Nintendo Games Have Now Dominated Japan's Sales Charts For 19 Consecutive Years

The scary part is Nintendo don't even get some of the biggest Japanese games. Imagine if it GOT games like Dragons Dogma 2, FF7, Monster Hunter World, Persona games (on launch), Yakuza games, MGS, Resident Evil etc

The fact they dominate so much is one hell of an achievement to say they miss out on the biggest third party releases.

That just speaks volumes of making great games. Cause that's insane

That's insane. Really happy to see TotK do this well in Japan.

The Nintendo DS really did turn things around for the company. NINETEEN years?!

Tha Japanese, like me, put a great deal of value on portability.

@UltimateOtaku91 A majority of those bigger games aren't even that big. They're just big budget titles and made by Japanese devs and that's it, in terms of audience they more cater to the west than Japan as they had western contents in them. The only two of those that cater to Japan are Final Fantasy VII (the original, not the westernized remake) and Persona and both of those are already on Switch.

I was just in Japan over christmas/new years and the Nintendo domination is obvious. Every game shop had 3-5 aisles of switch games and accessories, PS4 would have 1-2 aisles and one small section of an aisle would be dedicated to PS5 games

@sallymanda meanwhile stores here in my area have, at most, a space no bigger than my cupboard at home.

I mean, its not surprising. Japan is all about the handheld gaming, and Nintendo has had zero competition for dedicated handheld gaming since Sony fumbled the Vita.

I dare say if Switch was only moderately more successful outside of Japan than the Wii U, it still would've dominated in Japan anyway.

Fastest selling game of all time (at the time) when it was released and number 9 best selling game of the year the NEXT year.

Man, Nintendo doesn't make a lot of new IPs, but when they do ...

But I'm still amazed by Mario Kart, the most evergreen game of all time. 9 years later, still a top 10 seller

@HammerGalladeBro same as where I live, so I have to buy 90% of my games online 😔

If it weren’t for Nintendo 1st party titles I probably wouldn’t be a gamer anymore. After owning a PS2 and an XBOX during that generation I was just not into any games. I modded my Xbox and really got into Ocarina of Time. It was glitchy though so I bought a $99 GameCube with the Ocarina disc and I’ve never looked back. I’m a Nintendo gamer and I know it. Everyone else can keep their western AAA titles. Not interested.

Wow, very impressed by Splatoon 3! NintenDOMINATION

@Serpenterror Actually, I’d say Monster Hunter is the biggest title out of those listed in terms of Japanese sales, even more than Final Fantasy. And the Switch got a very good one - partly because Capcom pushed Nintendo to offer more RAM. Hope they do the same again.

@FishyS That's just retail. At the end of September it was at 3.51 million shipped + digital in Japan.

@Poodlestargenerica This is great news for me, because this means the next “Switch” will be portable too. My only option to play has been portable for quite some years now.

Go Nintendo!!! Yeah’s keep on rockin it!! 👍🥳

Not surprising at all.

Its just not the videogame stores; Nintendo has a huge presence in Japan. It already starts when you arrive at Narita airport. You pass customs and enter the rest of the airport and the first thing you see is a giant wall with Mario on it saying “Nintendo welcomes you to Japan!”

When you head to the cities it’s not different; so many merch; from crane game prices, plushies, drinks, snacks; it’s Nintendo everywhere.

I'd be very interested to know what the last non-Nintendo release was to top the end of year Japanese sales charts

I'm a Nintendo guy myself and they deserve to be on top, but if you think that "DOMINATING" the industry (as opposed to narrowly leading a pack of talented competitors) is a good thing, well that shows you are more interested in the horse race than you are in getting more/better games to play. ✌️

Love to see it. I have most home consoles but Nintendo has been my favorite in every generation and it's been great to see them stay laser focused on making a gaming console with fun games.

Deservedly so, Sony has neglected the Japanese market for years so it's too late now, they have lost all the goodwill in that market.

I was about to say, “Even during the Wii U days??” but then I remembered the portable market and the home console maker used to be two different things. 😅

What happened in 2004?

Awesome. Such is the Power of Nintendo!

@-wc- I mean when it's deserved its deserved. If Sony or Microsoft aren't really making an effort to appeal to Japan. Then it's a good thing that Nintendo who does, dominates in that region.

Playstation and Xbox being competitive in a region they treat as an afterthought is bad. As it would just mean they can disregard a whole section of games and developers.

In the past Final Fantasy would have topped the chart even with Nintendo having these numbers. But FF16 targetting the west, and Square Enix following Sony's lead in ignoring their Japanese audience has just diminished the series in their home country.

There's something to say that SMRPG, a remake of a Squaresoft game is on the top 10 in Japan. But Final Fantasy 16, a Square Enix game is not.

The fact they don't have AAA/1st party games is a testament of the Hybrid console that games don't need ubber graphics to keep market shares.

@Dr_Lugae

it has nothing to do with if they deserve it. of course they deserve it. 👍 don't get me wrong, Nintendo is my all time favorite games company (and i'm well exposed and love many games companies, especially Japanese ones.)

the point is that no matter how good you think they are now, they would be better from the pressure of competition. in other words, lack of competition makes you worse. ✌️

PS - "Playstation and Xbox being competitive in a region they treat as an afterthought is bad."

i wouldnt worry about this, because they cant be competitive with Nintendo in a region they treat as an afterthought at the same time. 👍

@-wc- Ugh, such an old, tired argument, give it a rest. Let Nintendo fans be happy for a change.

@Rainbowfire

I'm 100% right on this.

but you are welcome to enjoy whatever you like. 👍

That is really awesome to see. Especially since Nintendo puts out so many varied products but it seems that most of what they make is beloved. Kudos to the people that have built up the company.

@-wc- Not all good quality media is created due to the pressure of competition. In fact, I'm not even convinced that a majority is. Of course, quality is subjective, so your comment is very pointless.

@FirstEmperor

"Not all good quality media is created due to the pressure of competition."

what is with nlifers lately, arguing points that I never made in the first place?

"In fact, I'm not even convinced that a majority is."

your unsupported random opinion is "fact," now, that's interesting.

"Of course, quality is subjective, so your comment is very pointless."

a pointless reply to a "pointless" comment. 😂 slow down I'm getting too pwned here.

even if the competition doesnt drive a company to do more, and better (which it completely does,) and Nintendo would have made exactly the same moves in a competitive field (which is completely illogical but we are living in your world for a second,) having TWO companies competing for the same market space means twice as many games, from twice as many perspectives. Three means three times as many.

It's only a good thing, and it's the exact opposite of one company "dominating" the space.

but go on, revel in the monopoly, what do you care about my very pointless opinions? I'm sure Mario Golf, Tennis, the "sports" games, Paper mario, Pokemon, 2D Mario, Metroid (i wont bring up Mother, F zero, Pilotwings) et al are all every bit as good now as when Nintendo was striving for market share with capable rivals. 👍

@-wc- You unironically said that "I'm 100% right on this," so the only person here claiming that their random opinions are facts is you. Nice to know your hilarious rant was just projection.

In any case, your claim that " no matter how good you think they are now, they would be better from the pressure of competition" is neither provable nor falsifiable, and thus not worthy of any rational debate.

@FirstEmperor

I'd forgotten about this entire conversation, but I'm comfortable with being considered wrong by you 👍 so no worries.

@-wc- I'm sure your used to being wrong, seeing as how you lack the reading comprehension to understand the difference between rejecting someone else's unprovable claim and making a claim of my own.

@FirstEmperor

against my better judgement, im going to give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend you arent simply trolling me for jollies. 👍

(i know this is technically about the US economy but we are both from the US and I believe the blurbs im pulling support my argument in this case too.)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2021/07/09/the-importance-of-competition-for-the-american-economy/

Basic economic theory demonstrates that when firms have to compete for customers, it leads to lower prices, higher quality goods and services, greater variety, and more innovation.

When there is insufficient competition, dominant firms can use their market power to charge higher prices, offer decreased quality, and block potential competitors from entering the market—meaning entrepreneurs and small businesses cannot participate on a level playing field and new ideas cannot become new goods and services.

notice it says "basic economic theory" not "kookie new ideas WC made up on a nintendo message board." ✌️

ok brother ive given you all the runway you need to go ahead and blow me away with your counterpoint and citations. go gentle ive got a family.