Last week, Xbox Series S consoles outsold the PS5 in Japan, marking the first time that Microsoft has outsold Sony in the country in 8 years. No Xbox console has ever proven to be more popular than the PlayStation in Japan, but even though the Xbox Series S is still far behind both the Nintendo Switch and PS5 in global sales, the Xbox Series X/S is doing much better, proportionally speaking. Thus far, The Xbox Series S has been selling about 3000 units per week lately, compared to over 50k for the Nintendo Switch and about 10k for the PlayStation 5, or at least, that is what it is doing if it has any inventory left, which certainly was not the case last week.
The struggles are still ongoing, particularly in Japan, where, according to the latest Famitsu Software & Hardware Sales Chart of the latest week, the PS5 was especially outsold by the Xbox Series X/S over the past week. The reports give no numbers, only vague assurances that the Xbox Series X/S is outselling PlayStation 5, but we can deduce that the Xbox Series S beating PS5 in Japan last week is an extension of this trend. Outselling is based on last week’s sales numbers for both consoles, where Xbox Series S sold 6,210 units total, compared to 2,963 units sold on my PS5.
Not since the launch of the Xbox One has Xbox outsold PlayStation in Japan.
It's happened less than 10 times overall. https://t.co/YWNh5UiiLw pic.twitter.com/c882RRJ03C
— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) May 19, 2022
Famitsu reported that during the week of May 9-15, Microsoft managed to move 6,120 Xbox Series S consoles, while Sony sold a grand total of 2,963 PlayStation 5 units. The Xbox One has sold hardly more than 100,000 units, and despite Microsoft advertising Japan as the fastest growing Microsoft market, combined sales for Xbox Series X and S are still only slightly above 200,000, according to Famitsu. As of this March, there had been just 2.3 million Xbox consoles sold in Japan over the past 20 years, with only the 360 breaking the million-unit barrier alone Series X and S did not even reach that total combined.
All told, the Xbox consoles in Japan sold just 2.3 million units over the course of 20 years, with nearly half of those units going to the Xbox 360. It is never done very well in Asian markets, but the thing that is really surprising is that Xbox 360s made up 1.6 million units out of the total 2.3 million Xbox consoles. Upon celebrating Microsofts 20th Anniversary this March in Japan, Weekly Famitsu confirmed Microsoft has sold just 2.3 million Xbox consoles over the past couple of decades. Unless inventory issues are addressed, the PlayStation 5 or Microsoft are not likely to hit anywhere close to this figure.