Forza Horizon 5 Becomes First Xbox Game To Enter Japanese Retail Charts In 7 Years

In this week’s Japanese retail charts, Forza Horizon 5 became the first Xbox game after 7 years to rank in the top 30. It entered the chart at No.15 with its Xbox Series version, breaking a long dry spell for the company. The racing game making such headway is most probably because it is bundled with the Xbox Series X in Japan.

Final Fantasy XV‘s Xbox One edition was the last Xbox game to enter the top 30 of Japan’s retail charts. It came out way back in 2016, nearly 7 years ago. Hence, Forza Horizon 5 is the first title on the console that has made the charts in almost a decade. 

Forza Horizon 5 (XBS) enter the chart as the game is bundled with the latest Xbox Series X package.
This is the first Xbox game to rank in the top 30 since 2016's Final Fantasy XV (XB1). https://t.co/nASEPfpF7k

— Pierre485 (@pierre485_) February 24, 2023

Japan has been a major talking point during the regulator battle surrounding Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The dominance of PlayStation and Nintendo has been Microsoft‘s key proof to showcase its underdog status in the industry. And, they aren’t wrong either as the Japanese companies are miles ahead of the tech giant in Japan.

Since the PlayStation 5 stock started improving, the console has ruled the retail console charts in the country. Before that, the Nintendo Switch was almost always No.1 in the country throughout 2022. However, no Xbox Series console has hit the No.1 spot yet and their sales are a lot less than the other two.

In the latest charts, for example, the Xbox Series consoles only sold 6.6k units. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch sold over 48k, with the PS5 topping again with almost 90k consoles sold. So, it isn’t hard to see how behind the console is compared to its competitors in Japan.

Consequently, software retail charts tell a similar story with no Xbox version of the game charting in almost 7 years. Final Fantasy XV on Xbox One was the last to achieve this feat. But, you can even put that on the popularity of the franchise in Japan.

This statistic has finally changed for good in the latest Japan retail charts, however. Forza Horizon 5 has become the first Xbox game to rank in the overall top 30 of the charts after 6 years and 3 months. We don’t know about you, but that is certainly a long time for any console to chart a game in the top 30.

Remarkably, Forza Horizon 5 sold 3.9k units this week alone. To put things into perspective, it had only sold over 2.5k units in over a year before this week. According to aggregator Pierre485, this sales boost is because of the racing simulator’s bundle with Xbox Series X consoles.

Hence, it seems like people are starting to pick up the new Xbox console in Japan. But, this performance still needs a lot of improvement as the console is far behind the Switch and the PS5. Even in the software charts, there are more PlayStation 4 games than Xbox Series games.

Two PS4 games ranked in the top 30 of the Japan retail charts this week, while only one Xbox Series game did. On the other hand, four PlayStation 5 games were in the top 30, with the Switch dominating with 23 entries.

When you consider how even the Xbox version of Minecraft or the sales phenomenon Hogwarts Legacy didn’t make the top 30, you’ll how far behind the company is in Japan.