Japan Sales Charts: Astro Bot Barely Registers at Retail, PS5 Numbers Plummet After Price Hike

[Push Square]

The latest Japanese hardware and software charts are in, and they don't make for particularly positive reading if you're sitting on the Sony side of the fence. To start with, Astro Bot has entered in second place, but with just under 12,700 copies sold at retail, that's hardly worth bragging about. It's an incredibly low debut for a...

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[AdrianH]

Jeepers, Sony seems to kakking all over lately.

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The latest Japanese hardware and software charts are in, and they don't make for particularly positive reading if you're sitting on the Sony side of the fence. To start with, Astro Bot has entered in second place, but with just under 12,700 copies sold at retail, that's hardly worth bragging about. It's an incredibly low debut for a first-party PlayStation release. Here's hoping that digital sales are a lot more robust, because the spectacular platformer deserves all the success it can get.

Then there's the PS5 itself, which has seen its numbers fall off a cliff following the console's recent price increase in Japan. The current-gen system managed to move just 11,800 units — which is less than half the total that it posted in the previous week. Predictable, we suppose, but it's not a good look for Sony — especially in its native country, where its influence has significantly diminished over the years.

Elsewhere, Visions of Mana has dropped out of the top ten entirely, after having what many would describe as a disappointing fourth place debut in the week prior. Indeed, Astro Bot is the only PlayStation title to make it into the top ten this time around — everything else is on Nintendo Switch.

 

[DarkPrince]

Makes sense, why would people be looking at buying a PS5 when they announced a new model, so seems likely that the sales would dip. I'd expect the same to happen with the Switch when Nintendo announces their new one.

Astro Bot don't see the appeal, does the Japanese market even like games like that?

 

[KenMasters]

I was worried about this. People complain about everything being so samey, but games, movies or whatever, few actually branch out from their comfort franchises and sequels. Hopefully it does better in other territories.

It's a sad state of affairs, I found out recently Alan Wake 2 hasn't broken even yet either.