Is the reason the PlayStation 4 sold worse than PS3 in Japan is because it had the number "4" in it?

[RE4-Station]

So the PS4 was a huge success for Sony and was a much better seller than the PS3 in almost every territory except for Japan for some reason!
Now this might sound crazy but hear me out.

This podcast beyond episode from IGN where Colin Moriarty make the prediction that PS4 would not be called PS4 because 4 in Japan sounds a lot like Death over there.
of course that did not happen however the PS4 sold much worse than I think most people expected in Japan:

(13:33 if the time stamp doesn't work)
At the beginning of the PS4 generation the Wii U was actually beating the PS4 quite a bit early in the generation in Japan believe it or not:

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/sonys-playstation-4-was-crushed-nintendos-wii-u-key-market-2014-09-28

Wii U sold more than double PS4 last week in Japan, sales limbo competition heats up

And does so almost every week. http://www.m-create.com/ranking/ http://www.joystiq.com/2014/08/18/stiq-figures-august-8-10-missed-opportunities-edition/ Pretty crazy how things are over in Japan. PS4 needs some Japanese games ASAP.

www.neogaf.com

Mario Kart 8 is helping Nintendo kill PS4 sales in Japan

Mario Kart 8 is selling so well in Japan that it is hurting Sony's PS4 sales.

www.tweaktown.com

and of course the PS4 would easily pass the Wii U over teem as Nintendo pretty much just dropped the thing but It was weird seeing the Wii U, PS3, and even PS Vita beating the PS4 in some weeks in Japan.

I also found this 2012 article talking about 4 being an unlucky number in japan and that the PS4 might not be called that: https://wololo.net/2012/11/26/why-the-ps4-will-probably-not-be-named-the-ps4/comment-page-1/

lately I've noticed something interesting about PlayStation sales in Japan. Everybody claimed Sony gave up on Japan after it had its worst sales ever in 2020 and everybody was ragging on the PS5 sales in Japan trying to claim it was because of the lack of demand over the ship shortage.
However The PS3 only sold about 2 million less than the Wii in Japan (10 million vs 12 million despite the PS3 costing so much more)
The Vita did really well in Japan compared to North America in sales
and the PlayStation brand seems stronger than what most people have been claiming for the past couple of years since like 2017/2018

(It is worth noting that the PS4 was tracking ahead of the PS3 for the most part until the chip shortage for PS4 happened in 2020): https://www.vgchartz.com/article/460220/ps5-vs-ps4-sales-comparison-in-japan-february-2024/
and while I am sure that has a lot to due with Japanese games taking awhile to get their footing back

I think just the fact they called it PS4 over there might of hindered sales somewhat since the PS4 was much cheaper than the PS3, the Xbox One was much less of a threat to the PS4 than the 360 was to PS3 and same with Wii U.

Anyway it is nice to see that Japan does in fact love Playstation consoles and not just handhelds like many were claiming


When at the beginning of the PS5 generation you had stuff like this:

PlayStation Sold Less Than 1 Million Units In Japan In 2020, Making It Its Lowest Year Since 1994

PlayStation hardware sold fewer than a million units in Japan in 2020, marking the lowest Sony console sales in the region since 1994.

www.thegamer.com

 

[Hatefield]

Colin is projecting cause x means death in japan, not 4.

 

[Bryank75]

I would assume that a lot of it is the demographics and the lack of time people of gaming age have to play at home on a big screen.

It would be very cool if PS5 could reverse the sales trend in Japan though.

 

[Neversummer]

Probably because in the PS4 gen PS barely made any game that catered to the Japanese crowd. 1 ratchet game, 1 Parrapatherapper game (remaster), 1-2 Potopon game (remaster), 1 gravity rush game (gr2) & GT sport which from my knowledge was not well received.

From a first party viewpoint PS doesn’t nearly nothing to cater & give a reason for a Japanese gamer to buy a PS console instead of continuing playing on Nintendo.

PS3 had so many platformers + interesting smaller scope/quirky game that they own & where true permanent exclusive

Also PS3 was riding of PS2 hype where PS4 was riding from PS3 which at launch wasn’t the best.

 

[anonpuffs]

Colin is projecting cause x means death in japan, not 4.

4 is homonyms for "death" in Chinese and Japanese. However, the PS4 wouldn't be called that in Japanese. Japanese always use the English numbers when referring to PS consoles. Even if they used Japanese numbers though, they wouldn't use "shi" to refer to it. They'd use "yon" or "yon-ban"(version 4)

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

I think it's because Sony deviated away from Japan during PS3. Hence Japanese didn't really care for PS4. For Japanese, modern Playstation is a glorified xbox.

 

[Orangee]

No, it just didnt have any games until like 2017, especially eastern games.

 

[RE4-Station]

No, it just didnt have any games until like 2017, especially eastern games.

well did the PS5 do better in this regard in it's first 4 years? The PS5 is selling better in Japan even tho it hasn't had a pro model yet and PS4's pro model had already released at this point of PS4's life?

 

[Senki Dala]

Colin is projecting cause x means death in japan, not 4.

4/Shi literaly means death in Japanese... Source : lived in Japan / speak an average Japanese.

 

[Hatefield]

4/Shi literaly means death in Japanese... Source : lived in Japan / speak an average Japanese.

Yeah buts it's a stupid thing to say when before the 4 there is playstation.

 

[Orangee]

well did the PS5 do better in this regard in it's first 4 years? The PS5 is selling better in Japan even tho it hasn't had a pro model yet and PS4's pro model had already released at this point of PS4's life?

PS5 actually has games. Lets not pretend like anyone will play those crossgen games in 720p on PS4.

 

[CrackmanNL]

Imagine a Japanese person going to launch and sees the line-up of Knack and Killzone Shadowfall.

 

[anonpuffs]

4/Shi literaly means death in Japanese... Source : lived in Japan / speak an average Japanese.

Yeah but the Japanese would never call the PS4 "PS Shi". It would be PS 4(in English). Or maybe you/yon-ban if they didn't know the marketing.

 

[Danja]

PlayStation 3 was just a better console when it came to games that catered to that market. PS4 price also did not come down in the final stretch to really push it over the edge.

But PS3 was simply had better games for that market

I don't see the PS5 selling more than the PS4 in the long run , but let's see

 

[Kokoloko]

Not enough of the games they like the play.

Also in Japan there is some ‘feeling” Playstation left Japan. Nintendo very much advertises the shit there and has a huge presence since Switch.

 

[Senki Dala]

Yeah but the Japanese would never call the PS4 "PS Shi". It would be PS 4(in English). Or maybe you/yon-ban if they didn't know the marketing.

I know I know but I just reply to the "x means death, not 4", which is wrong.

And yeah obviously this video is pure bullshit. Japanese people are playing less consoles because they like mobile gaming more.

 

[Yurinka]

So the PS4 was a huge success for Sony and was a much better seller than the PS3 in almost every territory except for Japan for some reason!

I'd say the merge of the portables market and Nintendo home console into a single device that got the console handheld monopoly and was released a few years after PS4 helped.

 

[Systemshock2023]

PS gradually got more and more western each generation. Specially during the HD era.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

I know I know but I just reply to the "x means death, not 4", which is wrong.

And yeah obviously this video is pure bullshit. Japanese people are playing less consoles because they like mobile gaming more.

It's an egg and chicken problem. Japanese abandoned console or console games abandoned Japanese taste?

All I remember was that during PS2 - PS3 transition years, Microsoft who gave up on Japan, pushed western focused AAA games and brought them over from PC to console. Microsoft successful dragged Playstation to compete in their land and eliminated Japanese market. Playstation followed Xbox, focused on western AAA and left Japanese with PSP and Nintendo DS as their entertainment options. Japanese never looked back after that.

The cycle continues, it seems