Leading console games in Japan 2023, based on unit sales

With more than 1.9 million sold units, "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" was the best-selling video game title for consoles in Japan in 2023. The action-adventure game was released for the Nintendo Switch in May of that year.

The Japanese video game market

The Japanese video game market is the third-biggest gaming market in the world. While the lion’s share of the market is held by the smartphone, console gaming continues to be a large industry with annual sales of several hundred billion Japanese yen. With Nintendo and Sony, Japan is home to two of the three big console manufacturers, and Japanese consumers continue to show a preference for these domestic brands. Ever since the release of the first Xbox in Japan back in 2002, Microsoft had trouble gaining a significant share of the market.

Hardware sales of gaming consoles

A ranking of the cumulative unit sales of handheld and home video game consoles shows that the Nintendo Switch is currently reigning supreme in Japan. Console hardware sales increased with the launch of the Switch in 2017 and the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X in 2020. In the years from 2020 to 2022, the market also profited from the heightened demand for home entertainment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.