Japan Hardware and Software Sales ( July 31 - August 6 )

[Unchained]

Famitsu sales (7/31/23 - 8/6/23)

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Famitsu are as follows: Switch OLED – 73,626 PS5 – 48,463 Switch – 11,467 Switch Lite – 8,117 Xbox Series X – 3,132 PS5 Digital Edition – 1,895 PS4 – 789 Xbox Series S – 144 New 2DS LL – 56 For comparison’s sake, here are the hardware numbers from last...

nintendoeverything.com

The latest Japanese hardware sales from Famitsu are as follows:

Switch OLED – 73,626
PS5 – 48,463
Switch – 11,467
Switch Lite – 8,117
Xbox Series X – 3,132
PS5 Digital Edition – 1,895
PS4 – 789
Xbox Series S – 144
New 2DS LL – 56

And here are the software charts:

1. [NSW] Pikmin 4 – 78,838 / 596,388
2. [NSW] Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – 14,673 / 1,804,457
3. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 14,143 / 5,410,605
4. [NSW] Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Vacation – 13,172 / 31,439
5. [NSW] Minecraft – 8,486 / 3,216,083
6. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 6,921 / 4,078,880
7. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports – 6,491 / 1,143,918
8. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 6,044 / 5,250,701
9. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars – 4,951 / 1,273,753
10. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet – 4,799 / 5,085,843

 

[Eternal_Wings]

Zelda is a monster and that’s why console is selling much more than PS5 for a couple of months now. Nearly 19 million copies sold for TotK. Pretty wild release.

 

[JAHGamer]

Not a single PlayStation title and Sony still decides to copy Microsoft’s strategy instead of Nintendo. What a joke. Congrats to Nintendo

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yeah at this point I'm willing to believe some of the speculation that at least some portion of those PS5s are being scalped out to other SEA countries like China. I can rationalize the lack of PS5 software in Top 10 to things like PS+ uptick, more PS users buying digital vs. Nintendo etc. But those don't completely explain absences of PS5 software like this, especially after a game like FF XVI just came out not too long ago.

Also, I'm curious what Series X's sales would look like in Japan if they did even just one week of unit volume comparable to PS5. I still say it and Series S have notably lower demand, but it may not be as pathetically low as some were led to think the past few months? We'd only be able to tell if comparable supply were made, of course.

 

[FatKaz]

Yeah at this point I'm willing to believe some of the speculation that at least some portion of those PS5s are being scalped out to other SEA countries like China. I can rationalize the lack of PS5 software in Top 10 to things like PS+ uptick, more PS users buying digital vs. Nintendo etc. But those don't completely explain absences of PS5 software like this, especially after a game like FF XVI just came out not too long ago.

Would that still be the case though?

I mean ps5 supply is no longer scarce, i find it hard to believe china has huge demand for ps5s to the point where every week thousands are being moved from japan to china. With other SEA countries why would they scalp from japan?

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Home consoles are dead in Japan.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Would that still be the case though?

I mean ps5 supply is no longer scarce, i find it hard to believe china has huge demand for ps5s to the point where every week thousands are being moved from japan to china. With other SEA countries why would they scalp from japan?

Dunno. Maybe the system is cheaper from Japan, or the models that are sold in shops in their countries are region-locked. If some notable chunk of PS5s aren't being sent out to other places to be sold to customers in said places, then what does the software situation really look like for the platform in Japan? Because if the only chance PS5 software has of cracking the Top 10 is with massive releases like Hogwarts Legacy & FF XVI (and even in those cases, only for a few weeks), then overall software sales might not be too great.

I mean games like Pikmin are doing 600K+ in Japan when they never got anywhere near that previously. Nintendo has a real pulse on the Japanese gaming market when it comes to software, and virtually ALL of those games also perform strongly outside of Japan, too. 1P-wise I think Sony dropped the ball tremendously on not making more internal software that could both appeal to Japan and also the rest of the global market. They certainly have the IP to do it, but they seem to want to go after the "Hollywood prestige" brand image for 1P software while neglecting anything outside of it, and that's a problem.

 

[arvfab]

Pikmin 4 on top
Still on my Pikmin 3 replay (after 1&2) before starting it.

 

[Danja]

Dunno. Maybe the system is cheaper from Japan, or the models that are sold in shops in their countries are region-locked. If some notable chunk of PS5s aren't being sent out to other places to be sold to customers in said places, then what does the software situation really look like for the platform in Japan? Because if the only chance PS5 software has of cracking the Top 10 is with massive releases like Hogwarts Legacy & FF XVI (and even in those cases, only for a few weeks), then overall software sales might not be too great.

I mean games like Pikmin are doing 600K+ in Japan when they never got anywhere near that previously. Nintendo has a real pulse on the Japanese gaming market when it comes to software, and virtually ALL of those games also perform strongly outside of Japan, too. 1P-wise I think Sony dropped the ball tremendously on not making more internal software that could both appeal to Japan and also the rest of the global market. They certainly have the IP to do it, but they seem to want to go after the "Hollywood prestige" brand image for 1P software while neglecting anything outside of it, and that's a problem.

It is cheaper to buy consoles from Japan in Asia territories and yes China was getting a good amount of PS5 from Japan. Since I think the ones that are sold in China are region locked...

 

[Eternal_Wings]

I doubt that most PS5 go to Chinese scalpers. PS5 software sales in Japanese PSN did rose. FFXVI was the most played and purchased game in 2023 July.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Man the Japanese have really bad taste in games if Nintendo is all they buy.