PS5 supply issues continue to impact console sales in Japan, leading both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S to outsell the PS5 for a second week in a row. Comparing this to sales numbers for these console families in Japan last year, this marks a compelling reversal between the PS5 and Xbox Series platforms in the region.
How PS5 supply issues impact console sales in Japan
As reported by Famitsu for the week starting on June 13 and ending on June 19, the Xbox Series X sold 3,272 units and the Xbox Series S sold 3,423 units in Japan. By contrast, the PS5 sold only 2,371 units, with the PS5 Digital Edition only selling 664 units.
During a similar time last year for the week starting on June 14, 2021, Famitsu also published hardware sales in Japan. At that time, the Xbox Series X only sold 3,141 units and the Xbox Series S only sold 543 units, which paled in comparison to the PS5 selling 13,905 units and the PS5 Digital Edition selling 1,441 units.
That said, the PS5 still has a massive lead over the Xbox Series consoles in overall sales in Japan. The PS5 has cumulative sales of 1.45 million units in the region whereas the Xbox Series X only has cumulative sales of 108 thousand units.
Last week, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart warned that both Xbox Series X and PS5 stock issues would continue though 2022 due to supply chain disruptions, particularly with China going into lockdown again due to a rise in covid-19 cases. With console manufacturers only having “limited parts,” he expected the Xbox Series S to gain market share in multiple regions including the US and Europe. This has apparently followed through to the Japanese region as well.
Earlier this month, Sony announced that it would have a “significant ramp-up” in console production to increase PS5 stock as worldwide PS5 sales crossed the 20 million mark. Despite this, PS5 supply issues have pushed the console to third place in the US behind the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X|S.
In other news, PS Plus Extra and Premium have lost four games following the service’s launch in Europe, and Sony has finally acknowledged PS Plus Classics performance issues in various regions.
