Unit sales of handheld and home video game consoles in Japan 2022
The PlayStation 5 had sold approximately 1.33 million units in Japan as of April 2022. At the same time, the Xbox Series X had sold around 100 thousand units. Sony and Microsoft had launched the next generation of video game consoles in November 2020, with both companies offering two different versions of their products. The sales figures show that the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S, which represent downgraded but more affordable versions, sold fewer units, although the difference was more pronounced in Sony's case. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch OLED Model, which was released in October 2021, had sold about 1.59 million units within the first few months after its launch.
The Japanese console gaming market
The Japanese video game market is the third biggest gaming market in the world. While the smartphone has become the most popular gaming device in Japan today and continues to drive the economic growth of the gaming industry as a whole, the combined market of handheld and home consoles remains a large industry worth several hundred billion Japanese yen. Taken together, the most successful titles sell several million copies in the course of a single year. In 2017, the successful launch of the Nintendo Switch brought about the first growth of sales revenue for the gaming console industry after a longer period of declining revenue figures.
Leading companies
While the competition on the hardware market is more evenly distributed in other countries, Sony and Nintendo clearly outpace Microsoft on their home market. Next to two of the three major hardware companies, Japan is also home to some of the world’s leading gaming software developers, such as Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Konami, Capcom, and Sega. Their products, which include game franchises like "Final Fantasy" or "Street Fighter", are not only well-received in Japan, but also have a broad audience internationally.
The Japanese console gaming market
The Japanese video game market is the third biggest gaming market in the world. While the smartphone has become the most popular gaming device in Japan today and continues to drive the economic growth of the gaming industry as a whole, the combined market of handheld and home consoles remains a large industry worth several hundred billion Japanese yen. Taken together, the most successful titles sell several million copies in the course of a single year. In 2017, the successful launch of the Nintendo Switch brought about the first growth of sales revenue for the gaming console industry after a longer period of declining revenue figures.
Leading companies
While the competition on the hardware market is more evenly distributed in other countries, Sony and Nintendo clearly outpace Microsoft on their home market. Next to two of the three major hardware companies, Japan is also home to some of the world’s leading gaming software developers, such as Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Konami, Capcom, and Sega. Their products, which include game franchises like "Final Fantasy" or "Street Fighter", are not only well-received in Japan, but also have a broad audience internationally.
