Yesterday, we brought news that the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S seem to be doing pretty well in Europe, as Microsoft's pair of current-gen consoles sold better across the region last year than in 2021 - even if the jump was small at roughly 4%. Over in Japan, the growth is much, much more rapid.
According to new figures from Famitsu, Xbox Series X and S combined 2022 sales were more than double the region's 2021 figures. Last year, Microsoft sold 269,737 units total, putting lifetime Xbox Series X|S sales at 398,395 in Japan since their late 2020 launch.
This is impressive stuff! Xbox has typically struggled in Japan, especially during the Xbox One era, but the brand seems to be bouncing back with Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Xbox's continued push to get Japanese games onto the platform is likely helping. You only have to look at some of this month's upcoming Game Pass drops to see how seriously Microsoft is taking the Japanese market this generation.
Are you impressed by these figures? Happy to see Xbox thriving in Japan? Let us know your thoughts.
[source famitsu.com, via gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 18
They need to sort their stock out (if that's the reason) if they want to beat the xbox 360 Japan sales, for several weeks now they have struggled to sell more than a thousand.
please put this in context. 200 Series X sold in last 2 weeks.
270k in a yr?
switch did it in 2weeks.
ps4 and 2ds is outselling
Good gains. For reference total sales of Xbox One in Japan was 140,700 and X360 was 1.6 million. If they can sort stock and a few good titles out they might hope to get back to X360 numbers.
@UltimateOtaku91 stock isnt the issue.... PS5 stock is there, so now xbox sales have dropped.
id love to know why Japanese gamers dont like GP, as id wager most sales are to westerners living there
@stvevan A guess is that the new Final Fantasy games and lots of popular games like Trails will be on PS5. This is one of the main reasons I got my PS5 too.
I’m currently in Japan. Is expected there to be more Xbox here as I’d heard it was doing better but it’s still just as it was before - like it doesn’t exist at all.
They still aren't doing anywhere near enough. They're trying to get big games from the big companies like Atlus and Koei Tecmo but they're completely ignoring smaller ones like NIS, Idea Factory, and Tamsoft.
The big games are great and necessary but if that's all they have that will only get them so far.
@EliJapan Ah, I’ve not been to either of those stores this trip. I was in Lepton the other day and they had a single part of a single shelf only. Same in Book Off. Slightly different sort of store I suppose.
@EliJapan I never understood why Microsoft never set up European & Japanese divisions with dedicated teams that know the regions better instead of them trying to run everything central from the US as like all there over products it doesn't work.
Microsoft's numbers doubling in Japan is a good sign, but at the same time when you double nothing, you still have almost next to nothing. It will be interesting to see if they can continue to double their market presence in Japan for three years in a row. Then we might be seeing something worth talking about.
@cragis0001 Microsoft does have a huge HQ in Japan. I talked to a Microsoft employee from Japan and he said it's a huge struggle to get Japanese businesses "on board" with Microsoft due to the way Japan runs business (which he said is still like the 1980's).
The things we take for granted like being able to easily setup direct deposits for paychecks is still a months-long paper trail process in Japan. Microsoft is all about "digital transformations" and Japan isn't having it from a business standpoint.
It's not just gaming where Microsoft struggles in Japan, it's the company as a whole.
@GamingFan4Lyf but that's what I mean though. They are gonna struggle if they don't adapt to the cultures of each region they wish to trade in. That why dedicated teams should be created to better represent & adapt to those challenges.
@cragis0001 I suppose. I mean, Microsoft can't force Japan to modernize business practices, but at the same time I am not sure what Microsoft can do to speed up traditional methods for those that still want to do business that way.
The company has had some successes there, it just takes A LOT of work for the people working at Microsoft Japan to get companies to trust these newfound digital methods.
The "but that's how we've always done it" is strong in Japan.
Well, easy double Xbox sales in Japan. If sell just one, you've doubled your sales.
@GamingFan4Lyf I wouldn't expect them to try. But let's hope they give it a bigger push as I live in the UK which is a so called important market & we even get little to no attention from Microsoft when it comes to certain products.
@EliJapan Pokémon is a JRPG, thats like saying SMT isn’t. Not that I don’t get you point but it’s not the software. Most Japanese people have never played any of Xbox first party games to even judge if they are appealing or not. And Really how often are you taken a console back for repairs of any kind? I’ve never needed any repair work on any of my Nintendo products. So I really doubt that matters. Even if Spiderman was exclusive to Xbox, no everyday person in Japan is going to want an Xbox. The 360 had one of the best exclusives JRPG libraries during its era, and it sold 1.5 million units. 1.5 million units. FF 13 is basically exclusive at this point and basically offers what Square Enix usually does for remasters, and Twitter was trending the other day with people begging Square Enix to remaster it. That’s with Westerners.
Unless Nintendo buys the Xbox division; I don’t see MS being able to do anything to move the needle. They could have all the games on shelves. Offer the same things as the other two systems and it won’t matter period.
The issue is that Xbox would have to do something unique that other two consoles don’t do. And it’s simply doesn’t. Xbox could have its own Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Splatoon but why bother buying one when Nintendo has that?
It’s not the I disagree as much as I see as a fruitless endeavor. It’s nice to see them reclaim some of the lost fans. And I think they should continue to improve on their relations. The loyal fans in Japan deserve that. I just don’t think it’s matter of offering similar things as PlayStation or Nintendo.
@EliJapan Sorry to hear that. :c
That said MS had a better game refund policy than the other two. Friend of mine three year old who like to buy stuff… >.<
Is it fixed now? Your Xbox?
They should reduce the price in Japan to see more sales . Hopefully.
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