Famitsu Sales: 12/12/22 – 12/18/22

Famitsu has published its estimated physical game software and hardware sales data for Japan for the week of December 12, 2022 to December 18, 2022.

[Orchard]

Switch is still dominating Japan.

Nearly 3x the sales of PS5. 8 of the top 10 games are Switch, 26 of the top 30.

Switch sure has some legs on it.

[Knushwood Butt]

Switch is dominating Japan. In Christmas spirit, I agree.

Still, what with Horizon Forbidden West and GT7 back in the top 30, PS5 hardware sales are boosting software.

I went to Yamada Denki this morning, no PS5s on shelves and still only available by lottery. I could have walked away with an OLED Switch.

Xbox Series X – 35 (172,080)

Oof, Switch sold more last week than Series X lifetime total.

[Orchard]

Xbox has always sold terribly in JP though, so that’s nothing new really. I think you’ll see me become president before that changes :p

The big difference in the last year or two is that any foothold PS had in JP has evaporated, Nintendo has that country on lockdown.

I still ask though… who doesn’t have a switch at this point. Especially in Japan. The numbers are nuts.

[Justo909]

"Oof, Switch sold more last week than Series X lifetime total."

Ouch! rekt! XD

[Orchard]

“ Oof, Switch sold more last week than Series X lifetime total.”

Turns out this is incorrect actually now that I re-read the numbers.

Switch this week: 173,083
Xbox Series lifetime: 397,286

So it managed about half, which is still impressive.

[Knushwood Butt]

Xbox Series X – 35 (172,080)

Switch this week: 173,083

[Orchard]

@Knush

You are doing misleading math though.

You’re adding up 3 SKUs of the switch and only 1 SKU of the Xbox.

[repsahj]

LOL series X 35 during christmas season.

[Orchard]

@repsahj Japan doesn’t have a “Christmas season”. It’s not a big holiday there with tons of gift giving etc like NA and Europe.

[Knushwood Butt]

@Orchard

Japan absolutely does have a Christmas season, even if almost only for the commercial aspect.

As soon as Halloween is over, the theme is Christmas, like many other countries.

Chicken is associated with Christmas (Christmas Eve is the main day for food) and KFC generates more revenue at Christmas than the entire rest of the year. Goes against the conspiracy themry that Japan hates Western brands.

Oh, and kids most certainly request gifts from Santa. The gift giving is precisely why these sales figures are so high.

Christmas Day is not a public holiday in Japan; usually a regular work/school day, but this year falls on a Sunday.

[Orchard]

@Knush Most of the gift giving is just small gifts between couples. It’s not super commercialized like here where you give kids 10+ presents etc.

Golden Week is where the big retail period will be.

[Knushwood Butt]

Orchard

You don't know what you are talking about.

I have lived in Japan for more than 20 years, and am in Japan as I write this.

I was round at a Japanese family's apartment on Friday and the Christmas tree in their living room is bigger than ours! They are not Christians.

I don't know where you live but assuming that I have never been there I would not make comments about it as if I knew anything about it.

Have you ever spent Christmas in Japan?

I'm done replying to you.

Merry Christmas!

[Christopher]

***Xbox has always sold terribly in JP though, so that’s nothing new really.***

Switch has always sold amazingly in JP though, so that's nothing new really.

[LoveSpuds]

Gee whizz Orchard, don't you ever get tired of cheerleading for Xbox, it's Christmas, take a couple of days off.

[Orchard]

Hmm? Since when did Xbox make the Switch. They wish they’d made the switch lol.

[1Victor]

Orchard “ Switch is still dominating Japan.

Nearly 3x the sales of PS5. 8 of the top 10 games are Switch, 26 of the top 30.

Switch sure has some legs on it.“

🤔 I see what you did there you also forgot to talk about your beloved Xbox sx massive comeback with 35 systems sold getting trounced by its crippled little sister by a whooping 35x at 875 systems sold 😱. 🤣

[Justo909]

LOL xbox less than 1k.

PS5 sold 70k vs XS <1k.

Even PS4 sold more than XS rekt XD

[Orchard]

Meanwhile, Switch “rekt” both of them…

Sony and Microsoft are both basically extinct in that region now.

[MaximusPrime_]

Bear in mind that this article is about Sony not Nintendo. Also Switch is an inferior console compared to PS5 and Xbox Series, not a worthy comparison, Orchard.

[Orchard]

@Maximu: Definitely inferior in terms of power (and user experience in many areas) - but software wise it definitely stands up well.

[TheTony316]

The Switch is absolutely dominating Japan but putting Sony and Microsoft in the same boat is just wrong. Playstation at its lowest, still is 100 times more successful than Xbox will ever be in Japan.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I'm not surprised this will keep growing imo.

[MaximusPrime_]

Pretty good news. Japanese consoles dominating Japanese market, no surprise. Microsoft expected this but opt to carry on selling in the country anyway.

[TheTony316]

Congrats to those 35 new XSX owners, lol.

[badz149]

most probably US soldiers stationed in Japan

[DarXyde]

I'm still trying to process the fact that, if everyone of those Xbox Sales were done on my street, not everyone would have an Xbox.

That is astonishing.

2 decades later, take the hint, Xbox. It's not exactly a nationalist thing (Apple is quite beloved in Japan), people just don't like the brand in the land of the rising sun when they already have two other major brands from the country. Given options, people are not going to choose an Xbox over a PlayStation or Nintendo platform. Aside from people growing up and having less time to game on a committed device at home, I would wager they haven't forgotten about the Tales of Vesperia incident either. Xbox would probably save money by being built to order over there.

Honestly, if Xbox is trying to maximize their presence in Japan, they pretty much just need to focus on Xcloud in the country and feature more content that gamers cannot find on Switch. Not that hard.

[Hofstaderman]

Didn’t phil say he was actively enlisting Japanese development houses? Phil stop lying…

[darkrider]

Merry Christmas to all. This trend is amazing and shows the fight of one person againts all trying to convince anyone that Microsoft is doing great on Japan and at the same time the ps5 is in the same boat of Microsoft... 35 consoles... But the ps5 sold 64k that's what 3000% more and something that is still hard to find. Mexico isn't close. Merry Christmas

[Aloymetal]

Lol.
Merry Christmas to you too;)