Media Create published its weekly numbers for sales of games and consoles in Japan. The numbers cover sales from January 14 to January 20. Bandai Namco's Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown, which launched on January 17 in Japan, tops the charts with 202,379 copies sold on PlayStation 4, including its limited edition. This is a pretty big number for the series and I didn't think it would sell this much. This might be the power of doggos.
French game journalist Oscar Lemaire shares this opinion, and according to his numbers, Ace Combat 7 is enjoying the best launch the series ever had since Ace Combat 1 to 4 on PlayStation 1 and 2. Media Create only lists physical sales, meaning actual sales for the game are even higher if you'd count digital copies, and might bring Ace Combat 7 the honor of having the best start the series ever had.
This is a great figure for the series and its fans, seeing its doing so well despite the fact that the last game was years ago. You'd think most people nowadays wouldn't be into flying games like Ace Combat, with its emphasis on story and characters. Though I wouldn't even be surprised if despite this Bandai Namco released "Ace Combat Battle Royale" next year with no story and one hour long battles between 100 players in a giant map.
Meanwhile, Switch sales are still extremely strong: 71,139 copies of Nintendo's handheld-hybrid were sold between January 14 and 20.
Here's the full top 20:
1) Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (New release, PS4): 202,379
2) New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe: 88,840
3) Super mash Bros Ultimate: 49,533
4) Yakuza 4 (New release, PS4): 18,440
5) Super Mario Party: 16,752
6) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 15,062
7) Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!: 12,351
8) Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Switch): 11,490
9) Minecraft (Switch): 11,107
10) Splatoon 2: 9,469
11) Dragon Quest Builders 2 (PS4): 9,330
12) The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild: 7,731
13) Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet Complete Edition (New release, PS4): 7,474
14) PUBG (New release, PS4): 7,447
15) Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition (PS4): 7,446
16) Go Vacation: 5,151
17) Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition (Switch): 4,598
18) Judge Eyes: 4,527
19) Call of Duty Black Ops IVÂ (PS4): 4,341
20) Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun!  (Switch): 3,720
Other noteworthy things are how Dragon Quest Builders 2's Switch version is performing slightly better than the PS4 version, definitely because of the portable and cozy aspect of playing on Switch, especially online with friends. Judgment/Judge Eyes is still in the top 20 more than a month after release too.
Next week, Ace Combat 7 will obviously get kicked from its top spot by Resident Evil 2's remake but it'll probably stay in top 10.
Ace Combat 7 Skies Unknown is available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game will also launch on PC on February 1. You can read our review here, and you can preorder the game through Amazon.