The Xbox One has had one of the lowest openings in Japan. After four days, the console was only able to sell 23,562 units.
Playstation 4 and Wii U each had launch sales of 322,083 units and 308,570 units respectively. These numbers came after only two days in the market.
This is also low in comparison to other consoles in the past 15 or so years in Japan. It was lower than its predecessor, the Xbox 360, which sold 62,135 units after 2 days. The only consoles, portable and home console, that compare to the Xbox One’s numbers were the SNK NeoGeo Pocket and SNK NeoGeo Pocket Color, at 21,471 units and 18,809 units respectively.
Regarding software sales, Microsoft pulled a Knack, and sold most games via bundles. 22,416 units were sold, many of which were part of Xbox One Titanfall bundles. Second was Kinect Sports Rivals, at 14,191 units and again due to many copies bundled with the consoles. Finally, 3rd best selling was Dead Rising 3 at 7,330 units.
We already know that the Xbox One had a very small launch, so the low sales are not surprising, but the scale at which the console undersold is. Microsoft has always had problems selling the Xbox brand in Japan. In light of the poor reputation the console has even outside Japan, everything was simply stacked against it in this launch.
Still, I have to give kudos to Microsoft for insisting with this release. That’s still 20,000 + fans who wanted to buy the console and play its games. Microsoft could have chosen not to release or delay knowing the low interest, but went ahead with it anyway.
