Japan has bought 2.3 million Xbox consoles in the last 20 years, new report reveals

Around 2.3 million Xbox consoles have been sold in Japan across all generations since the original console came to the country 20 years ago.

That’s according to a new report in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of Xbox in Japan.

According to the report, a total of 2,345,975 Xbox consoles have been sold in Japan as of February 6, 2022.

The vast majority of these were Xbox 360 sales, of which there were 1,616,128.

The report also confirms that the Xbox Series X/S has already overtaken the Xbox One‘s lifetime total sales in the country.

In context, Xbox console sales are tiny compared to the other platforms in the Japanese market (PS5 has already sold over 1m units in the country, and Switch has cleared 20m).

However, given Xbox’s historically poor market performance in Japan, Series X|S are off to a more positive start in a country where Xbox has typically struggled.

The total sales for each console in Japan are:

• Xbox – 472,992
• Xbox 360 – 1,616,128
• Xbox One – 114,831
• Xbox Series X/S – 142,024

The article also reveals that the best-selling Xbox game in history in Japan is Dead or Alive 3 on the original Xbox, which sold 271,149 copies. This meant 46% of Xbox owners in Japan owned a copy of Dead or Alive 3.

The best-selling Xbox games in Japan in the last 20 years were:

1. Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox) – 271,149
2. Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope (Xbox 360) – 208,521
3. Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360) – 204,305
4. Blue Dragon (Xbox 360) – 203,740
5. The Last Remnant (Xbox 360) – 154,493

Microsoft has made renewed efforts in Japan with its most recent console launch. Xbox Series X and S launched day-and-date with other territories last November (compared to a year later with its previous console) and Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said it intends to better cater to Japanese players this console generation.

In the months after it launched Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC in Japan in April 2020, Xbox saw more player activity than in any time in its history in Japan, Spencer has previously claimed.

Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda last year, Spencer also called the acquisition of Tango Gameworks as part of that deal “a great step” towards achieving Xbox’s ambitions in Japan.

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“I’ve talked for a long time about our desire to have more of a first-party presence in Japan,” Spencer said at the time.

“This is a great step there. Thinking about the map of where these teams are, and talking about all the games they’re working on… I can’t wait to speak to the Tango team and get to know them.”