PS5 Sales Up 450%, Beating the Nintendo Switch in Japan

(Credit: Triyansh Gill/Unsplash) February 2023 was a good month for Sony. It smashed its PlayStation 5 sales total from February 2022 and kicked the Nintendo Switch out of its top-selling console spot in Japan, where Nintendo consoles have almost always dominated.

Japanese video game magazine Famitsu shared Wednesday that 366,982 PS5s sold in February 2023, up 457% from its comparatively measly 65,772 units sold in February 2022. This means Sony is well on its way to smashing FY2022’s sales to smithereens; February 2023 saw more unit sales than all of Q12023 saw, and FY2022 only sold 1,154,050 PS5s.

Why the contrast? Whether or not we wanted one, most of us remember how difficult it was to find a PS5 last year…or the year before that…or the year before that. The global chip shortage limited Sony’s ability to churn out its new console, and combined with high demand, that made retailers’ shelves barren. Sony even extended the PlayStation 4’s time on the assembly line to compensate for the PS5 shortage. It took until this year for Sony to declare the shortage over, and clearly, it wasn’t messing around.

(Credit: Alvaro Reyes/Unsplash)

The PS5’s success also means the Nintendo Switch may have finally met its match—at least in sales. Sony’s latest console has never beaten the Switch in Japan. It hasn’t even come close; despite landing in second place last year, the PS5 was miles behind the Switch at 942,798 and 5.3 million units, respectively. Sony fans got excited in early February after the PS5 stole the Switch’s leading spot in Japan, but few expected it to last as long as it did. Some think the PS5’s relative novelty, compared with the Switch’s age, might make it a more appealing console option for gamers who are choosing between one or the other.

It’s hard to say how long Sony’s victory over the Switch will last. In the meantime, Nintendo can wipe its tears because its software is still number one in Japan, at least for now. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe topped 189,031 unit sales in Japan in February, while the controversial Hogwarts Legacy (only available on PS5 and Xbox) was the top-selling non-Nintendo title at 126,086 unit sales.

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