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The story
A post appeared on 5ch’s hardware/industry (“Geha”) board claiming that it’s a lie PlayStation isn’t popular in Japan — that when you combine hardware and software sales overall, PS actually sells better. In response, data on recent software sales rankings was presented showing the Switch in first place with 4.86 million units (48.2%) and the Switch 2 in second with 3.98 million units (41.1%), while the PS5 trailed far behind at just 1.01 million units (10.5%). Hardware unit sales showed an equally wide gap, with the Switch 2 at 2.43 million units against the PS5’s 390,000 — and no data ever emerged to back up the original poster’s claim.
What people said
Sometimes you get people saying stuff like "Nintendo's always dominated Japan and PlayStation's hopeless"… are they just not seeing reality? It's only Nintendo's software that's strong — looking at hardware and software combined, it feels like even in Japan PS is actually selling better…
You're just staring at delusions and fantasies
Even looking at the weekly sales charts?
That's some next-level denial of reality
Does that count as a win under "PlayStation theology"?
Not a trace of clever wordplay in that — just straight-up thuggery, lol
Since it's basically a giant smartphone, the amount people spend on Genshin and Valorant must be huge
#1
Switch: 4,670,834 (48.2%)
#2
Switch 2: 3,985,490 (41.1%)
#3
PS5: 1,014,260 (10.5%)
Only inside your own head?
Whoa lol
Switch: 530,691
Switch 2: 2,434,860
PS5: 398,451
Bring actual data if you're gonna argue
it's just not popular
It'll only end up hurting you more
even if not everyone's buying it to actually play games, you know (´・ω・｀)
but refusing to admit PS4 lost to the original Switch is just plain unhinged
so it's kind of a "why?" that in Japan, Nintendo hardware dominates packaged software sales so overwhelmingly
2025 UK Console Packaged Software Sales by Value (£ million, total 318.8)
Amount Share Platform
126.5 39.68% PS5
14.8 04.64% PS4
83.4 26.16% Switch
67.3 21.11% Switch 2
17.8 05.58% Xbox Series
1.0 00.31% Xbox One
7.3 02.29% PC
Even in the UK, add up Switch 1 and Switch 2 and they just barely beat the whole PlayStation lineup
Uh, Pokémon — Switch 2 Pokémon: 1,115,493
Software sales
#1
Switch: 4,670,834 (48.2%)
#2
Switch 2: 3,985,490 (41.1%)
#3
PS5: 1,014,260 (10.5%)
Yep
Switch 2
2026: 3,985,490
2025: 5,628,479
Total: 9,613,969
PS5
2026: 1,014,260
2025: 2,524,404
2024: 2,453,035
2023: 2,121,827
2022: 946,682
2021: 466,739
2020: 61,908
Total: 9,588,855
Wow, neck and neck! (lol)
Laid out this way it almost looks like a close race… "how mysterious" (a pun on Fushigidane, Bulbasaur's Japanese name)
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Arguments over sales data crop up regularly on 5ch’s gaming hardware board, but this time the discussion talked past itself thanks to the vague standard of “hardware and software combined.” Japan’s home console market has long been discussed in terms of weekly unit-sales charts, where Nintendo hardware has consistently dominated the top spots. At the same time, the thread introduced data showing the PS5 taking the top spot in UK packaged-software revenue for 2025 — a reminder that rankings can flip depending on the country and the metric used (units vs. revenue, packaged vs. digital), a distinction that’s easy to overlook. Domestic unit-sales figures were presented repeatedly throughout the thread, but no one ever agreed on what “overall” was actually supposed to mean — units, revenue, domestic, or worldwide — so the argument ended in a stalemate.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “PS enthusiast: “It’s a lie that PlayStation isn’t popular in Japan! Combined hardware and software sales favor PS”.”
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