Per a (translated) sales report from Famitsu, Sony’s PlayStation 5 console recently crossed the milestone of 2 million units sold. Given that the console will be turning two years old in a few weeks, it’s a fitting number to reach.
Of Sony’s many PlayStation consoles, the PlayStation 5 is the slowest to hit 2 million Japan: it took 90 weeks (or three months) for the PlayStation 4 to hit that threshold, and the PlayStation reached it in 73 weeks.
The 2 million takes into account both the PS5 that only plays digital games and the PS5 with a disc drive. That said, it’s the latter console that’s sold the most of the two; looking at Famitsu’s numbers, the disc drive PS5 has sold 1.5 million units in Japan as of October 23, 2022. By comparison, the all-digital PS5 has overall sold a little over 278,000.
What took you so long, PlayStation 5?
During the summer, Sony revealed that the PlayStation 5 sold 21.7 million global units.
But this year has seen a shortage of game consoles overall due to a lack of semiconductors, and Japan in particular has seen the value of its yen currency drop down as consumer electronics have begun to cost more. To make up for the PS5 deficiency, Sony opted to create and release more PS4s.
There’s plenty of others factors to consider for the PS5 not taking off in Japan, from the dominance of the Nintendo Switch in the region to Sony courting the Western market with blockbusters like The Last of Us Part I and God of War: Ragnarok.
Also probably doesn’t help that Sony bumped up the price of the PS5 in Japan back in August, meaning it now costs ¥60,478 yen (or roughly $410, including tax).
