Dragon Quest XI Storms Media Create Sales Charts; Pushes PS4 and 3DS Hard in Japan

Today is the Wednesday that many Dragon Quest fans waited for, as the Media Create charts related to the period between July 24th and July 30th have been released. That includes the first two days on the market of Dragon Quest XI.

Unsurprisingly, the game took Japan by Storm, it’s Dragon Quest, after all. Check out the full software chart below:

1. Dragon Quest XI – 3DS- 1,148,888/New
2. Dragon Quest XI – PS4 – 950, 315/New
3. Splatoon 2 – Switch – 105, 326/753, 411
4. Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy – 3DS – 24,491/95, 358
5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Switch – 13,841/601, 869
6. Hey! Pikmin – 3DS – 11,900/99, 394
7. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age – PS4 – 8, 158/127, 971
8. Sumikko-gurashi: Koko, Doko Nandesu? – 3DS – 8,027/28, 910
9. Kenka Bancho Otome – 3DS – 6,931/New
10. ARMS – Switch – 5, 959/183, 945
11. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Switch – 5,803/548, 819
12. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Trilogy – PS4 – 5,626/New
13. Gundam Versus – PS4 – 5,294/149, 137
14. Pokémon Sun & Moon – 3DS – 5,283/3, 300, 384
15. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered – PS4 – 4,879/New
16. Minecraft: PS Vita Edition – PS Vita – 3,867/1,184,150
17. Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo – 3DS – 3,607/208, 705
18. Wagamama High Spec – PS Vita – 3,062/New
19. Fruit of Grisaia – Side Episode – PS Vita – 3,052/New
20. Hiiro no Kakera – Omo Iro no Kioku – PS Vita -2,914/New

Below you can find the full hardware chart for the week:

1. New 2DS XL: 110,963
2. Switch: 89,314
3. PS4: 82,368
4. New 3DS XL: 26,587
5. PS4 Pro: 10,988
6. Vita: 4,967
7. 2DS: 3,680
8. New 3DS: 1,370
9. Wii U: 142
10. PS3: 121
11. Xbox One: 94

The 3DS version of Dragon Quest XI pushed past the PS4 version, even if the difference in sales isn’t as big as you’d imagine considering the 18 million gap in installed base in favor of the 3DS.

Incidentally the game also pushed both 3DS and PS4 hardware sales hard, with Nintendo’s console taking advantage of the New 2DS XL effect to sell a whopping 142,600 units. PlayStation 4 grabs itself a very solid second place at 93,356 units counting PS4 and PS4 Pro.

It’s worth mentioning that the Media Create charts don’t include digital downloads, which means that the gap could be much smaller, considering that the Japanese PlayStation fanbase is much more accepting of full game downloads than the Nintendo camp. As a matter of fact, there could even be a reversal, but we won’t know until Famitsu publishes its digital sales chart for last month on August 30th. As a side note, Famitsu reported slightly lower sales for the 3DS version and a very similar number for the PS4 SKU earlier this morning.

In addition to this, we learn that Dragon Quest XI sold at debut very similar numbers to the latest single player chapters. Dragon Quest IX debuted with 2,338,221 copies sold, Dragon Quest VIII sold 2,267,827 copies at launch, and Dragon Quest VII moved 1,821,450 units.

Digital Download sales may very well push the game close or even beyond the debut figures of its predecessors. Even without that, though, Dragon Quest XI had by far the biggest PS4 debut of the history of the console in Japan.

One thing is for sure: the console market may have slightly declined in Japan, but Dragon Quest doesn’t know what decline is.

Of course, Dragon Quest XI isn’t the only game doing well. Splatoon 2 continues selling pretty much like hotcakes, after its explosive debut last week, proving once more that the Splatoon IP is one of the strongest Nintendo has in its line-up.

That being said, the push provided by the game combined with pent-up demand due to shortages, didn’t manage to propel the Switch beyond the numbers made by PS4 with the help of the new Dragon Quest, Nintendo’s new console gets a (still quite flattering) third place.