Switch Best-Seller, PS5 'Slim' Boosts PS5 - Japan Hardware Estimates for November 2023 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 07 December 2023 / 7,339 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in Japan with 296,326 units sold for November 2023, according to VGChartz estimates. The Nintendo Switch has now sold an estimated 31.40 million units lifetime in Japan.
The PlayStation 5 sold an estimated 231,355 units to bring its lifetime sales to 4.75 million units. The Xbox Series X|S sold 12,603 units to bring their lifetime sales to 0.54 million units. The PlayStation 4 sold an estimated 5,378 units to bring its lifetime sales to 9.66 million units.
PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2016 are down by over 12,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are up by over 11,000 units. PS4 sold 243,420 units for the month of November 2016 and Xbox One sales were at 1,348 units.
Nintendo Switch sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 218,593 units (-42.5%). PlayStation 5 sales are up by 106,535 (85.4%) and Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 4,765 units (-27.4%). The PlayStation 4 is down by 3,047 units (-36.2%) year-over-year.
Looking at sales month-on-month, Nintendo Switch sales are up by over 13,000 units, the PlayStation 5 sales are up by over 165,000 units, and Xbox Series X|S sales are up by over 4,000 units.
2023 year-to-date, the Nintendo Switch has sold an estimated 3.51 million units, the PlayStation 5 has sold 2.33 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.13 million units.
Monthly Sales:
Japan hardware estimates for November 2023 (Followed by lifetime sales):
- Switch - 296,326 (31,400,049)
- PlayStation 5 - 231,355 (4,753,947)
- Xbox Series X|S - 12,603 (536,295)
- PlayStation 4 - 5,378 (9,659,517)
Weekly Sales:
Japan November 4, 2023 hardware estimates:
- Switch - 93,268
- Xbox Series X|S - 4,746
- PlayStation 4 - 1,309
- PlayStation 5 - 1,222
Japan November 11, 2023 hardware estimates:
- PlayStation 5 - 107,968
- Switch - 65,795
- Xbox Series X|S - 2,586
- PlayStation 4 - 1,334
Japan November 18, 2023 hardware estimates:
- Switch - 65,566
- PlayStation 5 - 62,921
- Xbox Series X|S - 3,132
- PlayStation 4 - 651
Japan November 25, 2023 hardware estimates:
- Switch - 71,697
- Xbox Series X|S - 59,244
- PlayStation 5 - 2,139
- PlayStation 4 - 2,084
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Interestingly, sales of the Switch in Japan correspond to 24% of total sales and the PS5 corresponds to approximately 10%. This shows that Nintendo is much stronger than Sony in Japan but extremely dependent. If a Playstation sells poorly in Japan it won't make much difference to global sales, but if Nintendo sells poorly in Japan it will make a big difference
I agree, Sony consoles sell really well in Europe, while Nintendo consoles sell really well in Japan. Both sell great in the US.
Does anyone know why Europe dislikes Nintendo consoles, and why Japan dislikes Sony consoles?
There a number of reasons , one is Playstation's focus on the western market that picked up steam during the PS3 era,this was due to a couple of factors one being that many of the Japanese games that helped both the PS1 and PS2 do well in japan, especially those brands that relied on low production costs that saw sales in the 50 to 500k range being profitable, started to see the increased production costs not being matched by increased sales, making the roi cost prohibitive on the new hardware , so they went looking for other markets or they followed those that had migrated and found a home on the PSP and DS then there was the fact that many of the big Japanese 3rd party publishers were also looking at the Western market to broaden their sales market and most of that Western oriented content was delivered on Playstation and Xbox,.
Now onto Nintendo and specially the Switch reinvigorating a Japanese market that was called the land of the handheld with its declining home console market coupled with an aging population,while successful before, this renewal was truly emphasised by the huge take up during the covid years , it was basically the right product at the right time that fulfilled the gaming handheld traditions of Japanese gamers with out any competition while also giving them a small form factor home console, sure there is a lot of detail missing here but you would need to write a book to fit it all in so i'll leave the japanese side here.
Thank you. I really appreciate you explaining this, even if it was a small snippet of this iceberg. Very true that Playstation is marketing Americans and Europeans harder than the Japanese. And I loved reading about the background history you provided.
Yeah you should totally write a book about it. :)
Nintendo does well in some places in Europe and even if they might be 2nd or at times 3rd in sales, it's not like it's doing bad. They are often dominating in France too.
Nintendo in Europe compared to Sony, has been rather lackluster. With the Switch, it is selling almost evenly in both Japan and Europe. ~31M and ~33M (rounded down to nearest whole number). And we havent gone over a general percentage of how many own a Switch. Lets just say (for simplicity) that if a Switch is sold, it goes to someone that doesn't own a Switch (which isn't always true).
Japanese citizens with a Switch: 31.4M
Japanese citizens: 123.29M
Percentage: 25.47%
1 in every 4 people in Japan own a Switch, that is rather crazy to think about.
Now in Europe.
Europeans with a Switch: 33.56M
European citizens: 742.27M
Percentage 4.52%
4 in every 100 people in Europe own a Switch
Spain and France are the two larger populations for the Switch, while Germany and Italy are big PS5 fans.
Switch best ever console in Japan surpass GB and DS in a few weeks.Ps5 the worst numbers ever for Ps brand.Only one console in market with extra low numbers
PS5 is still king
