PlayStation sales in Japan in 2023 are the best in 14 years
Sony is having some success in the local market but is nowhere near Nintendo yet.
In 2023, 2.58 million PlayStation 5 units were sold. The last time there were more sales was in 2010 when the PlayStation Portable sold 2.88 million copies.
2023 ranks as the 12th most successful year for PlayStation systems (out of 25). Sony's major success occurred in 1997 when the first PlayStation was sold 4.45 million times.
In its fourth year on the market, PS5 managed to surpass PlayStation 4 in Japan in annual sales. However, the cumulative sales of PS4 are still higher (5.8 M over 4 years compared to 4.95M for PS5).
On the other hand, all these achievements pale in comparison to Nintendo. In 2023, Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in Japan, and all of the top 10 best-selling games in the country were for this console. In the last 19 years, only once has a Nintendo console not been at the top of the chart (precisely in 2010).