Switch Japan.jpg
Image: @eigotaku

Earlier this week we shared some Famitsu data that pointed to a strong start for Nintendo Switch in Japan, and now the Media Create figures are available; they continue the generally positive news, too.

Starting out with software, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on Nintendo Switch was able to beat PS4-exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn to number one spot; the Wii U iteration came in a respectable fourth. As a comparison, arriving late in the Wii lifecycle The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword shifted nearly 195,000 copies at launch; the Switch version alone falls below this, but combined with the Wii U iteration there's actually a healthy improvement for the critically acclaimed new title.

Moving on, 1-2-Switch takes third place with 75,936 sales, with Super Bomberman R and Dragon Quest Heroes I|II in sixth and seventh respectively; Puyo Puyo Tetris wraps up the Switch presence in 10th place. As always there are a number of 3DS titles in the top 20, but they've been pushed back by the sheer weight of new releases - the best-placed title on the portable is Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional in ninth place.

The top 20, with lifetime sales in brackets, is below.

  1. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Limited Edition Included) (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 187,379 (New)
  2. [PS4] Horizon Zero Dawn (SIE, 03/02/17) – 116,997 (New)
  3. [NSW] 1-2-Switch (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 79,536 (New)
  4. [Wii U] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 44,602 (New)
  5. [PS4] NieR: Automata (Square Enix, 02/23/17) – 38,002 (236,545)
  6. [NSW] Super Bomberman R (Konami, 03/03/17) – 36,623 (New)
  7. [NSW] Dragon Quest Heroes I•II for Nintendo Switch (Square Enix, 03/03/17) – 25,606 (New)
  8. [PS4] Super Robot Wars V (Limited Edition Included) (Bandai Namco, 02/23/17) – 15,321 (115,475)
  9. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional (Square Enix, 02/09/17) – 13,426 (163,058)
  10. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris (Sega, 03/03/17) – 12,854 (New)
  11. [PSV] Super Robot Wars V (Limited Edition Included) (Bandai Namco, 02/23/17) – 12,813 (96,546)
  12. [3DS] Pokemon Sun / Pokemon Moon (Nintendo, 11/18/16) – 12,292 (3,189,271)
  13. [PS4] Nioh (Koei Tecmo, 02/09/17) – 10,210 (128,824)
  14. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (Low Price Version) (Take-Two, 10/08/15) – 7,357 (291,327)
  15. [PS4] Resident Evil 7: biohazard (Grotesque Ver. included) (Capcom, 01/26/17) – 7,176 (291,666)
  16. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo, 12/01/16) – 7,042 (983,867)
  17. [PS4] For Honor (Ubisoft, 02/16/17) – 6,435 (59,700)
  18. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki (Level-5, 12/15/16) – 5,980 (681,240)
  19. [PS4] Winning Post 8 2017 (Koei Tecmo, 03/02/17) – 5,793 (New)
  20. [3DS] Doraemon: Nobita no Nankyoku Kachikochi Daibouken (FuRyu, 03/02/17) – 5,481 (New)

In terms of hardware it's obvious that Switch is leading the way. Media Create's figure of 329,152 is higher than Famitsu's equivalent number; as a comparison that's about 20,000 more units than PS4 managed at launch, though it's early days - the PS4 only outperformed the Wii U launch by about 1000 units at launch, for example. Further down we see a boost for New 3DS LL (XL) which is now comfortably in third place behind PS4; the results below have last week's sales in brackets.

  1. Switch – 329,152 (New)
  2. PlayStation 4 – 31,065 (37,008)
  3. New 3DS LL – 18,433 (15,984)
  4. PlayStation Vita – 9,889 (10,704)
  5. PlayStation 4 Pro – 6,742 (6,481)
  6. 2DS – 4,147 (4,303)
  7. New 3DS – 1,268 (1,254)
  8. PlayStation 3 – 615 (505)
  9. Wii U – 565 (464)
  10. Xbox One – 147 (469)

All told a strong start for the Switch and its biggest games in Japan, while the Wii U iteration of Breath of the Wild has also managed decent numbers; we saw very similar trends with PS3 and PS4 versions of games 2-3 years ago.

[source gematsu.com]