The Xbox Series X and S are already sold out in Japan mere hours after hitting the market. The next generation consoles became available for pre-order at midnight, and players will get their hands on them November 10th.
Xbox has historically performed poorly in the Japanese market. Recently, however, Microsoft claimed that Japan is the fastest-growing region in the world for its consoles. This was seemingly confirmed by the rate at which latest products sold out after becoming available to the public. This is already a massive improvement over the Xbox One, which made less than one percent of all its global sales in the Japanese region.
Video Games Chronicle reports that the more expensive Xbox Series X sold out in less than 20 minutes on Amazon Japan after pre-orders went live at midnight. One hour later, the Series S was also out of stock. Many major Japanese electronic chains also reported that both consoles sold out within hours of becoming available, including Microsoft's official Japanese store. All of this came just hours after Microsoft Japan announced a small price cut to the Series S, but it is not clear if this had any direct impact on sales.
Xbox continued its Japanese promotional campaign for the latest consoles on Thursday at the all-digital Tokyo Game Show. There, Microsoft showed off many games that players could expect for the new systems, focusing mainly on titles made within the country like Resident Evil 7. The publisher has been trying hard in recent years to cater to the Japanese audience, and it would appear that its efforts have paid off. This success came shortly after news broke that Microsoft is in the process of purchasing ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda, the developer best known for publishing the Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Doom series.
This fast start is a good sign for Xbox as Microsoft tries to assert itself in a market where it's struggled for years. It's possible that Microsoft is trying to diversify its gaming roster by catering to the market in the hopes of acquiring a developer from the region. Microsoft and Xbox have had a lot of good news to announce in recent weeks, and no doubt hope this success will continue. With its rapid growth around the world, it will be interesting to see if Xbox continues to court other regions in the future. It's possible that the next generation of gaming could resemble the current television streaming service model, where giants like Xbox and PlayStation could keep the properties they own as exclusives, forcing players to choose a new console based on the exclusive titles they prefer.
Source: Video Games Chronicle