Today Media Create released its weekly sales chart for the Japanese market, one day late due to the Holiday break that created a slight backlog. The chart is related to the period between January 1st and January 7th, and it’s one of the most relevant of the year.
Below you can read the software chart. The second number for each game represents its lifetime sales at brick and mortar stores.
- Splatoon 2 – Switch – 117, 840/1,882,709
- Super Mario Odyssey – Switch – 110, 816/1,508,148
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Switch – 82, 806/1,215,599
- Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon – 3DS – 69, 355/1,477,015
- Mario Party: The Top 100 – 3DS – 51, 818/103, 999
- Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Sword/Magnum – 3DS – 34,565/465, 985
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Switch – 31, 761/802, 811
- ARMS – Switch – 25, 374/339, 328
- 1-2-Switch – Switch – 21, 104/371, 033
- Earth Defense Force 5 – PS4 – 19, 948/201, 414
- Kirby Battle Royale – 3DS – 14,561/139, 564
- Call of Duty: WWII – PS4 – 13, 305/362, 2009
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo – 3DS – 13, 208/357, 703
- Pokkén Tournament DX- Switch – 12,553/204,038
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Switch – 11,483/168, 200
- Minecraft: PS Vita Edition – PS Vita – 9,517/1,273,777
- Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso – Switch – 9, 505/47, 989
- Snipperclips – Switch – 9,290/43, 909
- FIFA 18 – Switch – 8,915/71, 698
- Girls Mode 4 Star Stylist – 3DS – 8,639/119,777
You can also find the hardware chart below.
- Switch – 146, 006
- PS4 – 75, 344
- New 2DS XL – 28,237
- PS4 Pro – 16,339
- New 3DS XL – 12, 246
- PS Vita – 11, 929
- 2DS – 5,254
- Xbox One – 190
- Xbox One X – 9
Those who are not familiar with the Japanese gaming market will probably be surprised that about the high sales in the first week of January, but it’s definitely not shocking. In Japan, New Year is the actual holiday, with Christmas being more of a tradition adopted from the west.
Especially entertainment markets get a large boost due to the tradition called “Otoshidama,” which prompts parents to gift money to their children on New Year’s day. This also sees a limited extension in other areas of Japanese society and results into a large influx of cold hard cash ready to be spent into fun.
Being the new kid on the block the Switch definitely benefited the most from all the spending, with another 146,000 units that found a loving Japanese home. This officially brings the console over 3.5 million units sold in the country (3,566,794 to be precise), officially passing the lifetime sales of the Wii U.
Speaking of the Wii U, Media Create has officially stopped tracking it, and the same goes for PS3.
The PS4 also got a big boost, showing by far the best sales of the Holiday season, and basically doubling the result of the Christmas week with 91,683 units sold between the base and Pro models combined. This actually shows an improvement year-on-year, and puts Sony’s console just shy of six million units sold in Japan during its lifetime.
On the software front, the Switch is firmly at the top, with those purchasing a new console hurrying to also buy Nintendo’s staple titles. With no new releases in the week, the top of the ranking is basically identical to the one before, with the only relevant change being Splatoon 2 overtaking Super Mario Odyssey and conquering the first place. With the two games being often neck and neck, it’s becoming more and more unlikely that Mario will manage to overtake the third-person-shooter as the best selling Switch game.