We’ve seen a couple of stories over the past few weeks suggesting that Japanese gamers were losing interest in the PlayStation brand following allegations of Sony distancing themselves from its native market, but a chaotic event that occurred at one of Tokyo’s most popular retailers over the weekend would suggest otherwise. As documented in a series of tweets by local Twitter users, popular camera store Yodobashi opened its doors on Saturday with a fresh batch of PS5 consoles for sale but found itself completely overwhelmed by the ridiculous horde of customers who stormed the aisles, registers, and staff in a frenzied attempt to get one.
“As soon as a Yodobashi employee came out with (an estimated few hundred) tickets to purchase the PS5, mayhem erupted as customers began crowding, packed like sardines, to be one of the lucky soon-to-be PS5 owners,” PSU noted in its coverage. “People began shouting, pushing, and shoving one another. A scary sight to see in the middle of a pandemic, with Tokyo being one of the Japanese metro areas under a current state of emergency.”
秋葉wwwwwww
— たばた。 (@tabata__97) January 30, 2021
乱闘wwwwwww
クソ面白いwwwwwww#ps5 #ヨドバシ #アキヨド pic.twitter.com/FH3x5M5R4f
The PS5 restock debacle at Yodobashi Camera ultimately escalated to a point in which Tokyo police had to be called in to put a stop to the madness. Funny enough, it’s been reported that not a single person was able to take home a console because the store was left with no choice but to cancel the sales event entirely.
秋葉 ヨドバシ 警察来ました pic.twitter.com/HW7KqerdhJ
— illizuvert (@illizuvert) January 30, 2021
“They cancelled the sale due to people being insane!!,” local Pokémon employee Dave Gibson tweeted. “Pushed so hard even the cash registers and staff went backwards. I’ve never seen that kind of insanity in japan before…”
Oh my God!!!! ヨドバシps5 pic.twitter.com/v2ilIadbFk
— Dave Gibson ⠿ POKEMON🗼 (@AJapaneseDream) January 30, 2021
“The Sony stance is that the Japanese market remains incredibly important to us,” Sony Interactive Entertainment President & CEO Jim Ryan said in a recent interview with Edge Magazine after being questioned about the alleged shift away from the Japanese market. “We have not been as excited about the engagement of the Japanese game development community as we are now for many years.”