Report: Sony and PlayStation Losing Footing In Japan As Nintendo Sweeps Sales Charts
Spencer Baculi
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It appears Sony’s continued shunning of their Japanese market has begun to herald significant damage to their bottom line, as recent sales data has revealed that not only did a mere single PlayStation title manage to rank among the country’s most sold games, but that Nintendo has proceeded to sweep the charts in their rivals absence.
Source: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021), Insomniac Games
According to sales data provided by Japanese video game news outlet Famitsu, whose publication typically provides its readers with the two most recent Japanese sales reports, Sony managed to chart only a single title, Utawarerumono: ZAN 2 , in the periods between July 19th-25th and August 2nd-August 9th.
Released for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Aquaplus’ action RPG sequel to their previous title, Utawarerumono: The Mask of Deception, placed 11th and 22nd, respectively, on the July 19th-25th sales charts.
Source: Famitsu
In contrast, Nintendo dominated, and in the most recent week of data, completely swept the sales charts.
Led by The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD, Minecraft, and the new Crayon Shin-chan title, “Ora and Dr. Summer Vacation” -A Seven-Day Trip That Doesn’t End-, every other game that charted in the two aforementioned periods were either Nintendo-produced or Nintendo Switch versions of multiplatform releases.
Source: Crayon Shin-chan “Ora and Dr. Summer Vacation” (2021), Nintendo
PlayStation software is not the only product category that’s failing to sell in Japan, as earlier this year, sales data also revealed that Sony had sold less than one million PlayStation units in their home market across all of 2020, marking the worst sales numbers since the console line launched in 1994.
While Sony has historically enjoyed a fair share of the video game market, particularly in Japan, the company’s recent turn towards excessive censorship and creating games with as much ‘mass appeal’ as possible are clearly beginning to cause them to lose their support amongst audiences in their home country.
Source: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), Nintendo
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