Japanese chart figures are now in for 15th - 21st April, revealing that the Nintendo Switch has now surpassed 8 million sales in the region.
Before we jump into console sales, let's quickly take a look at this week's top ten. Famitsu reports that this week's new release, Langrisser I & II, shifted 9,031 copies on Switch to debut in sixth place; the PS4 version sold better, reaching second in the chart. Elsewhere, familiar Nintendo titles take up several of the top spots.
Here are the top 10 (first numbers are this week's sales, followed by total sales):
1) [PS4] Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain (D3Publisher) {2019.04.11} - 12.923 / 68.496
2) [PS4] Langrisser I & II (Kadokawa Games) {2019.04.18} - 11.902 / NEW
3) [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} - 11.080 / 3.029.577
4) [NSW] Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit (Nintendo) {2019.04.12} - 9.074 / 35.708
5) [NSW] Yoshi's Crafted World (Nintendo) {2019.03.29} - 9.061 / 100.733
6) [NSW] Langrisser I & II (Kadokawa Games) {2019.04.18} - 9.031 / NEW
7) [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} - 8.532 / 737.500
8) [NSW] Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.04.04} - 8.161 / 93.283
9) [PS4] Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (From Software) {2019.03.22} - 7.654 / 231.649
10) [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Nintendo) {2019.01.11} - 7.299 / 575.844
On the hardware front, Switch sold an estimated 40,338 units this week, narrowly pushing it over the 8 million milestone. The PlayStation 4 family of consoles (so including the Pro) has sold 8,033,587 units in the country to date, meaning that the Switch should overtake its lifetime sales in the next week or two should current trends continue.
Here are this week's figures, followed by last week's in brackets:
1) Switch – 40,388 (54,101)
2) PlayStation 4 – 6,702 (6,662)
3) PlayStation 4 Pro – 4,661 (5,131)
4) New 2DS LL – 2,600 (2,676)
5) New 3DS – 632 (664)
6) PlayStation Vita – 571 (575)
7) Xbox One X – 44 (47)
8) Xbox One S – 39 (19)
Any surprises this week? Do you think Switch will overtake PS4 next week? Let us know in the comments.
[source resetera.com]
Comments 69
Wow, that's super impressive, switch is a monster over there!!
They sure love their handheld devices. I don't blame them, I love the Switch concept too.
But why PS vita was still selling?
I thought it has been completely discontinued. 🤔
Another proof that Nintendo don't need to release new version of the Switch.
Are console wars petty? Yes. Yes they are.
IN YOUR FACE, PLAYSTATION!!!!!!
Ahem, as I was saying...
The Japanese do love their handhelds!
And while this is impressive for sure, it's barely halfway to beating the PSP in Japan, and only a quarter of the way to Nintendo DS numbers. Arguable, the battle against smartphones will make similar numbers difficult, so here's hoping sales stay strong enough to keep all the best games coming as well!
Just kidding, by the way. I think the combined success for both systems is pretty awesome.
Hopefully Langrisser I & II also had physical release over here soon, I hate an all digital future and refuse to get the Xbox One S: All Digital Edition just like how I refuse to get OnLive, the Ouya, and the PSP Go. The fact that the two big Japanese publishers is embracing backwards compatibility again means physical will never die. Microsoft's stupid decision of offering backwards compatibility for Xbox One and then destroying it with the Xbox One S: All Digital Edition is just one proof that they don't know what they're doing. You don't just offer backwards compatibility and then destroy all of the compatibility, it's just stupid doing so.
@retro_player_22 Microsoft does have full backwards compatibility on the Xbox 1S All Digital edition. The reason being that there's an absolutely huge backwards compatibility digital library on the Xbox store which titles are added to all the time. This library goes back right to the original Xbox that started it all for Microsoft. Despite their past mistakes elsewhere Microsoft are the clear leaders in the console world for backwards compatibility. It's part of Microsoft's commitment to gamers. If you want a disc drive you can still buy an Xbox 1S or 1X with them no problem. It's likely the next generation Xbox console will also have a disc drive because Sony's PS5 will have one. Xbox 1S Digital Edition is clearly just Microsoft trying to get gamers with smaller budgets on board, enticing them by having doubled the storage for downloads. This will be the edition that Microsoft likely aggressively price cut on Amazon Prime Day and on Black Friday/Cyber Wednesday and around Christmas.
It's all good. Only good.
wish to had more quality large productions though...
@Anti-Matter not in japan. its a different market over there and things that sell well here may not sell well there and vice versa. sony actually did a decent job supporting the vita with titles in japan but never bothered localizing a lot of it to the west as well.
@Godzil well, at least not a "pro" version. i can see the mini version selling very well and further reinforcing why 3rd parties should be supporting the platform.
I thought the switch was destined to fail? but thats great they deserve it. sony been money milking the industry for too long now. ninty dared to be different n its paying off
... and yet the support from some game companies is lacking; and I am talking about japanese game companies
And yet game developers and publishers will continue to snub the Switch, claiming that it's a minor market player that lacks a significant enough userbase to port their games to.
It prints money!!!
If you add all the other consoles sold, they still amounted to less than half of Switch.
@Lionyone the issue there is that you have to buy your games again in order to play them and as such it's not "really" backwards compatibility , yes they are XB and 360 games but you can't play the games you already have on the XB1s A.D
Great Switch hardware sales as always and 8million is another milestone figure in Japan. Those are some pretty weak software figures all round this week, I believe this is traditionally a quiet time though.
Might not seem much but I happy to see Sekrio on the charts.
The question is, will the Playstation 5 steal Nintendo's thunder?
Now if publishers would figure out most of those 8million customers do not want to buy old Playstation rehash games or 1st party cardboard 🙄
Langrisser I & II - 9,031
FF - X/X-2 - Gone from chart, so less than 7K
(I guess you only have 30K kids in the 8mill for "it is for KIDS" LABO VR)
Can we get Sakura Wars and Ys Monstrum Nox now?... PS4 had better support at 4 million than the Switch has at 8million
The Switch has already cemented itself as a massive success. But I do wonder if we've already seen it's peak performance. To be fair, its hard to best the BotW/MK8D/Odyssey/Splatoon2 combo we had year one. Not saying that the Switch is starting to decay or anything, I just think they set the bar ridiculously high for themselves.
Proove me wrong E3... Proove me wrong.
Actually the Switch should kill it this year with mainline Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Yokai, and Animal Crossing releases. Personally I’m waiting for Astral Chain and Marvel Alliance.
PLEASE CAN SOMEONE OUT THERE HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO BRING LANGRISSER 1 AND 2 TO THE WEST PLEASE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH xx
@Lionyone Offering old digital games on new platform isn't exactly backwards compatibile otherwise the Virtual Console would seen as backward compatible. It's the same thing with the PS Vita playing old digital PSP games. Backwards compatible means that what works originally on the older system would now work on the newer one without buying anything new. If you once own a game such as the original Gears of War on Xbox, you should be able to play that same game on the newer system without jumping through hoops, rebuying the game for the newer system is you jumping through hoops just to play a game you already own on the original. If I own a copy of Link's Awakening DX and GBA claim to have bc then I should be able to play that same game on the GBA without any implementation. If I had to buy that game again just to had it work on GBA then it's not backwards compatibility.
I don't think that the numbers are impressive.
The Switch is the new handheld from Nintendo in Japan.
When I look back, from the Gameboys to the DSs, I think that the Switch does not that great. It's not bad but not great either.
@PCkid switch is more expensive though. That would explain lower numbers.
A big fall from last week but very impressive
I wonder why it falls through, no other system changed that much....
@Mountain_Man No chance of that. PS5 is going to be eyewateringly expensive at first. And unless you're Arnold Schwarzenegger you're not going to consider PS5 for your portable gaming. For us lowly weakling impoverished mortals Switch will be more compelling than PS5 for a good couple of years yet.
@FullbringIchigo Valid point I hear you. I think the Xbox 1S DE is aimed at people who never owned an Xbox before.
@retro_player_22 Valid point. I wonder if Microsoft will allow people to trade in old discs for digital versions.
I want Earth Defence Force on Switch!!
Xbox One sales in Japan are LOL!!! Not even 100 sold (>.<)/
@PharoneTheGnome Think the switch broke lifetime sales of Xbox one in Japan in its first 4 minutes of release...
@PCkid
Not a great comparison though as those systems had a lower price and no Mobile gaming to compete with
Yes... we must consome anything and everything. No other console will stand in the way of the nintendo ninjas. We will soon not just take over the market, but BECOME the market! BWAHAHAHAHA
The nintendo 3ds family still sold +3600 this week! That's amazing actually!
... And Push Square will be all like "Why is this happening?" "Switch is an anomaly." "It doesn't have the games people want." "It makes no sense." "It's underpowered." "I don't understand." "Japanese are weird.", etc etc... 😝
As I've been with consoles since the Atari days, then to nintendo, then to sega, then to playstation, but in all honesty, owned almost every console and own a PS4, Switch and XBONE at the current trend, I can say that this is good news after the horror that was the Wii U. I'm glad nintendo is doing good again! As for Sony, I'm a happier player on the PS4 rather than the Switch that I count as a console for my kids rather than me (sorry, I like Mario Kirby and more, but it's still a kiddie system to me). Sony and Nintendo are the ones that I would want to continue making consoles, and whoever goes into 'just digital' only, I won't continue with them. Other than that, don't get why this website always has to attack Sony and Microsoft, just like I don't get why Pushsquare has to attack nintendo and microsoft...who cares? You buy the system for the games, I'm not a fanboy of either company, I buy the consoles for the games (meaning exclusives), not really caring about the rest of the features. As for Japan and China, they mostly walk around, barely staying in their houses, so of course they're going to go with handheld...look at how they race out to get cellphones. Anyways, good for nintendo and sony, as both are showing that both companies are number one.
Japan is the only region where Switch sales are behind 3DS sales when launch aligned, so while reaching the 8 million sell-through milestone in a bit over 2 years is very good, there is a ton of room to grow. A $200/¥20,000 Switch Lite should do the trick.
Anyways, Golden Week is upon us, so it will be interesting to see how much sales grow. Labo VR is getting Mario Odyssey and Zelda BOTW support too, so a big Labo boost is to be expected regardless.
I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that such an important game market as Japan accounts for such a relatively modest percentage of worldwide sales numbers, but I still find it to be almost jarring information. Something like 94 million PS4s sold worldwide and something like 33 million Switches, and yet only about 8 million a piece in their own motherland.
It also sometimes amazes me (though again, it shouldn't) just how different things can be in just one region vs in another, or in the worldwide picture. Worldwide, Switch has only sold about a third as many systems as PS4 (albeit with only about a third as much time on the shelves), and yet, in Japan, barring some kind of seismic shift, the Switch after only two years on the market is going to eclipse the PS4 after nearly six, and this event could happen maybe in as little time as a couple weeks.
It's just such a different picture, you know? In either case, Switch is my personal favorite of the current crop, and on a site like NintendoLife, I suspect would be for a higher percentage of you than the international average as well....so....we celebrate! Way to go Switch!
That is impressive to be honest. Still they don't have any real competition this year with Sony focus on ps5 next year
Let's hope this opens the eyes of more Japanese developers and publishers to port or develop new IPs for the Switch. Yes looking at you Falcom.
Unreal. It outsold the rest of the market combined and by a huge amount.
@retro_player_22 I'll never understand the physical or only mind set in this day in age. With discs being nothing more then a cd key to say I bought the game. Digital games moving up to the next system more likely (without have to hold on to old media formats). You guys are doing just as much harm then good. You use the PSP and Vita as an example poorly. Your only argument was 'hoops' to jump through. No issue or hoops for me to play Monster Hunter on my Vita through psn. Demainding on of the biggest points of failure be shoved into every box.
I wonder what the Switch vs. PS4 sales are out in the rest of the world?
@Arehexes
I’ve had digital songs permanently removed from Rocksmith that were bought digitally, that I still would have if I had kept the disc. License ran out so they removed my digital purchase...after 2 years! Buying digital is a huge risk for that and the fact that you can’t resell anything. If I buy a game physical and it sucks, I usually get back 75% of my purchase on eBay. You’d be surprised at what people pay on eBay for used games. Buying physical gives you many more options on many different fronts and the biggest two are game resale & game preservation.
i wonder where the trolls went ah thats right they went back to their bridges.
I thought the Switch wasn't competing against PS4 and Xbox?
Psh, only 8 million? Clearly Nintendoomed. I mean other systems sold better of longer periods and in different eras! #totesSeriousNoSarcarmAtAll
@KingdomHeartsFan The sales numbers don't mean anything directly to any consumer, but whether a system is doing well or poorly can be a good indication of continued future support or not. The Wii U fell down the slippery slope of weak support leading to poor sales discouraging further support leading to weaker sales... but in reverse if developers see a system selling well they are more inclined to release content for it.
@Trajan It's not, not directly. But it is still a conversation worth having. It's like talking about tablets vs laptops, they are different devices that fill different roles but have overlap.
Is Yoshi bombing everywhere? 100,000 in sales for a month is really low, especially for a first party "AAA" Nintendo game.
The Xbox numbers are so sad! Lol
I think Nintendo should stick to that innovation mid-generation launch strategy. They have created a category of their own, they don't replace but compliment more "hardcore" gaming machines like PS4 or a PC.
Awesome! Nintendo Switch is amazing, so I’m not surprised!
@Heavyarms55 Why though? Where there articles about how Wii U was crushed by PS4 and XB1?
We need to move beyond fanboyism. I think Nintendo is trying to go that path.
@Desrever I don't feel that way at all. This year is looking to be a massive hit. The DS was very similar in many aspects to the Switch and that system sold the best in its fourth year on market so I wouldn't be surprised if the Switch did the same. There still quality games like Animal Crossing, Shin Megami Tensei V, Bayonetta 3, Shiro Neko Project, Yo Kai Watch, Inazuma Eleven Ares and others that we haven't heard from since. Then there always the off chances we get more surprises like Astral Chain from Platnium. We know Monolith Soft is helping with a new Zelda game, there's still no word of franchises like Pikmin, F-Zero and others. If they make a reappearance that would be great news.
Edit: A lot of people are saying that this system will not top the Wii but it is already ahead of it at the same time frame. It's actually only behind the DS which exploded in sales when the DS Lite was introduced two years in. So if we assume that Nintendo will release a Switch mini, I don't see why the system can't have the same explosive effect. Also exercising common sense in historical sale numbers the Switch should sell best three and fourth year in meaning it'll move at least 40 million units or more in the next two years at 20 million a year meaning it would have sold 72 million units by December 2021. Give it another 15 million for the next two year and we'll have 102 million by 2024, Wii numbers...and these are lower estimates.
I wouldn't be surprised if this year they move 25-30 million units alone. And the same for next year.
@Trajan I was not a member of this site during the Wii U days, so I don't know. I found NintendoLife when searching for news about the Nintendo NX. So I have no idea what was talked about on here before that.
That said, if there weren't, there should have been. I don't see this remotely as fanboyism and think it's pretty silly to call it that. PS4 is the most prominent other video game device on the market in Japan, thus it is the most logical thing for the Switch's sales to be compared to. If you report numbers with nothing to compare to, then it is harder to grasp whether something is doing well or poorly. For example, if I say Coca-Cola sold 30 million cases of Cola last month and don't compare that number to anything, you can't grasp whether Coca-Cola is selling well or poorly.
The Switch doesn't directly compete with anything because there isn't another device on the market the does the exact same thing, so we compare it to the closest similar devices.
At least that is my opinion on the matter. I think fanboying would be arguing that the Switch is a better product than PS4 and not acknowledging the differences between the devices and the advantages each has on the other.
And I think the comparisons about time on the market is more to do with talking about consumer trends. The speed at which the Switch has sold suggests or perhaps just reinforces the known trend that Japanese consumers prefer portable devices. As was seen with the success of the DS, 3DS, PSP, Vita and smartphones, all of which have seen wild success in Japan.
@Heavyarms55 I agree with most of what you've said though I was a Nintendo Life observer back in the Wii U days (they started around then) but don't remember reading so much stats and enjoyed their news much better back then. That said, it's such a shame that people are not allowed to like a brand and one brand only. We don't all want generic products that do the same things. There is a reason why platform exclusives are still such a big deal today. PlayStation is doing well compared to Xbox because of its exclusives.
It is these games that are helping the industry grow and for gamers to enjoy multiple brands.
I would actually argue the "fan boys" are those that own multiple consoles and buy the exclusives that come with each system.
I would know I am one of them.
PlayStation is about underground jRPGs and Sony exclusives.
Xbox is largely about shooters.. And Nintendo has their own franchises.
Gaming is an expensive hobby and one that I've turned my back on at times.
If anything a part of me hates that I can't get all my games on one platform of my choice.
Just this generation, it happens to be the Nintendo Switch.
I can't always afford to buy every games let alone every system for all their good quality exclusive games.
Edit: Ill have to say my favourite system of all time is the PSP followers by the SNES. Nothing wrong with Xbox, I actually enjoy their shooters particularly the ones they discontinue just that I'm more a portable underground jRPG gamer. As in I like my games to be fresh and unique every few generations. Sometimes when you think they are running out of ideas, they'll pull a fast one on you and release games like Persona, Disagea and Valkyria Chronicles.
@Retsam I know the feeling of wanting every game I want to play on the same device if at all possible. The Switch has largely become my favorite video game platform ever because it is both my portable and my console. But yeah, exclusives are what sell different hardware and we would not want every product to be exactly the same, there would be no point to that.
@SNES64DD liking one brand only is what makes someone a fanboy. If you artificially only like games that come to a platform, then you're only hurting yourself. With how people praise ports of games that they wouldn't care about if they weren't on Nintendo, I know that they are disingenuous. A good game is a good game.
For example: I grew up with Nintendo, but had I not gotten an Xbox I would have never gotten to experience Halo 1/2, and GTA 3/Vice City/San Andreas.
If I had a time machine I'd also try to get a PS1 back in the day to play all those great games I missed.
@Trajan I see it differently. I think fanboys comes in all shapes and sizes. I can for example just like Nintendo without being a fanboy. I know what product and services I am getting and I understand what I am willing to pay for it then whats the problem? I'm not inflating or artificially making stuff up to justify a purchase I don't need. I know what I want and am getting into. Now if I decided to buy a PlayStation and/or an Xbox as well that's great but what if those consoles that don't suit my wants or needs? Then why am I getting them? I become a fanboy of specs, exclusives and trying to sound objective when I don't need to do that. I have nothing to prove or hide.
@KingdomHeartsFan The Switch is loaded with 3rd party support. Just not the same 3rd party support as seen on PS4 and Xbone. It's not even a comparison, there are literally hundreds of games for the Switch that are not published by Nintendo or Nintendo aligned studios.
Back on topic, I would still argue that the smaller library of games on those systems had nothing to do with your personal enjoyment of them. I would be shocked to disbelief if you tried to claim the lack of other titles on the platforms somehow made any particular game more fun. However an overall lack of releases on a system does not make the releases the system does get bad. The Wii U, Dreamcast, Saturn and Vita all had several great games.
@KingdomHeartsFan Well for me I would have liked to have had more people experience Miiverse and StreetPass then 3DS loyalists? Apparently these things were originally designed for the Switch. So sales is kind of important for me in that sense. It was cool how 3DS was saved and started to move units again but not cool that the people along for the ride were almost exclusives the same "gamer people". I want to make new friends also not the same Nintendo loyalists every time a system near flops. Nintendo really need to get their act together in that regard, I wish somehow their second generation of consoles sell better then their first but so far unlike PlayStation, that has proven difficult. Expensive hardware never seems to work well for them or sell to the same crowd because of how they are made.
PlayStation (1,3,P) satified the core customer base first before finding new ground with casuals (2,4,V) and the uber core.
Nintendo seems to always go in light and aim for stars first and foremost before doubling down on the core market that will buy their stuff for whatever reasons.
@KingdomHeartsFan Yeah. I don't know why they're not implementing but I guess a part of it is that Nintendo is cheap.
Put the social features on the lower selling system means less effort on their part to maintain and run. So I wouldn't be surprised that the Switch Pro and Switch 2 will have new even better social features again and all the core fans will flock out to buy it.
Also what third party games are you looking at besides Kingdom Hearts that is... I wish Square would step up and let us know if 1.5 and 2.5 is coming or not. I don't think 3 can be made the Switch because of expensive carts. That said Ive been enjoying my time with Valkyria Chronicles 4 (and the going to start the first one soon.) They're doing okay in the jRPGs department but I know what you mean.
Nintendo has now become the last gen port machine which is their new strategy.
Honeslty, the N64/Gamecube philosophy had not left them at all in terms of hardware development and software library.
While everyone wants to see a new SNES from Nintendo.
@MrDisappointed
Indeed, it's very nice to see that game-focused hardware still has a place.
@Arehexes i buy certain games physically because i want to have a product to add to my collection, like Final Fantasy for example, i would NEVER buy a FF digitally unless it was digital exclusive
and besides there is also legacy to take into account, can you guarantee that in 20 years time all the games on eShop, PSN or XBL will be there, heck you can't even buy digital Wii games anymore for example and can't even re-dowload them if you accidentally deleted them and that was only only 13 years but a physical disc will still be there WITH the game on it
when PSN/eShop/XBL is shut down (which will happen at some point) people will still be able to buy and play physical games, they WONT be able to with Digital ones
@Pod Agreed! If the industry ever goes completely into the all-digital streaming service area, it will be a sad day indeed.
@Stocksy
Not a valid argument because a lot of japanese people saved money when they buy a Switch.
In the past, they had to buy a handheld and a home console.
Now for 24,980 yen ($227) they get the handheld + the home system.
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