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The story
A thread titled “Has PlayStation really gotten ‘weaker’?” appeared on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. It was sparked by the decline in exclusive titles, with posters citing this year’s PS first-party sales figures (Wolverine in the low 20,000s, etc.) and the shrinking shelf space and number of retailers carrying PlayStation products as evidence. Meanwhile, some pushed back, pointing to PS5 titles’ strong showing in Golden Joystick Awards nominations as proof the console’s presence remains solid, splitting opinion on how to interpret the drop in exclusives. Others noted that recent PS5 titles have grown homogeneous, leaning heavily into dark fantasy and soulslike genres — keeping the debate from boiling down to a simple “strong vs. weak” binary.
What people said
"It's lost its momentum."
"It's not as exciting as it used to be."
Keeping it short and clear is the basics of getting a message across.
Wolverine: 20,039 ←NEW
Saros: 4,614
Marvel Tōkon: 2,814
MLB The Show 26 (English version): 1,893
Marathon (down to triple-digit concurrent players, basically on its deathbed)
Judge the PlayStation that exists today by today's standards, and the result is a loser turned away by retailers, third parties, and users alike.
Golden Joystick Awards
■PC Game of the Year
Big Walk
Crimson Desert
Escape from Tarkov
Esoteric Ebb
MECCHA CHAMELEON
Mewgenics
Order of the Sinking Star
STAR WARS Zero Company
The Blood of Dawnwalker
Valheim
■Console Game of the Year
007 First Light
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
Forza Horizon 6
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
Nioh 3
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Pokemon Pokopia
PRAGMATA
Resident Evil Requiem
SAROS
They used to brag about all the exclusives and third parties flocking to them, and now they're leaning on a vague thing like 'lead platform'? They really have gotten weaker.
The decline must really sting, lol. It's almost nice to see — a fading platform on its way out spreads FUD, it doesn't work, and they just end up looking more pathetic for it.
Probably up through the PS2, when the appeal was the rise of CDs/DVDs and how cheap they were. From the PS3 onward it was propped up by Blu-ray and graphics, with shaky footing the whole way.
That said, here's one thing that's certain right now: the PS6 has no bright future ahead of it. Unless it offers performance at or above the PS5 Pro while staying priced where ordinary people can actually afford it, it'll end up a losing console.
In the end, the idea that one single game can save a console is about as realistic as a maiden's prayer (i.e., pure wishful thinking).
you'll feel so much better.
Seriously, this. They're mass-producing similar games at a level that recalls that era when Mystery Dungeon doujin games flooded everywhere, and people are starting to get sick of it.
If stock price is supposed to tell you whether games actually sell… riiight, like Nintendo's games don't outsell Wolverine sixfold or anything (sarcasm).
Swee◯t Bab◯: "Beats me~" (staring into the distance) (likely censored references to Jim Ryan and Sweet Baby Inc., a consulting firm controversial among gamers)
fewer stores carry it at all. After all, you can't download-buy the console itself.
If you can just endure three more hardware generations — 6, 7, 8 — PS9, the kind you snort up your nose, will be something street dealers everywhere sell you (a joke likening a future console to contraband peddled on the street). Just gotta survive that long.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
Behind the decline in PS5 “exclusive titles” lies a business decision Sony made starting around 2022 to lean into multiplatform releases and introduce the positioning of “lead platform titles.” This strategy brings major titles to PC as well to widen revenue opportunities, meaning a simple count of exclusives doesn’t fully capture the real picture. It’s also worth noting that a high number of Golden Joystick Awards nominations is a different axis from actual sales volume, and the figures cited in the thread (like Wolverine’s sales numbers) are self-reported tallies circulating on 5ch, not official sales data. The shrinking retail floor space is also tied to the market-wide shift toward a higher share of digital downloads, so it can’t be chalked up entirely to a PS5-specific slump. Some in the thread even questioned the premise itself — whether there was ever a time it was ‘strong’ — underscoring how tricky cross-generational comparisons make this debate.
※This article excerpts and summarizes the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Has PlayStation really gotten “weaker”?.”
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