PS5 Records Another Good Week of Sales in Japan, 2.5 Million Sold Since Launch

Almost 7K Xboxes sold in a week. That's seven thousand times more than I expected. It's interesting the Series X outsold the Series S. More often than not, the opposite happens.

Yeah Nintendo definitely need a new console the PlayStation 5 keep outselling the switch every week now.

Playstation 5 is hot in Japan.

@4kgk2 I'm hoping those rumors we've been hearing about a successor to the Switch means it's coming later this year, maybe for Christmas season.

Something like Steam Deck graphics would be great. I'm sick of 720p when I play on a big TV, it's conspicuously fuzzy looking.

Interesting that the 2DS is still selling units. Guess you gotta get in now before they pull the plug in a few weeks.

Must be from all those Chinese scalpers you guys reported about the other week from some unknown Nintendo fanatic on Twitter...

@GreatAuk I don’t think it’s coming this year. They expect to meet a lofty sales target and have ramped up production. I want a new system too, but if it comes out a bit later, we might get one that’s a little more powerful….

If I were Sony, I’d be using Microsoft’s words in all of my advertising.

Sony is dominant. All your friends play on PlayStation. The best games are on Sony. We suck. Etc.

Microsoft’s words. Words matter.

Dang.......China is eating.

Whether they're going to Chinese or Japanese customers, or an equal mix of both, at the end of the day, they're still sales. And regardless of any of that, Switch sales have absolutely slowed in the region. If that pattern is replicated worldwide, Nintendo will probably announce a new console later in 2023.

Either way, nice to see that Sony has finally resolved their stock issues.

Man, those Xbox hardware sales figures! I know it's never been popular in Japan, but it's just embarrassing now.

@Gamer_Guy But that's a good figure for Xbox in a region that they have no terrortory. Last gen they would be lucky to shift 400/500 consoles in a week. To take nearly 7k in a week, and I think the highest I've seen is 11k a week is good for them.

@Ralizah This time PS software sales match or eclipse hardware sales, so it seems like the sales this time match the pattern you'd expect traditionally for the region. China may be hurting for new units this week, lol. Unless China's buying games from JP due to currency conversion or censorship as well.

I think Switch hasn't had much new of importance since Pokemon for a while other than FE which even in Japan was just tepidly received. Switch will get a giant boost for BotW2 though. I still don't think we'll see a successor announced in 2023.

@4kgk2 The Switch is nearly 6 years old though and the fact that it’s PS5’s closest competitor is pretty mad! Says a lot about Xbox

@NEStalgia It's not like there'll be a 1:1 match between hardware and software sales. We have no idea how many of these units are going where. As long as units are moving and people are buying games in the region, I doubt Sony cares, either.

TotK will be a big release everywhere, but Zelda has never been as big in Japan as it was elsewhere. FE Engage was received well enough; just not as well as Three Houses, and that's not the sort of series that'll move hardware anyway.

The mid-year Direct will be our best indication if a successor is imminent, IMO. Currently we know pretty much nothing about Nintendo's 2023 output beyond Pikmin 4 in July. If there's not much to drive sales in the latter half of the year, it's probably a good sign that they're building up for an early 2024 launch of whatever the next hardware is.

I'd actually prefer they hold their ground for another year or two, as I'm having a ton of fun with my Switch as is, but we'll see how it goes.

@BaldBelper78 There's just... no reason to buy an Xbox. Unless the idea of a premium game rental service is what has you throwing money at your screen. Otherwise it's, again, just a worse Playstation with little in the way of exclusives.

@4kgk2 I'm happy that PS5 is doing really well now in Japan, but they have another 25+ million to sell if they want to catch up with the switch

So that is basically 8% of total PS5 base.

More or less the same as the sub 6-9% for PS4 in the Japanese market. Reason why Sony does not make decisions based on it.

@NEStalgia I agree. I wonder if it will be another situation where Nintendo announces in December and releases in Spring the following year.

Breath of the Wild 2 will boost Switch sales, but I feel that's the Switch swan song (unless Nintendo announces Metroid Prime 4 for Holiday 2023).

Now Nintendo is known for pulling out some surprises, but 2024 feels like a good time for a successor especially given that Splatoon 3 will probably be wrapping up support during that year and I just don't see Nintendo "moving on" to a new console before ending support for that.

No doubt, though, Nintendo had HUGE success with the Switch!

@lacerz ha

I didn’t think Harry Potter was a very big franchise in Japan. Shows what I know.

Not surprised that Wild Hearts charted well though, despite it performing poorly n the West.

@GamingFan4Lyf Nintendo has always done Spring launches for handhelds, including Switch, so it definitely makes the most sense to count on a Spring launch. Probably no announce before Holiday though. They don't like dampening holiday sales and pretend, successfully, there's no new hardware on the way through a holiday. Switch was kind of an exception when they revealed the Switch brand and concept in an October trailer, but still held of the true reveal instead of announcement until a Feb showcase for March launch.

@Th3solution Wild Hearts is vaguely MonHun-like and set in Japan. There was little chance it wasn't going to sell well in Japan.

@Ralizah If they're losing money on currency exchange, they care though BotW did uncharacteristically well in Japan for a Zelda game. Could have been hardware launch boosted, but I think TotK will perform very exceptionally for a Zelda in Japan. The days of "Zelda doesn't sell in Japan" I think have finally faded.

Agreed about the "notE3" Direct being telling. Though it's Nintendo, they manage to hide elephants with lampshades successfully. I, too would rather they hold off. Switch itself does fine for most things, a later launch combined with Nintendo's withered tech approach means a much more capable machine is likely, and, frankly, do you feel like dealing with Nintendo-like launch shortages in the post-PS5 console launch world? Not wanting to deal with that nightmare has made me want them to keep Switch another 25 years so I don't have to deal with it. What PS/XB had as "exceptional circumstances" for console shortages is just Nintendo's "normal launch". IDK that I want to see what their next one looks like.

@Th3solution Monster Hunter normally opens with over 1M copies in its first week in Japan so those Wild Hearts numbers are not really good

@NEStalgia There's almost always at least half a year's notice before they release new-gen hardware, so if we're getting something new in Spring 2024, we'll hear about it this year.

BotW did well in Japan for a Zelda game, but that was still, like, 1.5+ million units. Not nearly as popular as a number of other big titles on the Switch. TotK probably won't sell quite as well, but it'll still likely outsell all previous 3D Zeldas prior to BotW worldwide.

@Ralizah You mean rumor, or official? Switch had early notice because it was the "We're not dead, yet!" post WiiU announcement. WiiU only had "cafe" rumors until E3 with a Christmas launch, and the timeline was just dictated by E3. Same with 3DS where it was a Spring launch but the unveiling had to be E3 back then. With Switch, had they not needed the "we're not dead yet" "NX=hybrid" October unveiling I think we'd have found out in Jan that an unveling would happen in Feb, for Mar launch. The October thing was as much a reassurance to investors that they have a plan and that plan has public appeal as it was an intention to unveil anything.

The biggest sellers in Japan are generally kids/group play type games, so for a single player game it did extremely well.

@NEStalgia Official announcement.

GBA: Announced September 1999; first released March 2001
NDS: Announced January 2004; first released November 2004
3DS: Announced March 2010; first released February 2011

GameCube: Announced August 2000; first released September 2001
Wii: Shown off during E3 2005, although the name reveal didn't come until April 2006; first released November 2006
Wii U: Announced E3 2011; first released November 2012

So, really, if we're going by precedent, it's more realistic to expect it closer to a year after official announcement. Switch was not at all unusual in terms of the period between reveal and release. If anything, that period was shorter than normal.

@Papery0shi but the switch is a handheld , why compare a console to a handheld when handhelds usually sell more .

@nomither6 I’m replying to a comment that states “ the PlayStation 5 keep outselling the switch every week now.”

So I’m simply stating that they need to sell 25+ million to catch up. I’m not comparing them, I know that Nintendo doesn’t compete with PlayStation and Xbox . Nintendo is its own animal . As a PlayStation and Nintendo fan, I’m happy both are doing great

And it’s not a handheld, it’s a hybrid .

@Papery0shi so is the switch lite a hybrid ? it’s just a dockless switch ain’t it ?

@Th3solution it’s one of the most popular western franchises here, besides all things Disney. We got hogsmeade and a ride in Universal Studios Japan. Everybody loves it.