Japan has traditionally been a land of Nintendo and Sony, but console shortages have meant that even that has been turned on its head. For the first week ever, the Xbox Series S beats the PS5 by itself in terms of sales in Japan. Sony’s PS4 console fared even worse, coming bottom of the list for last week.
How did Xbox manage to beat PlayStation?
Console shortages are causing worldwide issues right now, although Nintendo Switch seems to be faring best. The most popular console in Japan between May 9 and May 15 was the Switch OLED model, which managed to sell 35,868 units according to Weekly Famitsu (thanks ResetEra). Even the least popular model, the Switch Lite, sold 9,011 units. In contrast, the PS5 disc edition sold just 2,240 units with the digital edition adding just 453 to that total. Microsoft’s Xbox Series S sold 6,120 units having benefited from increased stock availability in many regions, although admittedly the Xbox Series X only sold 105 units. Coming at the bottom of the list was the PS4, which sold a measly 22 units.
Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Switch also completely dominated software sales, taking every single one of the top ten spots. Nintendo Switch Sports was the most popular title for the second week running, shifting 47,525 units last week to confidently claim the top spot. Kirby and the Forgotten Land came in second place and was closely followed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in third and eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 in fourth. The most notable jump of the week was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which managed to leap back into the top ten.
In other news, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was reportedly nearly canceled after multiple studios struggled with engine problems. Elsewhere, Call of Duty: Vanguard is currently running a multiplayer free access week on all platforms that will end on May 24.
