Connexion
Japanese Business Media Believe Sony Created the Cheaper Japan-Only PS5 to Regain Market Share in Its Home Country, Where Nintendo Now Dominates
On November 21, Sony will release a cheaper, Japan-exclusive digital edition of the PS5 console. The CFI-2200B01 model is Japanese-language only, offers 896GB storage instead of 1TB, and retails for 55,000 yen (approx. $354) from the official Sony store (compared to 72,980 yen or roughly $470 for the regular PS5 Digital Edition). But why is Sony doing this now in Japan, five years after the console’s launch?
Last Friday, TV Tokyo broadcast a discussion between its journalists that dived into the reasons behind Sony releasing this new PS5 variant. They determined that a key motivation is the playerbase in Japan — TV Tokyo reports that the PS5 has been losing more and more of its share of the Japanese console market to Nintendo. The reporters note that Nintendo’s Switch 1 and 2 consoles seem to be more popular with children and young people in Japan, citing the Switch’s versatility as a handheld or TV-connected console as a key part of its appeal (the high popularity of Nintendo characters like Mario, Link and Kirby also help).
The console sales figures seem to back this up with this year’s launch of the Switch 2 outpacing the PS5 and even Nintendo’s own expectations for demand. Japanese game magazine Famitsu’s estimated lifetime sales for PS5 and the Switch 2 show that the Switch 2 has shifted around 2.6 million units in Japan since its June 2025 launch, whereas lifetime sales for all PS5 models (including the PS5 Pro), sit at a combined total of 7.1 million units since 2020. TV Tokyo also suggests that Sony reacted to Nintendo's success in releasing a cheaper, Japanese-only Switch 2 by releasing a Japan-exclusive PS5 at a reduced price just four months later.
With the first Switch console, some ports ran poorly or looked visibly worse on the Switch than the PS5. This was especially the case for high performance games, giving people more reasons to pick the PS5 or PS4 version of third-party AAA titles. However, the more powerful Switch 2 seems to be moving these goalposts. Nintendo’s latest console is getting ports of former PS5-exclusives Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Although these ports probably won’t match the graphical fidelity of the PS5 versions, they wouldn't run on the less powerful original Switch.
Speaking about the Switch 2's success in the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun on November 18, Nintendo resident Shuntaro Furukawa pointed out that the console builds upon its predecessor and is "a powerful console with processor performance that can handle what game developers want to make."
Another reason behind Sony’s new Japanese-only model was to create a PS5 that will more reliably end up in the hands of domestic players. With the weak yen, there has been a trend for resellers to buy Japanese PS5s for the purpose of exporting them (the program reports that this is especially the case in China, as the Japanese PS5 is in demand because it does not block certain games like mainland models do). However, the new Japan-exclusive PS5 model will only have Japanese language support and can only be used with a PlayStation Network account set to Japan (according to Sony’s official site). Like the standard Digital Edition, users can still upgrade it with the separately-sold disc drive if they want to play physical games.
Observing Sony’s tendency to focus on the overseas market more in recent years, TV Tokyo’s economic correspondent Kinji Abe suggests that Sony Interactive Entertainment’s new CEO Hideaki Nishino may be responsible for this pivot back towards the Japanese market. After a brief stint as joint CEO with Hermen Holst, Nishino became SIE’s sole CEO in April 2025.
Although issues like PS5 price hikes and the 2020 chip shortage have impacted the console in other regions, in its home country of Japan the weak yen has also contributed to the rising price of Sony’s hardware. Back in November 2020, the PS5 Digital Edition started out with a 43,980 yen launch price, however this climbed steadily over the next few years. In September 2024, the price was bumped up to 72,980 yen, prompting online criticism of Sony. With Monster Hunter being such a popular franchise in Japan, a lot of this discourse around Sony’s 2024 PS5 price hike centered on the highly-anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds, with users debating about picking up a gaming PC or an Xbox to play the game on instead. This discussion was so widespread that online stores started running campaigns to sell gaming PC setups to Monster Hunter Wilds hopefuls, and Xbox Series X and S consoles experienced a surge in sales (as reported by Automaton).
Worldwide, the PS5 has run into several issues since its launch. The console’s scarcity post-release, coupled with supply chain issues, meant that it was hard for many customers to get hold of a PS5 during the pandemic when many people had more time to play games. Also many games have continued to be released on PS4 as well as PS5, which means that compared to previous console generations, players still have surprisingly few exclusives to motivate them to pick up Sony’s newer console.
In addition, Sony’s push towards live service games was not as successful as it had hoped. Although Helldivers 2 was a hit, prior to that Sony cancelled a whole host of in-development live service titles (including those from major Sony developers, like Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us multiplayer game). Then there’s the costly failure of Concord (and subsequent closure of Firewalk Studios), arguably the biggest disaster in PlayStation history.
It remains to be seen how far this cheaper, Japan-only PS5 will go in helping Sony gain back the market in its home country. Looking towards the future, there are rumors that the upcoming PS6 will be a dockable handheld, suggesting that it will mimic the Switch in this regard.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
