Xbox Series S Just Outsold Both PS5 Models In Japan

Damn stock shortages still hitting hard in 2022

Series S is a great machine, and I am not suprised that it's form factor is popular in Japan.

I wouldn't claim that as a success in any regards as it is only because you couldn't get a PS5 not because more people suddenly wanted one. It's like winning a football match because the other team didn't turn up but you over celebrate anyway.

This isn't news really to be celebrated as its only happened due to stock issues and ps5 has still outsold the series consoles by 8:1, but stock shortages have hit both xbox and playstation, even the series X got outsold by the 2DS and that only sold 235 units.....

And last week the series consoles sold a combined 14,000 units, they only sold less than half of that this week, whilst playstation 5 sold 46,500 units compared to this weeks 2,700 units. So this news is by no means promoting success, but instead just shows how much stock is changing on a weekly basis and effecting these stats.

Also sony seems to have focused on the UK and Europe these last few weeks which is where their audience is whilst the xbox is selling more in the USA, and both are sending spare units the Japan by the looks of it and I don't blame them since Nintendo's grasp on that market is ridiculous and won't budge.

But overall xbox still deserves a pat on the back, the series consoles have already outosld the xbox one total sales in Japan, and the series S in particular is the main contributor for that.

@UltimateOtaku91 actually last week was a Golden week combined week. It’s like Christmas. It’s Famitsu Week 17/18. They have release the split numbers yet but assume 7k for both weeks.

Not saying stock shortages aren’t the issue here but I’m sure if there was XSX the number would have been higher than 6k which was almost all XSS.

@mousieone wow learn something new everyday haha, so they combine two weeks sales for golden week

I do wonder though if the series consoles have the staying power to reach xbox 360 Japan figures, last I checked it was around 1.6 million units sold, so in 1.5 years on the Japan market the series S/X have sold 200,000 which would mean it would take around another 10.5 years at this current pace, so maybe not.

Which is interesting to know how the xbox 360 sold so well in Japan

@UltimateOtaku91 your last paragraph says exactly why this news should be celebrating. They are gaining ground in the Nintendo and playstation dominated Japan which could mean like in the 360 period we are going to see more Japanese games on Xbox which will drive the sales even more there. So one weeks digits don't say much but seeing the total amount they sold already is positive for Xbox
And the 360 did so well because of exclusive jrpg like lost odyssey and such

@Lavalera just checked and the 360 had games like blue dragon, tales of vesperia, lost odyssey, eternal sonata, eternal undiscovery, Enchanted arms and the last remnant as exclusives back then, so why did the give up on the Japanese Market?

@Lavalera also I don't see the Japan market dominated by playstation, nintendo own between 90-95% of gaming sales in Japan and won't be caught by xbox or Sony. Plus the xbox one had poor sales everywhere so I expect the series consoles to outsell the xbox one in every region, but not the 360's sales. I think if the series consoles outsell the 360 in japan then that would be something worth celebrating more

@UltimateOtaku91 I meant historically speaking. After the ps2 sonys popularity decreased in Japan. The ps2 sold 24 mil and the ps3 and ps4 around 10 so a lot less. So historically they weren't as far back as they are now. Japan now seems to prefer the handheld switch over the playstation consoles.
Why they stopped with jrpgs during the Xbox one is beyond me. But a lot of things during the one Era is beyond me, they made some very bad decisions there. Now you see Xbox is getting their relationships up with the Japanese developers up again and we see Japanese games coming to Xbox again like Yakuza, tales of arise, scarlet nexus etc etc. Sure no exclusives yet but they are supposedly working on a monster hunter type of game which is very popular in Japan. And if they bring in more Japanese games and exclusives more Japanese people will buy Xbox, more games will be a de for Xbox etc. So with the right content they might even outsell the 360

Time for Xbox to secure some excellent JRPG exclusives.

@Rural-Bandit Japan do seem to more interested in handheld and mobile gaming, so if i was Microsoft I would release a handheld gamepass streaming console, as one of the main reasons I don't think xcloud on mobile will fully take off is the lack of controller, I've tried xcloud using touchscreen controls and it's not great, and setting up a controller every time every where you go can be annoying plus the input lag. So a gamepass dedicated handheld would be perfect for the Japanese Market, infact would be great everywhere. No need to wait for series S/X stock as it wouldn't need the power chips.

Nor surprised, I mean SONY did pretty much ditch its home market after all. An excellent win for Microsoft for sure.

@SplooshDmg I agree xbox has the potential to do better in Japan with series consoles especially the S and will easily outsell the 360 with more Japanese games and some exclusives, but as we are seeing this gen already stock shortages could cut that dream short. I wouldn't be surprised if the series consoles and the ps5 struggle to reach 60-70 million total sales each, and if that's he case then both of them will have to choose what regions they want to focus on the most, and il tell you now neither of them will pick Japan.

Hence my above comment about a xbox series streaming handheld, which would do wonders in Japan

@UltimateOtaku91 Famitsu does at least. I don’t know about Media Create because I didn’t follow sales back then. I will say the XSS, with stock, is consistently at 5k units. We aren’t at a saturation point yet. The XSS over the last few weeks has been in stock like in the US. Less but still attainable.

The XSX like the PS5 are supply constrained. It’s hard to say what the true potential is with either.

The thing an informal survey was conducted by that Bloomberg person that keeps saying “Switch Pro”. Most Japanese respondent say they see the Switch as a “console”. It was informal so take that as you will. It tells me that it’s not necessarily mobility as Nintendo has the games that Japanese people want to play. I’m sure form factor is part of it. But I mean to be fair Switch has MH Rise, SMT5, Switch Sports, that Japanese monopoly game etc

@Royalblues thanks for the info m8. A lot of stuff I didn't know since I wasn't really a console gamer back then. Basically got my info from a bit of news here and there and sales figures and such. Just curious, you think Xbox will get a lot of those Japanese developers back or at lwast a lot more Japanese games on the Xbox? Never been a real fan of the switch, mainly because Pokémon Zelda and Mario don't mean much to me to be honest, but I am Interested in jrpg and that was one of the main reasons I bought a ps5 since the Xbox is lacking them

Reading these articles I think very good for Xbox. But in reality think it's just the market progressing on from those that already have PS5 and just looking for another console. Not bad thing at all.

But it doesn't mean Xbox is dominating overall. Which also fine. I'm very, very content with my Xbox One X and Series X.

@GuyinPA75 no probably not. The PS5 only just cleared the million mark in Japan. It is very hard to find. You have to use a lottery to get 1. Now it could be Switch owners getting a second console. Switch dominates Japan.

@Lavalera I can definitely see x ox getting more jrpgs added to gamepass but they won't get any exclusives like playstation does with persona and final fantasy 16, but every generation playstation get less jrpg exclusives mainly because of the nintnedo switch though, so playstation and nintendo get games like YS, neptunia, atelier, trails of cold steel, Monark, disgaea, granblue fantasy Relink (looks amazing), senran kagura etc games like that I can't see xbox getting yet until some more console sales in Japan. But bigger jrpgs like Tales of games, scarlet nexus and dragon quest xbox will definitely get.

From this news we can take it to mean one of two things… either Japan doesn’t care about console gaming anymore… or the PS5 still has stock issues… I wonder…
A bit of good news for Xbox to jump on whilst they can. How many years have PlayStation numbers been thrown about as bragging rights? Xbox can have this one

Great console and I hope a model that Xbox stick with for generations to come. Brilliant.

Yes, there were PS5 shortages. Yes, 6,000 units isn’t as impressive of a number that the Switch and PS5 can put up. What’s impressive is that for a company that doesn’t sell well in Japan sold 6,000. The people there didn’t have to buy Xbox. They could have kept the money in their bank account and waited for the shelves to be replenished with PS5’s. They didn’t do that. They trusted the Series S. That is impressive to me. I didn’t think I’d ever see Xbox put up something like that over there again. Yes, I know the week was combined into two, but still impressive.

I’m going to say this is due to the obvious stock shortages that have been plaguing the industry.
But, it’s still impressive that Microsoft is moving consoles in the numbers it’s been moving with the Series consoles over in Japan, in an region that has struggled to gain any traction since it’s inception. Whether or not this will translate to more Japanese games being brought over remains to be seen, but the dark days of double digit consoles being sold week to week appears to be over for now lol.

@Royalblues I hope you're right m8 Seeing the bigger publishers like Bandai, Sega and Square finding their way again to Xbox gives me hope the "smaller" ones like Falcom, NISA etc will come as well. I get that console exclusive exist, but so many 3rd party games which are not avalaible isnt a good thing in my opinion. I like to be able to play a game where i want to play the game and not being locked behind a certain console.

The fact it sold more than PS5 this week is not really something to celebrate as it's purely circumstantial.

What is worth 'celebrating' though is the success of the Series platform over the XB1 in Japan. Arguably, Xbox blew it big time with the XB1 and especially in Japan where it sold 'very poorly' throughout its life cycle. Therefore, the Series Sales are a 'big' success for Microsoft relative to their own history.

I doubt that 'many' if any, would rather buy a Series S if they prefer Sony and its ecosystem - they'd more likely keep their PS4, keep playing the 'exclusives' (after all the majority are on PS4 too) and wait for availability. The Series S doesn't offer the 'same' as a PS5 (either model) and won't let them play Sony's games. Maybe its 'cheap' enough that people see it as a 'great' option for a '2nd' console, great value for gaming, small and unobtrusive in their set-up etc so worth getting regardless of whether they can/will get a Sony console too...

Point is, if you only want a PS5, then you'll wait so MS must be doing something right - beyond the 'stock' related issues that people want to 'buy' their Hardware. Especially as you don't NEED their Hardware at all as their games release basically everywhere (except PS/Switch) thanks to Game Pass. The fact they can play on mobile, tablets, PC/Laptops regardless of spec as well as Xbox consoles just shows that people 'want' the Series S/X by 'choice'. If you want to play 'Sony's' Exclusives, you have NO 'choice' but to Buy a Sony Playstation. Not saying that's 'right/wrong', just the way things are - so people must 'want' Xbox hardware so that must be celebrated.

Minor coincidences, like this, are actually meaningless - as is comparing MS's 'Optional' Xbox Hardware sales in a territory that always favours Sony/Nintendo with those. You can only really compare to MS's previous hardware and in doing so, you'll see that MS has made a much 'greater' impact with the Series consoles so should be celebrated for that!!

I live in Japan, so believe me when I say this. As good as it is to see Xbox consoles selling, this is purely just due to stock, so I wouldn't try to twist this to be anything but what it is. It's not because more people want Xbox consoles than a PS5 or anything. I know this because in the last week, Series S consoles started appearing in stock and actually staying in stock on multiple sites and retailers including Amazon. The fact that they're not being sold out means there's enough to meet demand. It's the first time I've seen them in stock here since launch. Series X and PS5 on the other hand...I've yet to see them in stock since launch on any site. They're still being scalped here for $800+ like everywhere else. Series S being in stock is a good sign though, and its low price I'm sure is attractive to Japanese even especially when people see them being sold at RRP and not overinflated prices. Hopefully Series X will follow suit so I can finally get one.

@SplooshDmg it had a blu ray player though which was huge at the time, nobody wanted that stupid little add on that xbox offered...