Welcome to the VGChartz Sales Comparison Charts monthly discussion thread for the May 2024 charts. Everyone is welcome to join the discussion and post any charts I forget to post. View the list of May 2024 articles here.

Link to the VGChartz article here.

Switch vs DS Sales Comparison in Japan - May 2024 (Final Update)

This monthly series compares the aligned Japanese sales of the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo DS.

The DS launched in December 2004 in Japan and the Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017. Therefore, the normal holiday periods and the Japanese Golden Week holiday for the two consoles do not lineup.

Switch Vs. DS Japan:

Gap change in latest month: 178,772 - Switch

Gap change over last 12 months: 3,318,641 - Switch

Total Lead: 115,863 - Switch

Switch Total Sales: 33,049,895

DS Total Sales: 32,934,032

May 2024 is the 87th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for in Japan. During the latest month, the Switch has outsold the DS by 178,772 units when you align the launches.

In the last 12 months, the Switch has outsold the DS by 3.32 million units. The Switch is now ahead of the DS by 115,863 units.

The 86th month for the Switch is May 2024, while for the DS it is February 2012. The Switch has sold 33.05 million units, while the DS sold 32.93 million units during the same timeframe.

This month the Nintendo Switch has outsold the lifetime sales of the Nintendo DS in Japan to become the best-selling video game platform of all time in Japan. The Switch’s 33.05 million units sold is above the 32.99 million units the Nintendo DS sold lifetime in Japan.

Link to the VGChartz article here.

PS5 vs PS4 Sales Comparison in Japan - May 2024

This monthly series compares the aligned Japanese sales of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

The PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020 in Japan, while the PlayStation 4 launched in February 2014. This does mean the holiday periods for the two consoles do not lineup.

PS5 Vs. PS4 Japan:

Gap change in latest month: 69,260 - PS4

Gap change over last 12 months: 220,243 - PS4

Total Lead: 270,813 - PS5

PlayStation 5 Total Sales: 5,663,047

PlayStation 4 Total Sales: 5,392,234

May 2024 is the 43rd month the PlayStation 5 has been available for. In the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the PlayStation 4 when compared to the aligned launch of the PlayStation 5 by 69,260 units.

In the last 12 months, the PS4 has outsold the PS5 by 220,243 units. The PS5 is currently ahead by 270,813 units.

The 43rd month for the PS5 in Japan is May 2024, while for the PS4 it is August 2017. The PS5 has sold 5.66 million units, while the PS4 sold 5.39 million units during the same timeframe. The PS4 sold current PS5 sales in month 46.

The PS4 crossed 6 million in month 47, 7 million in month 53, and 8 million in month 61. The PS4 has sold 9.68 million units to date. The PS5 is currently 4.02 million units behind the lifetime sales of the PS4 in Japan.

Congrats to Switch for being the best selling system of all time in Japan.  However, it is kind of a shame that there are no comparisons left for Switch in Japan.  I guess you could do Switch vs Wii + DS.  That would be it.  Switch already beat the lifetime total of PS3 + PSP in Japan.

How can the PS5 outperform the Xbox 5 to 1 in Q1 of this year and then go back to 4 to 1 in April, odd considering that this is the month that Stellar Blade was released?

"The PlayStation 5 shipped 4.5 million units in the last quarter. According to our estimates, this is almost 5x more than the Xbox Series X|S shipped in the same period." - Daniel Ahmad on Twitter (Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners)

Link to the VGChartz article here.

Xbox Series X|S vs Xbox 360 Sales Comparison in Japan - May 2024

This monthly series compares the aligned sales of the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox 360 in Japan, as well as looking at lifetime original Xbox sales and Xbox One sales.

The Xbox Series X|S launched in Japan in November 2020, while the Xbox 360 launched in Japan in December 2005. The original Xbox launched in Japan in February 2002 and the Xbox One in September 2014.

XSX|S Vs. X360 Japan:

Gap change in latest month: 18,930 - X360

Gap change over last 12 months: 315,963 - X360

Total Lead: 500,790 - X360

Xbox Series X|S Total Sales: 598,035

Xbox 360 Total Sales: 1,098,825

May 2024 is the 43rd month the Xbox Series X|S has been available for in Japan. In the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the Xbox 360 when compared to the aligned launch of the Xbox Series X|S by 18,930 units.

In the last 12 months, the Xbox 360 has outsold the Xbox Series X|S by 315,963 units. The Xbox 360 is currently ahead by 500,790 units.

The Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.60 million units in 43 months, while the Xbox 360 sold 1.10 million units. Month 43 for the Xbox Series X|S is May 2024 and for the Xbox 360 is June 2009.

The Xbox 360 crossed 1.2 million units in month 49 and 1.5 million units in month 67. The Xbox 360 sold 1.66 million units lifetime. The Xbox Series X|S is 1.06 million units behind lifetime Xbox 360 sales.

On a serpentine note, according to Daniel Ahmad, 4.5 million PS5s were sold between January and March, which equates to 1.5 million units per month.
But in April, when the Stellar Blade was sold, according to VGC, the number suddenly dropped to 825,000 units.

This also seems odd.

January and March were both 5 week months, so 2 months in Q1 had that extra week, while April was 4 weeks. Also that 4.5 million figure is shipped and not sell-through if you look at Sony's website (https://sonyinteractive.com/en/our-company/business-data-sales/). 

Sales almost always drop in Q2 compared to Q1. We had all consoles drop in April compared to all the months in Q1. In Japan the PS5 dropped from 139K in March to 92K in April. NPD had all consoles dropping a minimum of 26% year-on-year in April, so there was an upper limit we could have sales for the PS5 in the US, which is by far the biggest gaming market.

At least in the US, Stellar Blade wasn't a massive hit as NPD said it was the worst selling number one ranked game in the month of April since April 2012 when Prototype 2 was number one.

Stellar Blade debuted in 9th place in Europe and 12th place in the UK.

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/461129/ps5-best-selling-console-in-the-us-in-april-stellar-blade-best-selling-game/

The Europe report for April from GamesIndustry stated "it was a tough month with console sales down 47% over the same period the year before. All three major platforms are down substantially."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/pc-and-console-game-sales-fall-in-europe-over-april-as-major-releases-dry-up-european-monthly-charts

The UK report for April also reported similarly bad sales. "Sales of video game consoles continue to struggle in the UK, with hardware sales down 39% over April to 71,000 units sold (GfK panel data). All three major platforms continue to post declines, with overall console sales down nearly 30% year-to-date. So far this year, Xbox Series console sales are down just under 25%, PS5 sales are down just over 25%, and Switch sales are down 38%."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/fallout-4-rules-the-roost-in-april-uk-monthly-charts

Was February also 5 weeks?
A quarter is a quarter and three months is three months. Daniel did not mean by the number of weeks.

Also, going down from an average of 1.5 million to 825,000 is a 45 percent decrease, far from a 25 percent decrease. So it is a contradiction.
And Xbox dropped 45 percent from March to April in VGC?
Probably not.

And of course the UK is not the same as global.

In any case, it will be interesting to see how VGC corrects this later.

Again the 4.5 million figure is shipped and not sold. We have PS5 at 1.41M sold in March (282K/week on average), which dropped to 825K in April (206K/week on average). That is a 42% drop when looking at the overall sales, while the weekly average dropped 27%.

For Xbox we had sales of 351K in March (70K/week on average), which dropped to 208K in April (52K/week on average). That is a 41% drop when looking at the overall sales, while the weekly average dropped 26%.

The drops for both consoles are down by pretty much the same percent from March to April.

We take the available data and extrapolate to get our worldwide estimates. It should mean the estimates are fairly close in North America, Europe, and Japan. But as always we do make adjustments when more data becomes available.