Nintendo Outsells Sony In Japan for Its 20th Year

Nintendo is no stranger to competition. The SEGA/Nintendo rivalry led to some of the wittiest marketing of the era. However, Nintendo sought to establish dominance by developing a new console with Sony that would make use of CDs. Nintendo, however, decided to cosy up with a competitor of Sony’s instead and that led to the PlayStation. A neat little parry riposte from Sony. The two have been competing on and off ever since. Except in Japan, that is, where Nintendo seemingly has the PlayStation in a chokehold. 

As shared by the folks over at Video Games Chronicle. Game Data Library’s archive suggested that of the fifteen top-selling games of 2025, thirteen were Nintendo Switch titles. This was likely no surprise in Japan, as the company has led in sales for the past 20 years. But it wasn’t just in games that Nintendo outsold Sony. According to Famitsu the PlayStation 5 outsold the Nintendo Switch for only three weeks of the entire year. 

As you may or may not know, Japan is the home territory of both of these companies. However, it’s clear from the sales figures that the Nintendo Switch is a clear winner in the hearts of Japanese gamers. Today marks the day that the Nintendo Switch was first released 8 years ago. For the device to be outselling new hardware in its 8th year is beyond impressive. 

If you would like to see which games made up Japan’s top 15 last year then check out Video Games Chronicle’s list here. The Nintendo Switch 2 is supposedly going to be announced in the coming weeks, if you’d like to read more click here.