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The story
A report to 5ch said TSUTAYA is progressively marking down packaged PS5 software — new copies dropping to 500 yen, then 300 yen, then 100 yen — sparking a thread. According to the original poster, popular titles at nearby stores were already sold out by the time they got there. The post triggered a wave of similar reports from other chains like GEO, Don Quijote, and Bic Camera, where PS5 shelf space also appeared to be shrinking. The discussion expanded into whether this is just a temporary sale or whether retailers are pulling out of PS5 entirely, with some pointing to trading cards’ higher profit margins as a rival explanation — a fight over shelf space, in other words.
What people said
Looked like it had already been picked over though, nothing decent left…
At 100 yen for a 'new' copy, just think of it as the price of a replacement case for that scratched-up used disc you already own, to make it look new again.
Up to now people kept saying it's just the usual sale, but this time it's clearly different.
PS shelf space is going to vanish from retail stores.
Worst case they might even stop carrying peripherals too.
Retailers used to make money off software sales, and now that's drying up.
Retailers only stock consoles to sell software in the first place — if there's no software, there's no point stocking the console either.
Soon you'll only be able to buy PS5 games through mail-order sites like Amazon.
On Amazon, PS5 will get strong multiplatform releases alongside Switch and Switch 2.
PS5 software reaches its final form… on Amazon.
They were only ever interested in the mega-hits to begin with.
That's fine either way, isn't it? Nobody buys Switch games at TSUTAYA either — that's exactly why they're expanding the trading card section, because nobody's buying games.
Well yeah, but that just means packaged discs are disappearing from PS5 altogether.
Switch 2 exclusive Orbitals looks like it's in trouble.
Digital download, obviously lol
Where do Xbox users even buy theirs?
PS5 basically only has games that don't sell, though.
Yeah, zero million-sellers.
That's the whole point — it's all PS software. Why are you assuming PlayStation even has games that sell?
Those two are basically the 'guaranteed never to sell' dream team at this point.
Went to the PS corner at Don Quijote and they still had the Dragon Quest VII Reimagined promo poster up.
Ha, those are the two biggest duds around.
The one near me has had a copy of Nioh 3 sitting there forever with a 'brand new' sticker slapped on it. Kind of sad.
https://tadaup.jp/8CfYB3yH.jpeg
https://tadaup.jp/8d1whDUg.jpeg
One thing seems clear: stores that carry games are moving early, across multiple locations, to free up shelf space.
The Marvel game in the left photo is 80% off — that's a brutal markdown.
Lol, a brand-new copy of FIFA from three years ago that's just been sitting there unsold for three years?
Once a piece of cardboard has an expiration date, it's basically hell.
Oh…
So that's why the big retailers are running from that hell, lol.
Honestly the lineup looks exactly like what'd get dumped into a New Year's lucky bag (fukubukuro — a grab-bag of surplus stock sold cheap).
I'd think there's no more stable product than Nintendo games, which still sell new even eight years later.
Unfortunately, cards have way higher margins than games.
Last year Pokémon cards alone sold 10 billion units. This is a world where cards worth maybe 0 to 100 yen each fly off shelves used for 10,000 yen. A hundred years from now this'll be in history textbooks right next to Dutch tulip mania.
Trading cards are basically a machine for turning scraps of paper into stacks of cash.
Because they want to clear out a dead console whose games don't sell, ASAP. The fact that they're not doing this to Switch or Switch 2 says it all.
I think just having PS software sitting on the shelf is generating a loss in itself.
Shelf space is limited too — wouldn't you rather stock things that actually sell instead of PS games that have sat there unsold for something like 10 years?
Pretty much just Bandai Namco, Sega/Atlus, and Konami at this point. Even the publishers that owed Sony loyalty have mostly fled to Switch 2.
Earth Defense Force looks like it's gonna flop hard.
We'll toss Switch 2 the leftovers in two or three years.
They're just running spite-exclusives and still talking big, lmao.
Don't need it. I'll just enjoy watching it flop spectacularly.
Background and talking points
In-store inventory of physical packaged games has become a shrinking source of revenue for domestic retailers as digital downloads have spread, making how limited shelf space gets allocated a decision that goes straight to each chain’s bottom line. In this thread, reports of markdowns at TSUTAYA kicked things off, followed by a wave of similar sightings of discounts and shrinking PS5 displays at other chains like GEO, Don Quijote, and Bic Camera — but these remain individual, store-level observations, not an official announcement confirming a company-wide policy shift. It’s also worth flagging that the separate issue of “more stores refusing used-game buybacks” and the fire-sale of new stock are being lumped together in the thread as evidence of a broader “turning away from PS5,” even though they’re technically distinct phenomena easy to conflate. Likewise, the claim that trading cards carry higher profit margins wasn’t backed by any actual figures — it remains an impression based on what posters observed in stores.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “TSUTAYA’s PS5 sell-off sale crosses the line — down to a 100 yen fire sale!“
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