If there was any doubt on the fact that Japanese gamers love Splatoon, it has been wiped off the face of the planet today. The newly-released Media Create charts related to the period between July 17th and July 23rd were absolutely dominated by Splatoon 2, which of course also pushed sales of the Nintendo Switch.
Below you can read the full ranking:
- Splatoon 2 - Switch - 648,085/New
- Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy - 3DS - 70, 867/New
- Hey! Pikmin - 3DS - 21, 628/87,494
- Sumikko-gurashi Koko, Doko Nandesu? - 3DS - 20,883/New
- Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - PS4 - 19,049/119, 813
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Switch - 12,980/588, 028
- Fate/EXTELLA - Switch - 10,247/NEW
- ARMS - Switch - 7, 984/177, 987
- Gundam Versus - PS4 - 6,665/143, 844
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Switch - 5,989/543, 016
- Pokémon Sun & Moon - 3DS - 5,276/3,295,102
- Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] - PS4 - 5,013/New
- Ever Oasis - 3DS - 4,511/18,835
- Monster Hunter XX - 3DS - 3, 354/1,546,392
- Minecraft: PS Vita Edition - PS Vita - 3,331/1,180,284
- Cars 3: Driven to Win - Switch - 3,220/New
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo - 3DS - 3, 201/205, 098
- World Election - PS Vita - 3,017/New
- Grand Theft Auto V - PS4 - 2,792/366, 844
- 1-2-Switch - Switch - 2,636/233, 737
And here's the hardware chart:
- Switch: 98, 999
- PS4: 23, 841
- New 2DS XL: 17,717
- New 3DS XL: 13, 108
- PS4 Pro: 7,037
- PS Vita: 4,545
- 2DS: 2,300
- New 3DS: 1,020
- Wii U: 176
- PS3: 142
- Xbox One: 77
Splatoon 2 completely obliterated the competition, pushing almost 100,000 Switch consoles. Nintendo must have pulled out every little bit of stock they had available in order to partly satisfy demand of the console. Not only the game sold by far more than any other released last week, but it outsold the lifetime Japanese sales of former best selling Switch game, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe. In a week.
The 3DS family of system also shown good performance, with Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy, Hey! Pikmin and Sumikko-gurashi Koko, Doko Nandesu? occupying the ranks between two and four.
Despite the Nintendo onslaught, PS4 managed to sell well, with a solid 30,878 units despite the lack of new system sellers, a good indication that the console has hit its stride in Japan. Just today, we learn that it passed five million units sold in its shelf lifetime in Japan.
If this week was a big one for the Japanese market, the next will probably be even bigger. Splatoon 2 will probably have a long tail, but the attention will all be on Dragom Quest XI: Will the PS4 take its revenge over Nintendo by beating the 3DS version, or maybe Japanese gamers will push a Nintendo console at the top again by choosing portability and nostalgia over beauty?
We'll know next Wednesday.