Xbox Series X|S Has Now Sold Over 100,000 Units In Japan

It's certainly going to perform much better than it's predecessors. Good stuff!

Xbox will never be a powerhouse in Japan, but if Japan can make up around 3-5 percent of the console's total sales, that's a win.

All things considered, those are some impressive numbers. I'm more interested though to see how many people from Japan are subscribed to Game Pass considering you don't need an Xbox to use the service. I think that would be a better indication of how well Microsoft is faring in Japan.

Xbox will never ever take on Nintendo and PlayStation in their own back yard and win, but if they can keep improving like this they can get a bit of mindshare, which long term will be key in getting more Japanese games on the system.

@JetmanUK @LX_FENIX Sony is faltering in Japan compared to other regions however. PS4 performed markedly worse in Japan compared to PS3.

PS1 JP sales: 21.6m
PS2 JP Sales: 23.2m
PS3 JP Sales: 9.3m
PS4 JP sales: 8.3m

Despite PS4 selling significantly more Worldwide than PS3, it still kept the decline in Japan. Might be a generation or two away from Xbox challenging them, but Sony can't be complacent, they are in danger of losing footing in Japan.

For the record, PS5 sales are matching PS4 in their 1st year of release in Japan.

@LX_FENIX xcloud is their big bet for Japan. Great wireless infrastructure and everyone plays on their phones, just gotta get traction with that for those gamepass subscriptions. Gotta remember that gamepass subscriptions are what they are selling at the end of the day.

I remember that Xbox One used to sell under 50 units per week in Japan 😂. To get more Japanese games, the more Xbox in there the better and 100,000 new Xboxes sold is impressive and significant.

@Kilamanjaro

I would love to see Xbox do good in Japan

As long as Microsoft can keep the Japanese games coming on Xbox then more and more people in Japan will be encouraged to buy the console. They just need more games that appeal to the Japanese tastes.

I mean, I love Xbox but my gripe with it from day one is the lack of Japanese game support and I'm not even Japanese myself. That's one of the reasons why I've always preferred PlayStation more, it has more Japanese games. I've always said time and time again that if Xbox had most the Japanese games that PlayStation does, it would more or less be the ultimate console.

I read that a store in japan stopped selling xbs x|s consoles because of gamepass.

@Xeno_Aura Do you have a link to the source handy?

@BlueOcean I remember the days of single and double digit 360 numbers lol.

@somnambulance Doesn't surprise me, Nintendo are king in Japan.

@Zochmenos Which part do you want source for?

I think game pass and cloud gaming will really benefit Xbox in Japan and Korea. The series S looks like a great product for less wealthy nations that have to deal with huge import taxes. Xbox seems to be diversifying very well in the marketplace. I'm all in!

When you look at the Switch handily doing that in a week it puts it all into perspective. However, it’s not a vacuum and this is all very encouraging. Very nice rebirth.

@Xeno_Aura I'd like to see if the time periods for the Playstation units sold is an apples to apples comparison, so wherever you got those numbers would be helpful.

Ouch, with those numbers, I'd be wondering if it's just the foreigners/expats living in Japan who are buying the console 🤔
Seriously.

@InterceptorAlpha Ha ha I remember that too 🤣.

@Prizm lots of post's online with Japanese folks picking up the series s recently. For Xbox who had basically 0.001% market share these numbers are impressive for a new company as let's be honest Xbox really had no real presence before. Again i expect that getting people onto xcloud on their existing devices is the plan. They just need to make sure it's a solid experience from the get go because you gotta make a great first impression

(Japan resident here)
fwiw, there is a much better in-store presence this time around. XBO was embarrassing to see in-store, but XBS|X have a better amount of store space. Plus, but local stores actually have X&S in-stock! (compared to PS5 which is still next to impossible to get hold of)

It’s interesting, because I don’t think they believe there is really much money to be made in Japan itself. I think MS knows they need to have SOME presence in Japan to convince devs to make games for Xbox. There are a ton of Americans that love Japanese games, and those are the people that MS can’t afford to lose.

@Hypnotoad107 I disagree because if Gamepass is going to succeed; they going to need the Asian markets. Services need a large group of people to fee the subscriber base. I don’t think the physical box though is the push.

Xcloud and Gamepass are what will appeal most to the Japanese market.

@BlueOcean hahah speak of the devil they published it! 😂😂

I quickly read this as "100 units". And the rest of the headline would still be true, lol!

In reality it's pathetic, but it's still impressive that it's taking off better than before.

Maybe they should follow Nintendo's example and charge $100 for Game Pass in Japan, and change it to only offer a handful of OG Xbox games plus a few from Saturn, plus DLC for Skyrim included.

In Japan, PlayStation sales have declined, nevertheless, the PS3 sold 10,469,971 units as of 2017 and the PS4 sold 9,388,229 units as of October 2021. The data from September 9th, 2021 places PS5 sales at 1,012,656 units, outselling the Series X by more than ten to one. This is not a close race, and the data does not indicate that it will become so this generation. Sony may not be king in Japan but they will not be succeeded by MS anytime soon.