have made their way on to PS4, for example Dynasty Warriors 8, but why invest money in a new console to play old games, especially in a market dominated by portables and smartphone games.