Street fighter has never been that big in Japan. It’s pretty much a western game
That's false; SF2 was MASSIVE in Japan, particularly in the arcades but also on consoles like the Super Famicom.
I'm guessing SFV reception might've hurt SF6 in Japan. Could also just be the game isn't as tuned-in for Japanese gaming tastes. Some fan favorites in Japan like Sakura are missing from the roster, some of the music might be off-putting if it's the same as the Western release (hell some of the songs even grate me, I'm mostly talking things like the main theme and character select theme, etc.)
I also just think maybe the fighting game market in Japan has generally fallen off a lot over the past decade, and become very niche. A lot of fighters used to come to the arcade before console but that started changing drastically with PS4 gen. SFV didn't even get an arcade version until 2019 I think. That was probably how a lot of the more casual fans in Japan accessed the games or were exposed to them, then picking up home versions from there.
Sony really should make a huge push on all fronts for console gaming in Japan.
Otherwise many types of games will not be viable in the future and they will possibly lose support from many devs that focus on games aimed at that market primarily.
It needs to be more than just a PS5 console push....it needs to be a cultural movement. Drawing from the history of PlayStation and national pride in being the top product worldwide.
Well they need a (real) handheld, or something like a PS4 Portable like I've been saying for a while now. And they need more 1P family-friendly, colorful IP. The Famitsu charts are always dominated by Switch games but VERY specifically, Nintendo's own 1P Switch games. They have a specific style and tone to them that most of Sony's current IP don't aim for.
But that would also require Sony to open up about making more 1P AA software that isn't going for the serious tones or mature stories the God of Wars or TLOUs do. Ironically they have access to characters that could make for that type of software easily, like Spiderman, Astrobot and Sackboy.
From what I’ve read those SF numbers are in line with what sf5 did on ps4. We don’t know how much software sales digitally now either compared to then. Not spinning anything just giving context.
35k seems to be the ps5 baseline now that stock has been met. I wonder how well the ff16 bundle will do and how many Sony will ship?
If 35K is the baseline for PS5 in Japan, assuming this is an 8-year gen and they maintain that for the rest of the gen, they'll easily break 10 million units in the Japanese market.
The bigger question is if software sales, or at least the physical software sales that are being tracked, will improve sooner or later.
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