From our other sites
The story
A thread on 5ch’s “Live News G” board featured images comparing PS Store rankings across countries. In Japan, GTA6 failed to crack the top spots and sat stuck in double digits, while in the US it ranked near the top — sparking a debate among posters about “how Japanese gamers play.” The top of the Japanese chart was dominated by mobile-born titles like Zenless Zone Zero, alongside next year’s FF7 Remake Part 3 and Romancing SaGa 3 Remake, leading to a range of theories for GTA6’s poor showing: unfamiliarity with the American setting, the PS5’s price, and Japan’s own distinct gaming tastes.
What people said
Japan
https://ps-store-db.live/top-20/JP/card-2026-09-13.png
USA
https://ps-store-db.live/top-20/US/card-2026-09-13.png
Lmao, this is how Japanese people actually use their PS5 — mobile games
FF7 Remake Part 3
Romancing SaGa 3 Remake
The fact that these two, which aren't even out until next year, are charting shows GTA6 genuinely isn't popular here
https://ps-store-db.live/top-20/JP/card-2026-09-13.png
You guys have really fallen off
Still more honest than doing shady "suteple" gigs (slang for undisclosed sponsored playthrough streams)
If you could run wild in a setting you actually recognize, it'd definitely be fun
We just find it boring because we're not familiar with America
Remember that AI video of an old lady going on a rampage, game-style, that went viral a while back?
That might be true
The new Forza blew up in Japan partly because it's set somewhere familiar — Japan
Yeah, honestly American streets still feel like another world to me — it's too fictional-feeling, so I don't think I'm getting the full appeal of this game
I figured Japanese people who buy a PS5 instead of a Switch were all Western-game nerds
It's just a weak choice these days
Steam is the obvious pick now
There's no real reason to go with a PS5
They're FF/Monster Hunter/Persona users, that's who
No online mode
No "Stogura" (GTA Online-style Japanese roleplay servers)
So no VTuber skit-playing this time
You just play through the story
Of course not
It's only VTubers, the streamers around them, and their fans talking about it — barely anyone's actually playing GTA themselves
You need anime-style character designs with cute, sexy girl characters, or it won't sell
That's the iron rule
Meanwhile, Monster Hunter and FromSoftware exist
Probably can't even afford a PlayStation
It launched at 55,000 yen after all
Even the cheapest model at 50,000 yen isn't going to catch on widely these days
Isn't that a boomerang aimed right back at Japanese games too?
But Wilds did the exact same thing every time and sold like crazy, didn't it?
Even though it's a huge downgrade compared to World/Rise
#2 NTE: Neverness to Everness
lol
At least let it be Honkai: Star Rail there
Zelda and Pokémon are the same every time too, aren't they?
That's totally different…
Don't you know people already call Pokémon a "fossil" of a game — stuck in the past?
Zelda and Pokémon are one-pattern games every single time though
GTA's huge over there
There's always someone claiming Japan and Korea have similar tastes — what's that even about?
#1 Minecraft — 400 million copies
#2 GTA5 — 230 million copies
#3 RDR2 — 85 million copies
The top two are just on a different level
GTA5's impressive, but not THAT impressive
That number's padded a lot by giveaways, plus they kept releasing upgraded versions across every generation from PS3 to PS5
RDR2 feels more impressive to me, honestly
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
GTA6 has drawn worldwide attention since before its release, and its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold over 230 million copies since launching in 2013 — one of the best-selling games of all time. In this thread, posters floated several theories for why the sequel is underperforming on Japan’s PS Store charts: discomfort with its crime- and violence-focused world, unfamiliarity with an American urban setting, the country’s enduring preference for anime-style character-driven games like Pokémon, and the high price of PS5 hardware — with no single explanation winning out. The latest rankings are topped by mobile-born titles like Zenless Zone Zero, reflecting a broader trend in the Japanese market where the line between console and mobile gaming keeps blurring.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Live News G) thread “[Sad News] Japanese PlayStation Users Show Zero Interest in “GTA6” wwwww.”
Leave a Reply