Xbox outsold PlayStation again in Japan last week as stock shortages continue

Xbox has once again outsold PlayStation in Japan this past week, a feat it also pulled off last month.

According to sales data published by Famitsu, the Xbox Series X sold 3,272 units while the Xbox Series S sold 3,423 units.

This was more than double that of the PlayStation 5, which sold 2,371 standard consoles and 664 digital-only consoles.

Rather than suggesting the Xbox console is dominant in the region, however, the figures simply show the continued effect stock shortages are having on sales flucutations.

For comparison, last week the PS5 sold 12,440 units while the combined Xbox Series consoles sold 6,242 units.

This week’s Xbox accomplishment also does little for the overall sales picture in Japan. To date, 1.69 million PlayStation 5 consoles have been sold, while 232,000 Xbox Series consoles have been sold.

However, it does indicate the severity of Sony‘s frequent PS5 stock shortages in the country.

This week marked the second time this generation that Xbox outperformed PlayStation in Japan. In one week-long period last month the Series S sold 6,120 units whereas the PS5 and PS5 digital edition sold a combined 2,693 units.

Before that, the last time Xbox had outsold PlayStation in Japan was back in 2014, when the Xbox One launched.

Although, as noted, stock limitations play a significant part in these sales figures, such news is still notable given Xbox’s traditionally poor sales in Japan.

As of February this year, only 2.3 million Xbox consoles had been sold in Japan since the original was released 20 years ago. Most of these were Xbox 360 sales, of which there were 1.6 million.

Further reading

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For the first time in 8 years, Xbox outsold PlayStation in Japan last week

Series S topped PS5 in the weekly sales, marking Xbox's first triumph since 2014

Despite all the above, the Nintendo Switch continues to be the dominant system in Japan by a wide margin.

This week, the Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED combined sold more than 50,000 units, more than 5 times what Xbox and PlayStation sold combined.

On top of this, all 20 games in the Japanese top 20 software sales for the region were Switch titles.

In total, more than 25 million Switch systems have been sold in Japan since the console’s launch.