Xbox outselling PlayStation in Japan for the first time

According to VCG, Xbox Series S outsold PlayStation 5 in Japan last week. According to sales figures published by Famitsu, the Xbox Series S alone (excluding Series X) has sold 6,120 units, while the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 digital versions have sold a total of 2,693 units.

Xbox outselling PlayStation in Japan for the first time VCG

This disparity may be due to the growth of Game Pass. This service is constantly updated and upgraded, is digital only, and is fully compatible with the Series S.

Also the main reason still comes from the ongoing supply shortage of the PlayStation 5. As pointed out by Twitter users, it’s possible that the PlayStation 5 didn’t have enough stock for sale this past week and the Series S is a replacement. relatively reasonable position. Especially, this device is less bulky and cheaper than Series X.

This milestone is notable given that generational sales of the Xbox family in Japan have often failed to break ground. According to a recent report, as of February, only 2.3 million Xbox consoles have been sold in Japan across all generations, since the consoles first arrived in the country 20 years ago. prior to. The majority of these are Xbox 360 sales with 1,616,128 units.

As GameDataLibrary points out, the Xbox hasn’t outsold the PlayStation since the Xbox One launched in 2014. Since the Xbox brand was founded, the device has outsold the PlayStation by less than 10 times.

While the PlayStation 5 got off to a great start in Japan, even selling 1 million units faster than the once-successful PlayStation 4, the inconsistencies in sourcing and the dominance of the Nintendo Switch made Sony always “settled” with the second position in the gaming console market.

As of early March, the different generations of Xbox consoles have sold the following quantities:

· Xbox – 472,992

Xbox 360 – 1,616.128

· Xbox One – 114.831

· Xbox Series X/S – 142,024

The aforementioned Xbox sales are minuscule compared to other devices in the Japanese market with the PS5 having sold over 1 million units and the Switch reaching 20 million. However, due to Xbox’s historically poor market performance in Japan, the Series X/S got off to a pretty positive start in a country where Xbox’s situation was not so bright.

Overall, Microsoft has made innovation efforts in Japan with the company’s most recent console launch. Xbox Series X and S were launched at the same time as other countries last November, while the previous Xbox One was released a year later. And Xbox boss Phil Spencer said the intention was to better serve Japanese players.