The Nintendo Switch has been dominating the Japanese market on all fronts pretty much since the day it launched, and that dominance has only grown with each year. 2021 didn’t buck that trend either. As per data provided by Famitsu (via GamesIndustry), in the period between December 28, 2020 and December 19, 2021, all models of the Nintendo Switch collectively sold 5.3 million units in Japan- which is up from the 5.1 million units it sold over the preceding year.
Incredibly, every single game in the top 10 highest selling games of the year in Japan was a Switch title. Major exclusives also drove strong sales, including Monster Hunter Rise (which was the best-selling game of the year in Japan), Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (collectively the second highest-selling game of the year in the region), and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Japan’s No. 3 for 2021).
The other consoles didn’t enjoy similarly strong sales. The PS5 was second in place to the Switch, but a massive gap separates the two, with the PS5 having sold less than a million in the region over the course of the year- 942,798 units, to be precise. That’s still ten times as much as what the Xbox Series X/S collectively sold though- that number stands at 95,598.
Meanwhile, the PS4 sold 103,786, and the Nintendo 3DS also continued to trudge along, having sold 28,224 units.
