Japan Reacts

Category: Games

  • ‘Marvel’s Wolverine’ Estimated at 6.16 Million Units Worldwide Sparks Debate on 5ch

    Overseas outlet Game Business reported, citing figures compiled by research firm Ampere Analysis, that “Marvel’s Wolverine” had sold approximately 6.16 million units worldwide (about 95% digital). On 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board, the numbers kicked off comparisons with Nintendo titles’ sales figures, but the conversation quickly turned to the reliability of Ampere Analysis’s estimates themselves. Pointing to the firm’s estimate of 1.4 million units for “Death Stranding 2” — a number never officially confirmed in the publisher’s earnings reports — posters repeatedly argued that “this outfit’s analysis can’t be trusted,” and the thread devolved into everyone demanding sources from each other.

    1AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:22
    Overseas outlet The Game Business cited data from research firm Ampere Analysis showing the game sold roughly 6.16 million units worldwide, with physical copies making up 5% of that total.
    2AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:24
    A decision has already been made that PlayStation games releasing from January 2028 onward will drop physical disc versions entirely; digital copies are said to already account for about 82% of full-game PlayStation software sales, with publishers like Capcom seeing around 90% digital.
    3AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:25
    Re: #2
    Capcom's digital figures include the key-card versions too, you know
    6AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:26
    Don't go making stuff up.
    14AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:33
    Re: #6
    Wait, what?! So Fire Emblem sold more than 2.16 million copies?
    If you can't answer that, I'll take it as you losing the argument, deal?
    If you don't answer, I'm putting you on my ignore list (NG = 5ch's built-in "mute this poster" feature).
    17AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:34
    Re: #14
    Guess getting caught making stuff up was embarrassing, huh.
    19AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:35
    Rhythm Heaven
    1,000,000 units
    Derby Stallion
    30,000 units
    20AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:37
    Re: #19
    If you exclude Mario Kart World — whose sales are mostly bundle copies — Switch 2 only has one million-seller to its name.
    21AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:37
    Re: #18
    So, source?
    29AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:40
    Re: #21
    https://www.gamebusiness.jp/article/2026/10/10/28283.html

    Opening up a lead of over 2 million copies on FE with this (verb garbled in the original post, but the gist is "crushing it")
    34AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:44
    Re: #29
    There's a weird part in there again lol
    30AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:41
    So, where's the source for the 6.16 million figure?
    35AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:45
    Re: #30
    If you want the source for Rhythm Heaven's 1 million and Derby Stallion's 30,000, right here —
    go ahead and take a look


    https://www.famitsu.com/ranking/game-sales
    33AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:44
    Death Stranding 2, which this outfit's analysis claims sold 1.4 million copies.
    And yet Death Stranding 2 wasn't even mentioned in the earnings report.
    Don't forget — it got quietly written off without any official numbers, simply because it didn't sell.
    This place's analysis really can't be trusted…
    Death Stranding 2 left quite a legacy behind, huh.
    There's zero point in this nonsense hype job being pushed by fanboys who can't keep their personal feelings separate from the facts.
    38AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:47
    Re: #33
    CAN'T. BE. TRUSTED!
    40AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:47
    So it was actually selling fine after all, huh.
    44AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:49
    Re: #40
    Nah, 2.16 million isn't enough.
    53AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:51
    Re: #44
    2 million times 9,000 yen already comes out to 18 billion yen in sales.
    I'd call that a big success.
    54AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:52
    Re: #53
    But Wolverine's budget is reportedly $30 billion, you know.
    59AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:54
    Re: #53
    Factor in the development costs and that's not enough.
    50AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:50
    Re: #44
    Opening sales of 2 million aren't that different from Spider-Man's.
    65AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:56
    Re: #50
    Fire sales have already started everywhere — what's the outlook for it growing from here?
    61AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:54
    Re: #54
    $30 billion comes out to about 3 trillion yen.
    There's no way that's right.
    69AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:58
    Re: #61
    Actually, that works out to 4 trillion.
    Though it's probably a typo for $300 million.
    71AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:59
    704 Anonymous-desperately-posting 2026/10/10 (Sat) 08:25:24.22 ID:PFCYkqEv0
    703
    The source is the thread title — is that a problem?

    https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1791498989/704
    Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, Metascore 88! PS5 version alone drags it down to 83 due to loads of bugs and freezing 😭

    Apparently "the thread title is the source" is good enough.
    74AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:01
    Re: #71
    Oh, this is that fake thread "Nishi-kun" (slang nickname for a Nintendo fanboy) was spreading around the other day, huh?
    Guess it really does go both ways.
    80AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:03
    Re: #71
    Actually, looking now, the PC version has dropped to 85.
    Guess it really was just a review-count issue after all.
    72AnonymousOct 10, 2026 08:59
    Skipping the PC version really was the right call after all.
    It sells well and you get to keep the quality high — nothing but upside.
    73AnonymousOct 10, 2026 09:00
    Re: #72
    The guy who keeps misusing "pasokonga" (slangy/garbled way of saying "PC version") only ever shows up when stock's actually circulating, huh.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Sales estimates from third-party research firms like Ampere Analysis are a different thing from the official figures publishers disclose in their earnings reports — they’re ultimately just estimates built on market data. The thread’s cited figure of 1.4 million units for “Death Stranding 2” doesn’t appear anywhere in Kojima Productions’ earnings materials either, and was brought up as an example of the gap between such estimates and actual disclosed results. Meanwhile, the claim in response 2 that “PlayStation software will drop physical disc versions starting January 2028” is an actual industry policy, not speculation, reflecting the fact that digital sales already make up 80-90% of the market. That said, the thread also saw an error where a development budget of “$30 billion” was really meant to be around “$300 million” — a good reminder that in these cross-platform sales-comparison threads, numbers tend to spread unchecked and take on a life of their own.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, aka “Geha”) thread “[Bad News for Nintendo Fanboys] “Marvel’s Wolverine” Actually Sold 6.16 Million Copies lololol.”

  • How Could Sony Sell the PS6 for Under ¥79,980 (~$533)? 5ch Floods With Price-Cutting Schemes

    A thread went up on 5ch’s “Hardware & Industry” board (nicknamed “Geha,” short for “gêmu hādo,” i.e. game hardware) asking how Sony could possibly release the next-gen PS6 for under ¥79,980 (roughly $533). The current PS5 Pro retails for ¥137,980 (~$920), and since the PS6 is expected to outperform it, most posters agreed that hitting barely half that price is physically impossible. The thread floated idea after idea — selling the controller, disc drive, and SSD separately from the console; having Sony eat the loss by selling at a deficit (“gyakuzaya,” or reverse margin); or just dialing back the specs — but the conversation kept circling back to the same conclusion: “it’ll end up expensive anyway” and “that won’t make it sell.”

    1Anonymous (the board's default joke username, roughly "Anon Who's Trying Way Too Hard")Oct 9, 2026 21:43
    No disc drive.
    No controller.
    No USB cable.
    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:44
    Guess if it's not stripped down at least that far, it's never going mainstream.
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:45
    Do it the De Agostini way.
    92AnonymousOct 10, 2026 02:16
    Re: #4
    Sounds like it'd end up around ¥200,000 (~$1,333) lol
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:45
    Go all-in on reverse margin.
    Eat a massive loss to drive adoption.
    Problem is, Totoki won't allow it.
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:46
    If they just bump the specs above the PS5 Pro as-is, it's over ¥140,000 even without a disc drive… it's hopeless.
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:47
    The PS3 dropped backward compatibility to force the price down, but pulling that move now would be the perfect excuse for people to quit PlayStation for good.
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:49
    Re: #1
    Throw it in free as a bonus with a ¥5,000,000 (~$33,000) electric car.
    13AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:51
    Cap the max output resolution at 720p.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:53
    Charge about ¥50,000 (~$333) per game and it'll work out somehow.
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:54
    Re: #15
    Then people just won't buy games and stick to free-to-play ones.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:53
    Sony: "Wait, you want it more powerful than the PS5 Pro AND under ¥80,000!?"
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:53
    Just make it a freebie fixture for condo buyers.
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:53
    Slap a "PS6" sticker on a PS5 and sell that.
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:55
    Didn't Kawamura or Tane or someone write an article claiming the PS6 would launch at a five-figure yen price…
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:02
    Drop the specs down to about Switch 2 level.
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:04
    They're not gonna pull another compatibility-cutting stunt on something where price and specs are basically the only difference you'd notice, right?
    29AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:08
    Discount the console if you buy a 3-year PS Plus subscription at the same time.
    30AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:10
    So they're gonna rip people off on the controller and the proprietary SSD instead?
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:11
    Retailers would have to slap on tons of warning labels and explain everything to customers — they'd hate stocking it.
    32AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:12
    Disc drive: ¥10,000.
    Controller: ¥10,000.
    SSD: several tens of thousands of yen more.
    Add it all up and you're basically back to PS5 Pro pricing — depressing.
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:12
    It'll work out fine if Sony just eats about ¥100,000 (~$667) per unit in reverse margin.
    35AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:22
    Sell it as a barebones kit and it might just work —
    SSD, controller, cables, memory, and OS all sold separately.
    36AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:22
    Do it De Agostini-style —
    keep selling a magazine with a part attached, over 50 weekly issues.
    Issue 1 comes with the CPU (launch issue priced at ¥980, about $6.50).

    Then bail right around week 49.
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:26
    Sony's not stupid, though.
    The fact that the Pro, at over ¥100,000, isn't really wanted by the mainstream says it all.
    Under ¥79,980 might actually be the right target.
    But the real ceiling most ordinary people will spend on a game console is ¥50,000 (~$333) or less — that's why the original Switch took off. Go past that and it stops feeling like a toy and starts feeling like a real purchase.
    39AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:28
    Already got a PC, don't need it.
    I barely bought games on PS5 — definitely buying even less on a PS6.
    42AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:29
    Re: #39
    Yeah, and even Monster Hunter and Final Fantasy aren't staying PlayStation-exclusive or timed-exclusive anymore anyway.
    40AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:29
    Either cut the specs or sell at a loss — those are the only options.
    In other words, it's checkmate.
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:29
    If you're gonna copy the Switch anyway, copy Nintendo's approach to specs too.
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:31
    Just make the memory user-expandable.
    Split software compatibility based on whether it's been expanded, like the N64's Expansion Pak.
    45AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:33
    Let users add the SSD and memory themselves afterward —
    that alone would bring the price down a lot.
    46AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:33
    Hold on, though —
    isn't the multi-language Digital Edition of the PS5 already ¥90,000 (~$600)?
    No way Sony prices the PS6 cheap just for the Japanese market.
    Under ¥79,980 feels like the ceiling for something with specs on par with the current PS5, doesn't it?
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:34
    Being more powerful than the ¥137,980 PS5 Pro while selling for almost half the price — what kind of miracle would it take to pull that off?
    51AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:36
    Re: #47
    That's exactly why everyone's saying sell it piecemeal!
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:35
    Re: #1
    No manual, no box either —
    sell it loose like a bag of vegetables lol
    53AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:39
    Re: #49
    Come to think of it, haven't seen bulk/no-frills packaging like that in a while.
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 23:01
    If you're nobility, ¥200,000 (~$1,333) is pocket change — go buy one.
    67AnonymousOct 9, 2026 23:09
    Re: #63
    Too bad I'm one of the lowly peasants.
    101AnonymousOct 10, 2026 04:49
    Re: #63
    Might just be talking about Torikizoku 🦆

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    The current PS5 Pro retails for ¥137,980 (~$920), and since the next-gen PS6 is expected to outperform it, hitting ¥79,980 under a conventional pricing model simply isn’t realistic. The ideas floated in the thread — selling the controller, disc drive, and SSD separately, or having Sony absorb a loss through “gyakuzaya” (reverse-margin) pricing — extend a strategy the console industry has used for decades: prioritize a low launch price during the adoption phase, sell the hardware below cost, and recoup the difference through software sales. But with a weak yen and rising semiconductor costs compounding the problem, opinion was split on whether that old playbook still works today. The debate boiled down to two competing views: that stripping out components genuinely lowers the console’s price, versus that once you tally up the cost of all those now-separate accessories, the total comes out the same either way. One thing worth flagging so it isn’t mistaken for fact: this price point is pure speculation and wishful thinking from 5ch posters — Sony has made no official announcement of a PS6 price or release date.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Hardware & Industry” / “Geha”) thread “[Urgent Request] How to Get the PS6 Under ¥79,980.”

  • Hatsune Miku’s Official Team Asks Fans to Stop Illegal Uploads — Overseas Fans Fire Back: “No Lost Sales, So It’s Legal”

    After the official accounts for Hatsune Miku and Project Sekai put out messaging along the lines of “please stop illegal uploads,” some overseas fans fired back with “there’s no lost sales, so it’s legal” — sparking a heated discussion on 5ch’s hardware/industry (Gehard) board. The thread noted that the same argument had come up before with Mangamura (a notorious manga piracy site) and with Demon Slayer (whose overseas streaming was delayed), and the two sides talked past each other: the “no harm, no foul” logic never lined up with the counterargument that “copyright holders have rights regardless of whether damage occurred,” leaving legal reasoning and emotional reasoning stuck in a standoff.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:22
    Does it actually have a point?
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:25
    Same thing got said about Mangamura (notorious manga piracy site) too — people said the readers there never had any intention to buy in the first place, so the "total damages" figures are meaningless, called them idiots, the works.
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:26
    Re: #4
    Yeah, honestly those "trillions of yen in damages" claims were way overblown.
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:28
    Re: #4
    If anything it's a cultural win, right? 😮

    There are plenty of countries and companies out there paying big money just to spread their culture abroad, and yet… 🥺
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:30
    Re: #4
    Didn't that whole thing end up proving the overseas manga market was bigger than expected, which led to more official translations into other languages? The foreigners' logic here is kind of like using a fan-made Japanese localization mod for a PC game. Though companies like Square Enix deliberately strip out the Japanese version and sell it separately as a paid option, so I get why that feels like it's hurting business.
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:29
    Can't you just watch it if you buy the Blu-ray/DVD? Or is there some kind of region lock going on?
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:33
    No idea how it is for Project Sekai, but Mangamura clearly hurt business since plenty of Japanese users were reading there too.
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:34
    Same thing got said during the Demon Slayer thing too — "overseas releases are delayed, so illegal viewing can't be helped," or whatever.
    13AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:35
    They could've just kept doing it quietly — why do these guys have to go and claim it as some kind of 'right'?
    14AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:35
    Yeah, Mangamura definitely had plenty of Japanese users too.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:35
    Re: #1
    They're not even factoring in things like "Japanese fans would never pirate it anyway" or "companies worry that once it's already been uploaded, people might skip buying it." Zero consideration for any of that. Impressive, honestly.
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:36
    So there's no official overseas release? They should just make one.
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:40
    Re: #17
    Those guys can't even read Japanese — you'd just end up losing money on distribution costs.
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:39
    Mangamura is actually what boosted digital sales, you know.
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:40
    Breaking the law and causing lost sales are two separate issues.
    22AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:41
    Like, "I shoplifted from a store, but if it hadn't been stolen it might've just sat there unsold and gotten thrown out anyway, so no real harm done"? (´・ω・`)
    24AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:44
    If the official side sued for an injunction to stop the illegal uploads, they'd win — but if they sued for damages, they'd probably lose.
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:48
    Funny how they get it instantly when it's Disney, but suddenly play dumb the moment it's Japanese content.
    30AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:52
    Re: #25
    They're just saying that since there's no official release being sold there to begin with, the claim "we lost money because of the illegal upload" doesn't hold up — that's all.
    32AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:54
    Re: #30
    Proving there was "no damage" from an upload is a stretch to begin with — the moment it's made public to an unspecified number of people, that argument falls apart.
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:00
    Re: #30
    Damages aren't required as an element for illegal uploads to be pursued civilly or criminally.
    52AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:36
    Re: #30
    Whether there's damage or not, only the copyright holder has the right to authorize use of the work.
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:40
    Exclusive anime on subscription services is common enough, but I just treat an exclusive show on a service I'm not subscribed to as if it never existed in the first place.
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:01
    Re: #55
    Apparently there are Japanese people like this too — they just have zero sense that they're infringing on intellectual property.

    The damages figure is calculated as "this is what we'd charge you if we were selling it to you," but their logic is "you won't sell it to me, so I'll count it as free," and "since it's free, stealing it is fine."
    56AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:43
    Honestly, this one's correct though. It's the same as pirating something that's region-locked out of Japan ("omakuni" — deliberately withheld from a region) even domestically — since there's no actual damage to begin with, it can't be prosecuted. You can't claim damages unless you're actually distributing it officially.
    58AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:46
    Re: #56
    No, that's not right. You could just as easily say they *can't* distribute it officially *because* piracy is already so rampant — and defending piracy like this just pushes official releases further away.
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:44
    Honestly, I kind of feel like… maybe just don't say it out loud?
    82AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:24
    Re: #57
    There are plenty of idiots in the underground scene who just can't help insisting they're in the right. And when idiots like that get too loud, it just gets legislated into law, or server operators get pressured by the rights holders, and the whole thing gets clamped down anyway.

    Idiots never think "the company's politely asking us to stop, so let's quietly keep going without making noise." Makes you wonder if they just want to pick a fight with the company, or feel superior to them.
    59AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:47
    That's not "correct," come on.
    60AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:48
    Re: #59
    Even if it's not logically correct, it's correct in principle, so what can you do — in reality, there's no actual damage.
    64AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:52
    Re: #60 Re: #58
    It becomes impossible to distribute officially, so the damage is massive.
    65AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:59
    It's like saying "Our country doesn't have the Louvre! So we had no choice but to build an exact copy of it!" and then actually building a fake Louvre in your own country. You can tell how dumb that sounds, right?
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:16
    Foreigners are arguing logic. Japanese people are arguing feelings. No wonder they don't connect.
    78AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:21
    Re: #74
    Is "the creator owns the rights to their own work" really such a difficult concept? lol
    76AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:18
    Seriously, we need an actual "Pirate Enforcement Division" to go after these guys lol
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:23
    Re: #76
    Overseas there's a ton of self-styled "Pirate Kings" running around — like, a hundred of them lol
    84AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:28
    You've been throwing money at VTubers and the like — not really in a position to talk, are you?
    90AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:48
    Re: #84
    Sponsored corporate tie-ins are done with the rights holder's permission, so legally that's completely different from distributing unauthorized pirated copies.

    If you really think distributing pirated copies is "right," then go get permission from the company — and if they refuse, go fight it out in court over being denied permission.

    You're doing it without permission because you know you'd lose in court, right? That's exactly how much your so-called "rightness" is worth.

    Background and Key Issues

    Copyright law grants copyright holders exclusive rights such as the right of reproduction and the right of public transmission, and unauthorized uploads can be subject to injunctions or criminal penalties as rights infringement regardless of whether actual damage occurred. Where the thread’s argument got tangled was in conflating “whether it’s illegal” with “whether damages would be awarded.” The claim of “no lost sales” may be a hurdle for a damages claim specifically, but it’s not a reason that makes the act of uploading itself legal. This same “no real harm” argument has surfaced before with Mangamura and with Demon Slayer (whose overseas streaming was delayed), and some in the thread saw this as simply a rehash of that same old debate.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Gehard board)) thread “Hatsune Miku Official: “Please Stop the Illegal Uploads!” → Overseas Fans: “It’s Legal Since There’s No Lost Sales” → Goes Viral“.

  • Shigeru Miyamoto: “Nintendo Has Started Feeling More Like a Preservation Society Lately”

    An article reporting that Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto admitted the company has lately taken on more of a “preservation society” feel was picked up on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. The gist was that Nintendo needs to bring in new blood while still preserving its own signature approach to game-making. The thread split between complaints that “no new IPs are coming out” and “it’s all remakes and sequels with no risk-taking,” versus pushback arguing that “titles like Bananza and Air Rider actually show they’ve been taking chances since the Switch 2.” Posters also noted that ballooning development scale has caused staff shortages, and that fans themselves tend to attack any experimental title Nintendo puts out.

    Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto acknowledged that the company has lately taken on more of a “preservation society” feel. While carrying on Nintendo’s own brand of game-making, he said, the company needs to bring in new blood rather than simply sticking to the old forms as-is.

    Source: gamestalk.net / Original article here

    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:50
    Yeah, honestly Nintendo's been missing that sense of "newness" — or maybe "excitement" — lately.
    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:55
    For better or worse, that's what happens when there's no strong leader calling the shots.
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    I wish Nintendo would make bolder, more daring games.
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:59
    Re: #4
    Is it okay to be even bolder than Sushi Striker?
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    You can't just keep hiring people who don't even play games.
    Are there any career Nintendo lifers who could actually beat Fujibayashi, who came in as a mid-career hire?
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:57
    Why has stuff felt kind of lackluster since the Switch 2?
    Has development gotten so expensive that they can't afford to take risks anymore?
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:01
    Re: #6
    To begin with, Splatoon, Pokémon, Zelda, and Smash Bros. — all massive hits on the Switch — haven't even come out on Switch 2 yet.
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:58
    Even if they wanted to make something bold, it probably wouldn't get the green light anyway.
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:00
    Re: #7
    Isn't it ultimately about cost? Which makes me wonder — what's even the point of boosting console hardware performance?
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:18
    Re: #7
    Stuff like Rhythm Heaven was actually pretty bold originally — it just looks standard now because it sold well.
    Honestly, aside from Tokyo, Zelda, and the 10th one, everything's lost steam. Especially the Splatoon team and the Yabuki team, which keep failing one after another.
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:02
    I'm sure they run internal competitions, but I'd love for them to actively let their rank-and-file staff — who are apparently as skilled as directors at other game companies — make small original games.
    50AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:00
    Re: #12
    Isn't there a mountain of that stuff already, just never made public? Games like Nintendo Dōji and Card Hero started out as scrapped projects, after all.
    13AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:03
    They're just out of ideas at this point.
    From here on they can live off remakes and sequels.
    14AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:07
    Nothing new is going to show up unless the experience itself changes.
    Think the DS's touch panel, the Wii's motion sensor, the Switch's hybrid switching.
    Until a new "way to play" like that gets defined, there's not much to be done.
    Especially since this time the hardware is basically just a straight upgrade.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:11
    Honestly, Nintendo still feels like the company taking the biggest risks.
    Is there any other company doing that? And I mean an actual company, not an indie dev.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:12
    There's still nothing filling the role Nintendo Labo or Ring Fit Adventure held during the Switch era.
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:14
    They built a money-making formula out of "new hardware → one lap of Mario/Zelda/Smash → new hardware."
    That said, Metroid, which has actually been trying hard lately, doesn't seem to be selling well.
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:15
    But whenever they make something experimental, nerds — including the ones on this very board — throw a fit and tear it apart.
    You shouldn't listen to nerds and old-timers too much.
    All nerds ever want is more of the same.
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:29
    Re: #18
    That's exactly the point — the complaint is that Nintendo lately only makes "more of the same."
    19AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    Whenever Nintendo makes a slightly offbeat new game, they really do bet everything on the core idea alone.
    They should put more thought into fleshing it out so it looks appealing as an IP too.
    Splatoon was probably the last time they actually put in that effort.
    94AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:31
    Re: #19
    They undervalue character design way too much.
    Even Splatoon caught so many eyes precisely because the characters themselves were appealing.
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:18
    Gotta hand it to Miyamoto, "preservation society" is a great turn of phrase.
    Maybe it's about time for Mario Kart 2 — there's still plenty of untapped gameplay ideas.
    Just letting you get out of the car would be a start.
    Lateral thinking with withered technology (Gunpei Yokoi's famous phrase about repurposing mature tech in new ways).
    22AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Basically he's lamenting that it's all remakes and no experimental titles.
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:25
    Is it really that bad though? They set Mario aside to make Bananza, and put Smash Bros. on hold to make Air Rider — seems like they've actually been taking chances since the Switch 2.
    69AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:41
    Re: #27
    The moment they reach for Donkey Kong or Kirby, that's the "IP preservation society" right there.
    You're supposed to come up with the gameplay first, then figure out which character fits it.
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:33
    The Wii era was great.
    Xenoblade
    Reginleiv
    Sin and Punishment
    Fatal Frame
    The Last Story
    Disaster: Day of Crisis
    Captain Rainbow
    Pandora's Tower

    Nintendo today just doesn't put out this many gamer-focused titles anymore.
    They were taking way more chances back then.
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:38
    Re: #31
    Guess Nintendo really does shine brightest when they're cornered, huh?
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    Re: #31
    Just putting these out isn't enough, though.
    They all got high praise from hardcore fans, but none of it translated into sales.
    39AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    What I dislike about Nintendo lately is that they're neither conservative nor innovative — they just try to leave their mark with pointless stuff.
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:55
    Re: #39
    Can you be more specific?
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:46
    They should let younger staff take more shots at small-scale, small-team titles priced under 2,000 yen digitally.
    Though I guess it's also tough having so many IPs whose popularity they're obligated to keep maintaining.
    45AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:50
    Re: #41
    You can clearly see that development scale has ballooned and they just don't have enough hands.
    They're already stretched thin just keeping up with existing titles.
    48AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:56
    Nintendo has turned into a group that just keeps living off Iwata's legacy (lit. "gnawing on Iwata's shin bone").
    Has there been a single successful new IP since Splatoon?
    52AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:05
    Re: #48
    Ring Fit.
    Selling over 10 million units — there's no way that counts as a failure.
    58AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:13
    It's nothing but remakes, I guess because there's nothing else to put out.
    Probably means the next generation of talent isn't being raised well.
    62AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:16
    Re: #58
    It's fundamentally impossible to have a generation that's never touched video games make games.
    82AnonymousOct 9, 2026 21:54
    Right now is the phase for cementing the existing IPs that grew during the Switch era as untouchable pillars.
    That's what users want.
    New stuff can wait until people start getting sick of the old.
    85AnonymousOct 9, 2026 22:03
    Re: #82
    I'd say now is actually the time they need something new.
    For better or worse, the Switch put out a ton of games that felt like "greatest hits" culminations, so if they just play it safe now, the result is just a watered-down version of that.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    Nintendo has a track record of stabilizing revenue right after a new hardware launch by leaning on new entries in existing hit franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Smash Bros., and the thread’s observation that “Splatoon, Pokémon, Zelda, and Smash Bros. still haven’t come to the Switch 2” fits that pattern. Opinions split over whether Nintendo has truly become a “preservation society”: critics blamed an overreliance on remakes, while others pushed back by citing titles like Bananza and Air Rider, where existing IPs got genuinely new ways to play. Structural points were also raised about how rising development costs and difficulty securing talent make it harder to release small, experimental titles — meaning Miyamoto’s comment can also be read as a self-assessment of Nintendo’s internal situation.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “Shigeru Miyamoto: “Nintendo Has Started Feeling More Like a Preservation Society Lately”.”

  • Are story-focused RPGs outdated? 5ch: “Isn’t the real problem just that the story sucks?”

    A post claiming “story-focused RPGs are outdated” sparked a wide-ranging debate on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (Geha) board. The thread started with an assessment of Pokémon’s storytelling, then spiraled into a circular argument over sales figures for “Manosaba” (a game that let everyone stream it in full and still sold well), a debate over whether Japanese RPGs should lean on celebrity voice actors, and the observation that storytelling has stayed fresh over time by adopting new tools and settings. Posters never agreed on whether “sold well” should be judged by units alone or by factoring in development costs, and the thread never reached a conclusion.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 15:28
    Pokémon's fanbase these days is full of people who couldn't care less about the story.
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:06
    Wanted ASAP: a recent story-focused RPG with a genuinely god-tier story

    Isn't the real problem just that the story sucks?
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:40
    Re: #8
    No matter how good the story is, if you can't even follow it, of course it's going to feel boring.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:38
    Re: #1
    If anything, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet put more effort into story than any other game in the series. ZA got a lot of buzz too for how it handled Lysandre, so the story is clearly taking up a bigger share of the conversation than it used to.
    60AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:18
    Re: #16
    Pokémon doesn't need a story. The early games were fun precisely because the "story" was so throwaway it basically didn't exist.
    19AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:51
    Give us a Xenogears remake already.
    If anything, I want something with a dense, heavy story.
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:26
    Re: #19
    Maybe it could work if it's "Powered by AI."
    https://youtu.be/A7I-C_7a4K4
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:11
    Humans have been cranking out stories for hundreds of years now,
    and it's honestly impressive we still haven't run dry.
    24AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:22
    Re: #20
    Story patterns themselves haven't changed all that much, but each new era brings new tools that open up new settings, and that's what makes them feel fresh.
    Talking with friends face-to-face → talking on the phone → pager messages → email → LINE messages — as that kind of progress happens, you can build stories that play to each medium's quirks.
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:19
    It's not really an "outdated" issue — it's that games just don't sell anymore once they get streamed all over YouTube.
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:23
    Re: #23
    That theory got blown apart by Manosaba, though. It's a 100%-story game that allowed full streaming of the entire thing and still sold that well.
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:10
    Re: #54
    > Because of video streaming and stuff, it's struggling along at only 2-3 million copies
    Who actually said that? Doesn't look like it was Re: #23, at least. Or did some developer of a 2-3-million-seller actually state that themselves?
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:25
    Re: #25
    It didn't sell…
    79AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:30
    Re: #27
    If you're going to insist that hard, then spell out exactly where you personally draw the line between "sold well" and "didn't sell."

    All I see is someone who wants to call it a flop just to justify their own argument.
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:30
    Re: #27
    Sure, keep raising the bar for what counts as "selling well" forever.
    There won't be anything left standing by the time you're done.
    32AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:33
    Re: #31
    Look, whether it's Persona 6, Dragon Quest 12, Banshisenkou, whatever — think about whether you'd actually turn a profit on 700,000 copies (and that's released at a third of full price, too).
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:36
    Re: #32
    Huh?
    Development costs differ from game to game, so you can't just generalize like that.
    46AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:48
    Re: #37
    Well, back at Re: #25, "sold well" wasn't meant to be anything more than "a lot of units moved." Then Re: #32 brought profitability into it as the yardstick, so the obvious point had to be made that you then need to factor in the difference in development costs.
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:40
    Re: #33
    If you can't generalize about it, then why are you flatly declaring it "sold well"?
    42AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:44
    If it had a story on the level of The Witcher or Cyberpunk, I wouldn't complain, but Japanese games have these otaku staffers who pander to the voice actors, and I hate that. I always think, don't make them talk more than they need to. Western games keep the actors locked into the role, so it never feels off.
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:47
    Re: #42
    Apparently the Persona staff don't even watch anime and don't know voice actors from a hole in the ground — there's a story that they rented anime DVDs and just matched whichever voice fit the character's image.
    48AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:49
    Re: #44
    A developer who doesn't pander like that earns real respect from me.
    I seriously hate the kind of promo that's all "Voiced by [big-name seiyuu]!"
    As long as the voice fits the character, it doesn't matter who it is.
    75AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:58
    Re: #44
    It's reassuring that no weird sound director got their hands in it.
    Outsource that stuff and you get people going "I can pull some strings," and suddenly they're demanding their name in the trailer.
    And the anime-otaku devs happily go along with it.
    59AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:16
    That's a blanket dismissal of visual novels. Steins;Gate was great, wasn't it?
    99AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:47
    Re: #59
    How many years ago was that game, though?
    66AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:24
    There's even a faction out there calling for a Torishima comeback.
    Not happening — he's over at Hakusensha now.
    94AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:18
    Re: #66
    Is he actually doing anything interesting at Hakusensha?
    Seinen and shonen magazines are losing steam, and now even the josei magazines are running out of gas.
    69AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:26
    The moment a Japanese game gets serious about its story, the voice actors get shoved front and center.
    Seriously don't need that.
    72AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:30
    Re: #69
    If the story's actually good, hyping up the voice actors shouldn't matter either way.
    But the fact that the official promo bothers pushing the voice actors at all suggests they're not confident in the content itself.
    81AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Re: #79
    At best, 700,000 copies is only impressive on the level of "pretty good for an indie game."
    82AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:39
    Re: #81
    Can't you dig a little deeper than that?

    Background and Key Points of This Debate

    The biggest sticking point in the thread was what standard to use for “sold well.” One camp looked purely at unit sales, while the other factored in development costs and the break-even line relative to price (the game released at a third of full price), and the two sides never saw eye to eye — the argument went in circles without any concrete profit-and-loss figures ever surfacing. The theory that fully allowing video streaming cuts into sales for story-heavy games is a long-standing industry worry tied to the spread of let’s-play culture, and the Manosaba example was raised as a counterargument — though it’s easy for readers to miss that the comparison involves titles on wildly different sales scales. Meanwhile, the practice of deliberately spotlighting famous voice actors in Japanese RPG promotion is an established industry convention where casting announcements themselves function as marketing — and the thread’s criticism is largely frustration with that specific tactic. All of this is 5ch speculation and personal opinion; none of the actual sales figures or production costs for these titles are backed by publicly available data.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “Story-focused RPGs are outdated now.”

  • “Greatest Games of All Time” Ranking Revealed — Zelda’s #1 Spot Sparks Debate on 5ch

    The overseas gaming outlet “acclaimedvideogames.com” has published a “Greatest Games of All Time” ranking compiled from multiple critics’ lists, with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild taking #1, Tetris at #2, and Half-Life 2 at #3. When the results were shared on 5ch’s “Nandemo Jikkyo G” board, posters questioned why Elden Ring only landed at #20 and why Pokémon Gold/Silver didn’t make the list at all (with Red/Green/Blue coming in at #60), sparking debate over whether the ranking method favors older titles, versus the view that games should be judged by their influence on later works.

    #1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017)

    #2 Tetris (1985)

    #3 Half-Life 2 (2004)

    Source: acclaimedvideogames.com / Original article here

    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:11
    Guess The Legend of Zelda really is the strongest after all.
    Elden Ring seems like it should've cracked the list somewhere, but I guess the wall at the top was just too thick.
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:13
    Re: #4
    Checked the site — Elden Ring actually comes in at #20.
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:15
    If it's a straight aggregate ranking like this, wouldn't older games naturally have the advantage?
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #7
    Isn't it based on average placement or something?
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #7
    But aren't Breath of the Wild and The Witcher 3 relatively recent games in the grand history of gaming?
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    Never played it myself, but is a ranking that puts Minecraft at #39 even credible?
    13AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:21
    Re: #9
    It's obviously not based on sales — even A Link to the Past ("Kamitora") only sold 4.6 million copies worldwide.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:22
    If it's ranked by influence on later games, fair enough — Resident Evil 4 had a massive impact on every TPS that came after it.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:24
    Re: #15
    Did Breath of the Wild actually influence anything? Genshin Impact, maybe?
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:28
    Re: #15
    By that logic the Dark Souls series should rank even higher — there are way too many Souls-likes among today's games.
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Re: #15
    Gears of War was born out of Resident Evil 4's influence too, you know.
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:36
    Isn't it weird that Pokémon isn't on this list at all, though? Gold/Silver was a massive worldwide hit.
    71AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:56
    Re: #38
    Gold/Silver was a crap game.
    79AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #38

    Pokémon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow (Pikachu) is at #60.
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:36
    Breath of the Wild's definitely a good game… but calling it #1 is a bit of a stretch…
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    Re: #41
    It wouldn't be weird for it to be #1…
    42AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:37
    Feels like a list full of games that could've gotten bloc-voted up.
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:40
    Re: #42
    By that logic there's basically no title that couldn't have been bloc-voted.
    64AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:53
    Re: #42
    Is there really some organization out there pushing Tetris up a greatest-games-of-all-time ranking?
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:41
    Chrono Trigger at #27, seriously? Do foreigners even play that one?
    53AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Re: #44
    If anything, Chrono Trigger has a reputation for being highly rated overseas.
    59AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:48
    Honestly, The Last of Us was kind of mediocre. Story aside, Part 2 is way more fun to actually play.
    78AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:02
    Re: #59
    Part 2 pointlessly bloated out the areas, which made exploring a total chore, and combined with how little the scenery actually changed, the story felt dull too — playing it was mind-numbingly boring. On the plus side, adding things like prone crawling in combat made the movement flow a lot smoother, and the weapon-upgrade animations felt really satisfying. But at the end of the day it's still a linear game with a boring scenario, unlikable characters, and plot convenience cranked up sloppily strong, so there was zero immersion — gameplay-wise it was genuinely a slog.
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:59
    This is just Zelda fanboyism, lol.
    76AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:01
    Re: #74
    The problem is on Zelda's side — it lands near the top of literally every outlet's ranking.
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:01
    Re: #74
    Overseas love for Zelda is genuinely no joke — even plenty of indie games lift features straight from A Link to the Past.
    81AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:04
    Before Breath of the Wild, Japanese gamers generally saw Zelda as a niche, hardcore series and kept their distance.
    83AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:05
    Re: #81
    Even after Breath of the Wild, I wouldn't call it a 'national' franchise exactly — Splatoon, Momotetsu, and Pokémon are all way more mainstream. Even Echoes of Wisdom barely made a dent either.
    87AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:08
    Re: #81
    It was popular all the way up through Ocarina of Time — it's everything after that that went quiet.
    86AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:08
    Elden Ring's probably the most critically acclaimed, but historically I feel like Demon's Souls and Dark Souls deserve more credit.
    89AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #86
    Elden Ring is one culmination of the formula, but it was those earlier games that paved the way there.
    93AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:13
    Hey, if Nintendo had never existed in Japan, would Japanese game makers just be stuck as second-tier players?
    104AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:20
    Re: #93
    Without Nintendo, Sony would never have built a game console, so Sega would've ended up ruling the world.
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:15
    'Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest 2: The Great Tank and the Tail Troops' isn't even on here, come on.
    106AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:21
    Re: #98
    I loved this one. Never played 1 or 3 though.
    101AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:17
    Lol, Capcom only has one game in the top 10 — and it's Resident Evil 4, the game that gave Capcom a big head and dragged the series into its dark age. Even funnier.
    107AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:23
    Re: #101
    Capcom's second entry is Street Fighter II at #23, which is respectable, but honestly it feels like it should rank even higher.
    111AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:30
    Kind of surprised Uncharted 2, Silent Hill 2, ICO, and the like rank this high. Well, I like them too, so no complaints here.
    114AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:32
    Re: #111
    Foreign fans straight-up deify Silent Hill 2.
    115AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:32
    'Scary Stories at School' (Gakkou de Atta Kowai Hanashi, a cult Super Famicom horror game) — out of the whole human race, the only people repping this one are Iijima and me.
    117AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:34
    Re: #115
    I'd have figured it had a decent-sized fanbase.

    Background and Key Points of the Debate

    “Greatest games of all time” rankings like this one are usually built not from a single vote but from an “average rank” method that aggregates multiple critics’ lists and reader polls — which tends to let titles that have been praised consistently for years hold onto the top spots. The thread’s complaint that “older games have the advantage” does point to a real feature of this aggregation method. But it’s easy to overlook that games like Minecraft or Pokémon — despite selling in numbers far beyond almost everything else on the list — can still end up ranking lower if critics’ votes for them are split rather than concentrated. It’s also worth noting that in rankings compiled overseas, titles whose domestic fame in Japan doesn’t match their critical reputation abroad (such as Chrono Trigger or Silent Hill 2) tend to rank higher than Japanese fans might expect — a gap that reflects differing evaluation cultures rather than simple “bloc voting.”

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Nandemo Jikkyo G”) thread “[Good News] The Greatest Games of All Time Ranking Has Been Decided LOL.”

  • Switch 2 Key Card Sales Up 631% in US — 5ch: “Thanks for Making It Less Bad”

    A post on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that US spending on game key cards rose 631% year-over-year in 2026 became a hot topic on 5ch’s hardware/industry (Geha) board. Nintendo Switch 2’s physical packaging mainly uses “key cards” — essentially vouchers that don’t contain the actual game data on the cartridge and require a download on first use — a format that has long drawn criticism for its downsides to users. In the thread, some argued that Sony’s announced plan to scale back disc releases for PS5 titles had relatively softened resistance to key cards, while many others questioned the reliability of the 631% figure, noting it lacked any stated baseline or comparison point and was only a partial-year tally, leaving the discussion split over how much to trust the number.

    In the US, spending on game key cards is up 631% in 2026.

    Game key cards are the format for most physical Switch 2 releases.

    They’re not ideal, but after the PlayStation announcement, I think anxiety about buying them has eased.

    Source: x.com / Original post here

    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:10
    Is it because PS is pulling out of physical discs?
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:12
    That's because those flimsy PS discs get cracked (pirated) anyway.
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    Guess it was the optimal solution after all, huh.
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:23
    Re: #15
    As a user, I think the ideal/optimal solution would be Xbox-style disc-to-digital, but that's tricky since it depends on third-party publishers too.
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:16
    It doesn't even say what the 631% increase is being compared against, and there's no evidence it correlates with PS's problems — anyone celebrating this is definitely an idiot.
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:20
    Re: #16
    When they use percentages like this, it's usually because the base number is pathetic.
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:28
    Re: #16
    It says "2026," so isn't it just being compared to 2025?
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:25
    Not to be blunt, but there weren't any standout key-card titles last year, so it's a bit of a stretch —
    this year the key-card lineup is thicker, with titles like Poko-a (apparent nickname for a game title), FF7, Elden Ring, etc.

    To begin with, the take here is that Switch 2's packaged sales are offsetting the slump in other platforms' packaged sales, and that part should be taken at face value — but reinterpreting it as "key cards are popular" is dangerous.
    31AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:30
    Re: #23
    If people are against discontinuing discs, key card sales should go down — but if key card sales really are accelerating, that would mean people are accepting the end of discs. None of it adds up.
    33AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #31
    Discontinuing discs and key cards are totally different things.
    Key cards still exist as physical items and can be bought and sold.
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:34
    Re: #31
    > If people are against discontinuing discs, key card sales would go down

    Zero basis for that.
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:32
    Re: #28
    That's just speculation, and even if it's a correct comparison between '25 and '26, it's data completely unrelated to discontinuing discs, so it's beside the point.
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:38
    Re: #34
    Whatever the cause,
    the fact that key card sales increased doesn't change.
    That's not "beside the point" — what are you even saying?
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:43
    There's a real chance key cards only look better by comparison because Sony went and announced ditching discs.
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:46
    Re: #57
    For Westerners, having your ownership rights taken away is a serious landmine issue —
    their sensitivity to that is nothing like the Japanese.
    58AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:44
    Re: #28
    How exactly do you compare a 2026 that hasn't even finished yet??
    61AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:45
    Re: #58
    Isn't it just "so far this year"?
    67AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:49
    Unless Nintendo guarantees key cards will work semi-permanently, they're sitting on a powder keg that could blow up into controversy anytime.
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:56
    Re: #67
    That's true of physical media's lifespan too, though.
    69AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:50
    Even with the pre-price-hike rush demand, a 15% YoY drop is rough. Software isn't doing great either…

    Monthly Software Ranking (Nintendo digital, estimated)
    1 NBA 2K27
    2 Madden NFL 27
    3 Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
    4 EA SPORTS Kickoff Bundle
    5 Star Wars Zero Company
    6 Halo Campaign Evolved
    7 Elden Ring
    8 Big Walk
    9 Mario Kart World
    10 Splatoon Raiders


    Hardware units
    1st Switch 2 -15%
    2nd PS5 -11%
    3rd Xbox -31%
    *PS5 was -11% YoY in unit terms, but +17% in revenue terms (price hike and PS5 Pro effect)

    Accessories
    1st PS5 DualSense
    2nd PS5 DualSense Edge
    3rd PlayStation Portal

    Annual Software Ranking (Jan-Aug)
    70AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:51
    Re: #61
    Re: #65
    What exactly is "January-October 2026" being compared against? What's the point of such a nonsensical comparison?
    To begin with, you shouldn't call something "2026" when it's not even a full year's worth of data.
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:55
    Re: #74
    So I'm asking, what exactly is it being compared "to"? Why can't you say?
    Well, I guess it's natural you can't say, since there's no source or anything to back it up.
    85AnonymousOct 9, 2026 19:57
    Thanks, Sony, for bumping key cards' reputation up to "better than nothing."
    93AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:06
    Re: #85
    Ditching discs really lowered the psychological barrier to accepting key cards.
    90AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:03
    Not understanding that key cards only work as long as the service stays online… are Americans stupid or something?
    101AnonymousOct 9, 2026 20:10
    Re: #90
    The same barrier applies to key-discs and to discontinuing physical media too, though.

    Background and Key Points of This Topic

    This topic originated from a post on X (formerly Twitter), which cited no official sales source or comparison period. Game key cards are the dominant form of physical packaging for Nintendo Switch 2 — essentially vouchers that don’t contain the actual game data on the cartridge itself and require a download on first use — a format that has traditionally drawn criticism for its poor user experience. In the thread, some took the view that Sony’s announced plan to scale back disc releases for PS5 titles had relatively softened resistance to key cards, while others repeatedly pointed out that the 631% figure didn’t specify a baseline or comparison year, and that since 2026 is still only partially tallied, it’s risky to judge the real situation from the size of the percentage alone. As with the monthly software and hardware sales data posted in the thread, the tendency to argue impressionistically without a concrete numerical comparison is a readability issue particular to threads covering hardware competition.

    *This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry [Geha]) thread “US key card sales up 631% lol.”

  • New Ape Escape Game May Also Land on Switch 2 — 5ch: ‘That’s One Less Bullet in the PS6’s Chamber’

    There hasn’t been a new ‘Ape Escape’ game since 2010’s PS3 title ‘Ape Escape Move’ (Furi Furi! Saru Getchu), but an October leak suggests a revival project is underway inside Sony. Word is that development isn’t being handled by Team Asobi but by an overseas outside studio, Evening Star — a claim that has come in independently from games journalist Jeff Gerstmann and the outlet VGC. On 5ch, posters speculated that a multiplatform release makes a Switch 2 version likely, comparing sales of previous Sony-affiliated games ported to Switch, like ‘Everybody’s GOLF WORLD,’ while also worrying that an overseas studio might change the character designs.

    New Ape Escape Game Reportedly in Development at Evening Star, the Studio Behind ‘Sonic Mania’

    No new ‘Ape Escape’ title has come out since ‘Ape Escape Move’ launched for PS3 in December 2010. In early October, a leak revealed that Sony is pushing forward a project to revive the series, and that development is not being handled by Sony’s in-house Team ASOBI (the studio behind ‘ASTRO BOT’) — though which studio actually is making it hadn’t been disclosed.

    Amid that, games journalist Jeff Gerstmann said on his own show that he’s heard the new title is being made not by Team ASOBI but by the outside studio Evening Star. He was careful to note he hasn’t verified this across multiple sources, but the outlet VGC has also reported hearing the same thing from its own sources — meaning the Evening Star name has surfaced through two separate channels.

    Source: gazlog.jp / Original article here

    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:36
    That's one less bullet in the PS6's chamber.
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:38
    Why's a first-party game running off to another platform again, lol
    8AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:40
    Sony: "Since we're apparently axing discs, please please let us put our games on your platform too!"


    Is that basically what's going on?
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:41
    Speaking of which, did stuff like 'Everybody's Golf' actually sell when it came out on Switch?
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:44
    Re: #9
    There was more than double the gap.
    https://www.famitsu.com/article/202509/52127

    #2 (debut) Switch — Everybody's GOLF WORLD
    35,139 units (total 35,139) / Bandai Namco Entertainment / September 4, 2025

    #3 (debut) PS5 — Everybody's GOLF WORLD
    16,075 units (total 16,075) / Bandai Namco Entertainment / September 4, 2025
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:47
    Re: #10
    It's on SIE — they basically abandoned this kind of casual game entirely. Even 'Astro Bot' would've sold more than double if not for the PlayStation barrier to entry, but PS users show zero interest.
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:40
    Re: #10
    The victims' support group, huh…
    19AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:57
    No matter how little it's expected to sell,
    the whole point of making it is to pull in that casual crowd,
    so you can't just go and release it elsewhere.
    Don't give up already, lol
    69AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:17
    Re: #19
    Guess they're just pulling out after all, huh?
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:57
    Funny looking back now that 'Everybody's Golf' was announced at a Nintendo Direct.
    Ape Escape's probably headed the same way.
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:59
    Re: #20
    Fine if it stays like 'Ora Natsu' or 'Natsumon,' where it's strictly just 'a former Sony person happens to be involved' — but this feels different…
    22AnonymousOct 9, 2026 16:58
    In the PS crowd, even being in your 50s gets you called young. Now picture those guys playing it going 'ah, Ape Escape, brings back memories'—


    Sounds like hell, doesn't it?
    88AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:37
    Re: #22
    Well, if they're playing it with their kids or grandkids, I guess that's fine…
    Though the 'VR family' patent got sold off too…
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:01
    Would be hilarious if the PlayStation or SIE logo showed up during a Nintendo Direct.
    30AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:10
    Re: #27
    It actually did, at the Nintendo Direct on June 18, 2024.
    48AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:48
    Re: #27
    LEGO Horizon.
    40AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:25
    That one's probably only being kept alive for the sake of appearances.
    Poor zombie cat.
    42AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:38
    Re: #40
    Sony itself owns the character IP, so the situation's different from other games.
    51AnonymousOct 9, 2026 17:52
    Catching Pipo Monkeys (the series' monkey characters) only worked because it matched the cheap low-poly look of the PS1 — revive it now for a multiplatform release and it won't sell.
    67AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:16
    Re: #51
    Nah, I don't really buy that.
    The PS2 one was fun too.
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:17
    SCEJ's casual-game audience had already largely drifted away by the PS2 era.
    Even Ape Escape never sold as well as other SCE games on PS1, which is why the series didn't continue.
    At this point it's basically got nothing to do with PlayStation anymore, right?
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:21
    Re: #68
    I bet a ton of people dropped off right around the part where you whack them with the Mecha-Bo stick and then switch to the net with the button.
    72AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:20
    Pipo Monkey is one of the few characters that actually originated at Sony, but he's the enemy.
    The actual hero, Kakeru-kun (known in the West as 'Spike'), is even less known than that.
    76AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:23
    Re: #72
    Same goes for Dragon Quest or Monster Hunter, right?
    86AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:36
    Bandai Namco's supposed to be Mr. PlayStation Loyalty, so why did 'Everybody's Golf' and 'Patapon' end up on Switch?
    Still a mystery to this day.
    91AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:39
    Re: #86
    If it were just about putting Sony IP on Sony hardware, there'd be no need to ask Bandai Namco to do it.
    94AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:42
    Re: #91
    True, but it really is a mystery whether Sony itself wanted it on Switch.
    99AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:46
    Re: #91
    Freedom Wars and Everybody's Golf have already come out on Switch.
    They say what's happened twice happens a third time.
    89AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:38
    The core game design is already solid, so as long as they stick to that it should turn out decent enough, but with an overseas studio the vibe might shift.
    That's the one part giving me a bad feeling.
    92AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:41
    Re: #89
    The playable character might end up changing.
    If that happens, fans of the original might just skip it.
    106AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:49
    Re: #89
    I'm scared the female characters like Ukki Pink and Natsumi are going to get redesigned Western-style…
    their hairstyles, their clothes, all of it…
    102AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:47
    Does Sony even have any other IPs that are still alive at this point?
    104AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:48
    Re: #102
    They're all dead.
    If I had to pick one, I guess Gran Turismo.
    105AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:48
    Re: #102
    Just the other day, 'Pichi-T' crawled out of the woodwork after years of silence and started spouting nonsense about playing GT7 with the family.
    111AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:51
    Isn't Team Asobi supposed to exist to make exactly this kind of game?
    What are they even doing right now?
    116AnonymousOct 9, 2026 18:53
    Re: #111
    It's an IP they put on ice because they decided it wasn't worth making a sequel for, so it makes perfect sense that Asobi isn't the one making it.

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    The latest leak is seen as more credible than an ordinary rumor, since the same studio name surfaced independently from journalist Jeff Gerstmann and the outlet VGC — but it remains a leak, not an official announcement from Sony. Thread opinion split over how to read the precedent of Sony-affiliated IP like ‘Everybody’s GOLF WORLD’ and ‘Patapon,’ which sold far better on Switch than on PS5 after being ported over: some saw it as a deliberate play to capture the casual/light-user market, while others framed it as PlayStation’s side simply ‘losing’ the IP. There was also concern that handing development to an overseas studio could change the designs of female characters like Ukki Pink and Natsumi — reflecting the fact that ‘Ape Escape’ has a devoted fanbase among Japan’s PS1-PS2 generation but little history with overseas development or outsourcing. What Team Asobi is currently working on wasn’t revealed in the thread either.

    *This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread ‘[PS Sad News] New Ape Escape Game, Coming to Switch 2 Too?.’

  • Users Name Their Favorite ‘Obscure RPGs’ — 5ch Clapback: ‘Far East of Eden Isn’t Obscure!’

    A thread on 5ch asking users to name “obscure but fun RPGs” quickly filled up with a flood of beloved titles — Momotaro Densetsu (Legend of Momotaro), Chrono Trigger, Metal Max, and more. But early on, pushback arrived: “Chrono and Momotaro Densetsu aren’t exactly obscure.” From there the thread evolved into a debate over the gap between personal nostalgia-based “obscurity” and actual sales-chart popularity. Hidden gems like Far East of Eden, Glory of Heracles, and Linda Cube kept getting tossed out too, with opinions splitting depending on which console people actually owned back in the day.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:25
    Mario RPG (Super Mario RPG)
    2AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:26
    Famicom Jump, though…
    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:27
    Lacroan Heroes
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:27
    Chrono and Momotaro Densetsu aren't exactly obscure though
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:29
    What even counts as 'obscure,' anyway?
    6AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:31
    Red Arremer: Ghosts 'n Goblins Gaiden
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:34
    Momotaro Densetsu Gaiden was a good time
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:35
    Chrono Cross, obviously
    10AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:44
    Glory of Heracles III
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:44
    Jaseiken Necromancer
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:46
    Chrono and Mario RPG are both super mainstream, c'mon
    13AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:47
    Momotetsu started out as basically a spinoff, but it blew past the original in popularity so hard that younger folks probably have no clue the Momotaro series even started with Momotaro Densetsu
    14AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:54
    Lagrange Point was great
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 11:55
    Fine, I get why a new Momoden game never panned out, but why didn't they even give us a remake?
    16AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:02
    GBA's 'Space Mission Choco Vader: Invaders from Outer Space'
    17AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:04
    Maimu (NEC PC-98 MS-DOS version)
    18AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:05
    If stuff like this counts as obscure, you could throw Megami Tensei in there too
    19AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:07
    Linda Cube and Over My Dead Body — I think it's the same creator behind both, but the worldbuilding in each was fantastic
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:08
    Sweet Home
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:10
    Minerva Ton Saga — walkthrough for 'Revival of Lagon'
    22AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:10
    I got completely hooked on the PC Engine version of Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:12
    Think it was Metal Max 2 — there was something called the 'Love Machine.' Wonder if that shows up in other entries in the series too
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:13
    PC Engine — World Tennis, RPG Mode
    29AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:13
    Grandia's opening still gets me hyped — wasn't that the inspiration for Attack on Titan?
    34AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:17
    Front Mission 5: Scars~
    38AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:22
    The Super Famicom game I'm planning to play once I finish my current one is Marvelous
    39AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:23
    Lol, your taste is leaning hard into Kim-ou territory (a famously obscure-retro-game-obsessed figure)
    40AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:29
    If you're gonna call something 'obscure,' you'd better be bringing up stuff like Dark Half or The Last Battle
    41AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:36
    The Manjimaru game was fun — PC Engine, right? Something along those lines anyway
    48AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:47
    Re: #41
    That's pretty much mainstream though? There's even a Far East of Eden Collection on PSP. My favorite in that series is Fuun Kabuki Den.
    43AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:39
    Famicom Jump, which I found being dumped in a bargain bin for 100 yen
    44AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:40
    Glory of Heracles was every bit as high-quality as Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy
    46AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:42
    Sea Fantasy — a fishing RPG
    47AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:43
    Borderline on whether it counts as obscure, but Lufia (Estpolis Denki), and also Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:49
    Bastard on PS1 — I remember enjoying it, but I've forgotten the details
    50AnonymousOct 9, 2026 12:51
    Square's Tom Sawyer — it really is a classic though
    51AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:01
    Re: #48
    Oh, that's the one, Far East of Eden. So it really is mainstream. No idea why I even picked it up myself, but nobody around me was playing it, so I always figured I was some kind of weirdo for liking it
    56AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:28
    Re: #51
    Far East of Eden was the flagship RPG of the PC Engine — you probably just didn't have any PC Engine owners around you
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:16
    Western game nerds got blindsided once they discovered Tom Sawyer's intense racist depictions of Black people sometime in the 2000s — guess that's exactly why it never got released overseas
    60AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:41
    You know that company behind the famous, now-premium-priced witch side-scrolling shooter, 'Magical' whatever-it-was-called — they also put out a Game Boy Color RPG that, even back then, ran on a 'retro Famicom-style' concept and it was great. Difficulty was low too, so you could clear it fast
    63AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:43
    Suikoden II, and Tenshi no Uta 2: Datenshi no Sentaku (Angel's Poem 2: Choice of the Fallen Angel)

    Background and the real debate here

    What split the thread was the definition of “obscure” itself. Momotaro Densetsu and Chrono Trigger were massive sellers by the numbers, but to the people who brought them up, they were personal memories of having no one around to play with. Far East of Eden is the textbook case: it was the flagship title of the PC Engine and plenty successful in sales terms, but because the PC Engine itself sold far fewer units than the Famicom or Super Famicom, the lingering feeling was simply “hardly anyone I knew owned one” — leading one poster to assume for years that liking it made them an oddball. There was also the observation that Momotaro Densetsu got overshadowed by its own spinoff, Momotetsu, so thoroughly that younger fans today may not even realize the series originated there. The thread’s real undercurrent: “obscurity” isn’t about a game’s quality — it’s a relative feeling shaped by when you played it, what hardware you owned, and who was around you at the time.

    ※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Kizuna) thread “Obscure but fun RPGs — Momotaro Densetsu, Ninja Hollywood!, Metal Max! Laplace no Ma, Langrisser, Chrono Trigger.”

  • Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen’s Trade-In Value Crashes to Just 1/4 on Release Day—But Only on PS5, 5ch Asks ‘How Did This Happen?’

    Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen is making waves on 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board after it emerged that the PS5 physical edition’s used trade-in price on release day had dropped to roughly a quarter of the usual amount (6,000 yen). The thread is split between two theories: one holds that the opening of a pirate-game store around the same time pushed more people to resell their copies, while the other is structural — the disc contains only the base game, and since stores can’t verify whether the paper DLC code has already been redeemed, they buy it back as if it were the “vanilla” (non-Dark Arisen) version. The discussion also touches on how the Switch 2 version behaves differently, since it uses a key-card system.

    1AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:34
    Yep
    3AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:35
    But hey, that's PlayStation for you
    4AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:35
    Guess there are a ton of people specifically unloading the PS5 version 😭
    5AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:36
    No way it should normally drop like this though
    11AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:37
    Re: #5
    It literally did, though!
    7AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:36
    Figured it'd just be the vanilla version, but nope, it was properly Dark Arisen. My bad for doubting it lol
    9AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:37
    I mean, a pirate-game store (one selling illegally copied discs) opened right around this game's release, so I guess it can't be helped
    12AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:37
    Re: #9
    Ah… I see, so that's it…
    15AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:38
    Re: #9
    I see
    So the ones trading it in are the criminals who pirated it…
    21AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:39
    Re: #9
    So does that mean even the people who preordered the physical copy thought, 'Alright, better sell it now while I can and pirate it!'?
    14AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:38
    No different from the vanilla version
    23AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:40
    Re: #14
    Oh, I figured this was about the vanilla version
    20AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:39
    What kind of superiority complex do you even get from a high trade-in price?
    27AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:41
    Re: #20
    You can feel superior about anything that has value, can't you?
    39AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:44
    Re: #20
    They're just mocking the pirate-console crowd (consoles modded for piracy) whose value crashes to under a third on release day
    73AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:56
    Re: #20
    But you're plenty smug about flexing high PS5 Pro scalper prices, aren't you?
    25AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:41
    They're axing the disc drive, and the used-PS5 section is probably going away too
    So it's probably a headache for them when people keep bringing these in to sell
    26AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:41
    Re: #25
    That actually seems pretty plausible
    28AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:42
    Oh, is it that the disc only has the base game, and there's just a slip of paper with a code in the case?
    37AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:44
    Re: #28
    Yep
    The disc has the base game, the paper slip has the DLC
    That's why it's treated as the vanilla edition on the used market
    49AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:46
    If the code's already been redeemed, the used copy doesn't actually come with Dark Arisen
    55AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:48
    Re: #49
    So that's why they buy it back as just plain Dragon's Dogma 2 — yeah, that is pretty scary when you think about it
    57AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:48
    So basically, the paper code case just can't be traded in at all, huh
    68AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:53
    Re: #57
    I guess they can't exactly just take an empty case
    62AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:51
    Dragon's Dogma 2 DLC

    – Only the PS5 version has a low Metascore
    – Only the PS5 version has a low trade-in price

    How did this happen?
    65AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:52
    Re: #62
    Sounds like the PS5 version has freezing issues
    Maybe people are rebuying because they're sick of the freezes?
    66AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:53
    Does the Switch 2 version use key cards for both the base game and Dark Arisen, making both full downloads?
    Seems the same as the PS version, but even if everything's downloaded via key card, surely Dark Arisen can only be redeemed once and can't be re-downloaded on a different console, right?
    74AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:56
    Re: #66
    Given this trade-in price, the Switch 2 version must be an all-in-one package
    78AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:57
    Re: #74
    If that's the case, it feels like you'd end up in a weird situation where only the Switch 2 version lets you resell Dark Arisen
    Basically, that would mean you could sell or lend out the DLC
    88AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:02
    Re: #78
    That's exactly the weird situation — it's Switch 2 only
    96AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:05
    Re: #78
    'Add-on' is probably a more accurate word than 'DLC' here
    77AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:57
    Probably just because it doesn't fit on the disc, capacity-wise
    79AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:58
    Re: #77
    Even though it's a key disc?
    80AnonymousOct 9, 2026 13:59
    Re: #79
    The base Dragon's Dogma game is on the disc, you know
    87AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:02
    Re: #80
    It makes zero sense that they're putting this out as a physical 'Dark Arisen' package, Capcom (here mockingly called 'Capunko')
    91AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:04
    A day-one price crash is apparently a PlayStation exclusive
    94AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:05
    Re: #91
    It's 6,000 yen, so that's a quarter, not half
    There's no way it's 3,000 yen…
    98AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:08
    PS5 game discs should be able to hold up to 100GB though
    101AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:10
    Re: #98
    Matsuyama said it was 80GB
    100AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:10
    Does that paper DLC slip not work once the game's been resold used?
    103AnonymousOct 9, 2026 14:11
    Re: #100
    I guess the point is that the store buying it back has no way of knowing whether the serial code's been used
    And they can't exactly boot up the 'Trash Station' (a derisive nickname for the PS5) and try entering it, can they

    Background and Key Points of This Discussion

    In recent years, even big-budget console titles have increasingly shipped with only the main game on the disc, due to disc capacity limits, while extra content is handed out via a paper serial code included in the case. On the used-game market there’s no mechanical way for a store to check whether such a code has already been redeemed, so stores play it safe and buy the game back at a price equivalent to the “base game only” (no DLC) — which is why, even though the package says ‘Dark Arisen,’ the trade-in value tends to drop sharply. In the thread, two theories circulate without a clear resolution: a demand-side theory that the opening of a pirate-game store around the same time pushed more people to resell their copies, and a structural theory that the drop simply reflects stores pricing around the unverifiable DLC code. It’s also worth noting that the Switch 2 version uses a key-card system that requires downloading content each time, so even though it also involves a ‘paper code’ of sorts, the circumstances differ and shouldn’t be equated with what’s happening on PS5 — a point readers can easily get confused about.

    ※This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry (Geha)) thread “Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen’s PS5 Trade-In Price Gets Cut in Half on Release Day lol”.