 Huh, I don't know if I really saw this one coming. So Femitsu has put out a report, we usually get a weekly sales report from Femitsu slash MediaCrate, more MediaCrate now because Femitsu doesn't give numbers anymore and MediaCrate still does, but Femitsu does give numbers sometimes when it comes to launches of really big products, specifically hardware products and we now have the launch sales for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X slash S in Japan and honestly both figures are extremely surprising and things are looking pretty good for Xbox in Japan even though you know some people are gonna argue oh LOL look at those numbers, well let's actually, I don't know, look at those numbers. So for context, PlayStation 4 has sold 9,246,235 units in Japan and the Xbox One, well didn't really sell much, I mean 114,617 units, it sold 29 units last week, basically it's like a completely dead platform in Japan, very few people care about it, it just isn't, it did not do good. Xbox platforms have never done well in Japan, but let's get into some context here as well, the Xbox One in Japan launched at just 1100 units sold, so the Xbox One basically flopped out the gate in Japan, PlayStation 4 launched at 333,000 units during its launch week, so these are contextual numbers for what we're about to talk about with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X slash S because according to Femitsu there's six days of data here, the PlayStation 5 sold 118,000 units during its launch which is just four days, so it was gone in four days or they only have four days worth of data I should say, and the Xbox Series XSS sold 21,000 units in six days, now of note Femitsu does not have data that separates out X from S sales, so we aren't sure what the platform split is, we do have some data on that for PlayStation 5 however, and it's interesting because when you look at these numbers neither of them sound great, but if you're an Xbox fan, this is amazing progress in Japan for a launch of a platform last time that barely broke 1000 to sell 21,000 units at launch and I want to put this in perspective, it is sold out, the Xbox Series X slash S is sold out, they are literally doing lotteries for this system in Japan, lotteries standing in line and getting tickets for hoping for a chance to buy an Xbox Series X slash S, they haven't really done this for anything besides the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch was getting lotteries a lot this year due to a lack of availability of units and the high demand of them and we'll probably have lotteries happen again for the holiday period because the Switch is such a high demand system, but right now they're having lotteries for the Xbox Series X slash S because Microsoft does not have enough units in Japan, which to be fair to Microsoft, they've been a flop in Japan forever, so why would they have 500,000 units available in Japan when last time they only sold 100,000, so why would they even have enough to meet demand, because who knew the demand for the Xbox Series X slash S would even be this big, this shows that Microsoft has made amazing progress in Japan, I don't know if it's Game Pass that's making people want to latch on because it's such a great deal, it's cheap for gaming, we don't know if that's the case because there aren't really any Xbox Series X slash S versions of games that charted, so it seems to be that people were buying it specifically for Game Pass, which that's wow, that's a feather in their cap if that is the case. Now PlayStation 5 sold significantly worse than PlayStation 4 at launch, however after four days it did actually sell out, now from the reports I'm not seeing that there were any lotteries for PlayStation 5, but there are some interesting things to look at in regards to PlayStation 5 as an example, the best selling PlayStation 5 game was Miles Morales, with 18,640 units sold, right behind that was Demon's Souls, like literally right behind it, at 18,607 copies sold, so yeah, I did mention there's a split for PlayStation 5 as well for the hardware, so of the 100,000 or so that's sold there, 88% were the disc version, 12% were the digital version as well, so there's just a lot of data to extrapolate here, a lot of things to talk about because one, why did PlayStation 5 do so much worse in Japan than the PlayStation 4? I think there's a couple of factors, one is obviously they didn't have as much stock this time around, pandemic we can't ignore that, that is obviously playing a factor, but what we also have to remember is when the PlayStation 4 launched there really wasn't like a massively popular system that people use as a home console at the time, like there is right now, the Nintendo Switch is still selling incredibly well and when we get the media create sales then we'll actually get to see how the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X did in comparison switch because at 118,000 units sold it's possible PlayStation 5 is at the number one slot, but it's also possible that the Nintendo Switch is still in number one and I wonder if that's going to be an issue here in the United States as well where Switch is going to hold on to number one in November just because there's more of them out there than there are PlayStation 5s and Xbox Series Xs and we know globally Xbox Series X sold over a million units, we don't yet know for PlayStation 5, Sony hasn't signed anything, but Phil Spencer put out there that they sold the most units ever for the launch of an Xbox platform where the most ever was Xbox One worldwide at 1 million units during launch week, so that would infer that Xbox Series Xs has sold more than a million units, we don't know the exact numbers, but at least we have an idea it's more than a million and we have some exact numbers in Japan, we have nothing for PlayStation 5 beyond the numbers in Japan, so again we'll have to see, I know some people out there are rooting for Switch to hold on another month because Switch is setting a record right now with the consecutive months owning the MPD, but this is great. I worry that the PlayStation 4 is not only being cannibalized by Switch sales, but also on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 being cannibalized by Switch sales, but also that I wonder if these consoles are not friendly for the Japanese market. I know Xbox is making progress in that market and this is really like 21,000 units, Microsoft is literally jumping out of their seats right now at those kind of sales in Japan. The fact that there's lotteries for Xbox Series Xs and Ss in Japan, Microsoft has got to be thrilled because now they have real demand for the system, I don't know how many it's going to sell this week, I don't know how many units they've sent over there, how many units they were planning to send over there, but I think that Microsoft's not only elated by these numbers, I think that both of these systems are going to have issues even coming close to Switch because the thing is not only because Switch is a portable and Japanese like portables in addition to being the home console, but I think also just because they're both really expensive and I think in some ways they're priced a little bit out of the normal pricing that Japanese market likes to sit around which is about 300 or so, so they're both priced outside of this. Now notably the Xbox Series S is not priced outside of that and potentially that's why are the interests for the Xbox Series Ss coming from. Maybe the S is the system that's blowing up in Japan because Microsoft did tell us they believe long haul the Xbox Series S is going to be the more successful best-selling platform between the two where the X would actually be the leader at launch because of gaming enthusiasts and tech enthusiasts, but the S would be the leader long haul. Maybe it's possible in Japan and other Asian countries that the $300 budget series S bundled with Game Pass actually ends up being the preferred platform. Maybe that's what they mean. Maybe the X is always the leader here in the United States where we seem to care a lot about power and visuals, but out in those Asian countries, the China is the Japan's, India, maybe countries like that. Well, you know what? It turns out that the S is actually really, really popular. So we'll have to wait and see what happens with that. Obviously, we know the disc version of PlayStation 5 was the best seller, but will the digital version be the better seller over time? We'll have to wait and see. All I know is these are very, very good sales. And I am happy to see the Xbox mates of ground. I think PlayStation 5 obviously was supply constrained a little, but would they have hit it if they had unlimited supply? Would they have hit it? I don't know. There was not lotteries happening. So it doesn't sound like it was as hard to get a PlayStation 5 if it was a Series X slash S. So air go maybe demand was more met. We'll see. Week 2 sales will be very telling for these systems and how, if they're still able to sell out in week 2. Obviously, we're having an impossible time here in week 2, week 3, getting an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5. It's going to be very hard to get these systems. Even Black Friday when there's going to be quote unquote stock of these systems, it could be up to maybe 10 units online, 2 units per store. It's going to be almost impossible to get these things without knowing somebody who knows exactly when stock is going to land, probably until maybe even summer of next year. It's going to be very difficult to be, if you don't own an Xbox Series X slash S or PlayStation 5 right now, good luck. And the second hand market is not good. Now you can get a Xbox Series X, I think in the second hand market for under a thousand, I think between 7 and 800, I was seeing a few of them multiple for, or maybe those the Series S, I can't remember. But dude, PlayStation 5, whether it's the digital version or the disc version, I mean, scalpers are hitting you for a thousand to 1500 bucks. Easy. This is, and the prices aren't coming down. So I don't know if they're actually selling at that price, or they think they will sell because people will be so frustrated, they can't get their hands on this. Like I go on Amazon, you know, not just eBay, I go on Amazon sometimes and just say, hey, you know, what's this going on 1500, 1400 for the cheapest one? That's, dude, it's, it's crazy. The world we're living in right now with these next-gen systems. So, hey, you know what, kudos to Microsoft for making progress in Japan. Sony, I mean, hey, you sold out as well. So, so good job. Good job selling out. Obviously, we don't know what the real demand is yet until more stock comes in. But we do know that that is very good numbers for Xbox. So this is very good for Xbox doesn't look as good for Sony. But again, they sold out and there's a pandemic. So I'm trying to be fair here. Sony does have a couple of top selling games in the Miles Morales PS5 version of Miles Morales and obviously Demon's Souls. We'll see if those, if that's enough to top the charts or if Nintendo's still at the top of some of their games. I have a feeling Nintendo might take a backseat this week to the PlayStation 5 and the PlayStation 5 games before bouncing back, you know, next week. But, hey, we'll find out when Media Create lands. So we'll have one more sales update tomorrow on this Japanese stuff where we can get a more direct comparison with Nintendo in the mix.