PS5 restock ruckus results in disappointment and Nintendo Switch weekly sales figures in Japan hit over 1,000 times more than those of the Xbox Series X|S

A PS5 restock event has ended in a disturbing commotion at a large retailer in Tokyo called Yodobashi Camera. What should have been an exciting moment for both customers and staff resulted in an agitated crowd surging forward in a dangerous and uncontrolled manner, which was doubly shocking (see video posted below) when considering the COVID-19 situation that has left Tokyo in a state of emergency. Unfortunately for those who had risked the hazards of the crowd to try to secure a PS5 purchase, police were called in to put a stop to things before any sales could be made.

Short supplies of both the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles have obviously contributed to these moments of mayhem, and of course scalpers have only made things worse by snatching up PS5 restock when it has become available. For instance, there are reports that a scalping group in the UK managed to snag a significant chunk of the PS5 delivery for the major retailer Argos before it was offered to the gaming public. But even supply problems and unscrupulous scalpers cannot completely explain how poorly the Xbox Series X|S consoles are faring in Japan in terms of sales figures.

Microsoft would not have targeted Japan ahead of key markets such as North America and Europe for its latest generation of consoles, and there’s no denying that the Xbox Series X is a fantastic gaming device (whereas the Xbox Series S does have some limitations). But when VGChartz reports just 164 unit sales for Microsoft's machines compared to 7,341 sales for the PS5 (almost 45x XSX|S) and a massive 171,250 unit sales for the Nintendo Switch (1,044x XSX|S) for the week through January 16, it seems safe to say that the new Xbox consoles may already be plateauing in terms of sales in the Japan market.

Buy the Nintendo Switch on Amazon