Competing for the lead in the console war in its home Japan, Sony finally managed to surpass Nindendo, another Japanese game giant. But not with such a small difference; with a sales difference of exactly 457 percent on an annual basis… As reported by Famitsu, PlayStation 5 managed to increase sales by 457 percent on an annual basis, by selling 366 thousand 982 units.
Sony’s sales of 65,772 PS5 units in February 2022 contributed greatly to this success. Twitter user Genki_JPN also pointed out that the PS5 sold more in February than the first quarter of 2022 combined.
February PS5 sales in Japan were up 457% YoY!
Units sold:
• Feb 2022 – 65,772
• Feb 2023 – 366,982– First month since February 2018 that the Switch was not #1 (via @GameDataLibrary)
– PS5 sold more units last month alone than the first 4 months of 2022 combined in Japan! pic.twitter.com/9AraTNFxwe— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) March 8, 2023
The PS5 thus surpasses not only the Xbox but also the Nintendo Switch, impressively, as the best-selling console in Japan. Switch, on the other hand, ranks 2nd with sales of 221 thousand 041 units.
Software Challenges
Undoubtedly, there are games behind the sales success of consoles. Hogwarts Legacy and Wild Hearts topped the list, selling 36,958 and 26,905 units, respectively. Despite Sony taking the top 2 places with these games, the company’s next closest game was Tales of Symphonia Remastered on PS4, which ranked 8th.
The Secret of Success
While it’s shocking that the PS5 ended Nintendo’s impressive streak, it’s remarkable that this success came with the news that the PS5 shortage in Asia was over. This huge surge in sales was captured by Sony announcing that the company has finally resolved the supply issues that have plagued this next-gen console worldwide for a long time.
Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced to the audience at the PlayStation Partner Awards that Sony had finally fixed the PS5 stock issues in December 2022. This explanation seems to have found its way into practice.
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