Yo-kai Watch 3.jpg
Image: Gematsu

This week's Media Create chart results for Japan tell an interesting tale of one enormous hit overshadowing a number of older, struggling titles. Only two games managed to sell unit numbers above five figures, with Nintendo being one beneficiary of the week's one smash hit.

Unsurprisingly that hit is Yo-kai Watch 3, which has two versions as is now the norm - Sushi / Tempura. Its launch sales of 632,135 are hugely impressive, though a little context may be causing some concern at Level-5 - the two versions of Yo-kai Watch 2 sold 1,316,707 launch units between them in Summer 2014, nearly double the numbers for the third full entry. Even the Yo-kai Watch 2 spin-off - Shin'uchi - shifted 1,244,171 units at launch in December 2014. The new entries, in other words, are well behind their full-series predecessors, though do compare more favourably with some spin-offs in recent times.

The rest of the top 20 reflects low sales numbers, with some evergreen releases on Nintendo hardware occupying decent spots; results are below with lifetime sales in brackets.

  1. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 3: Sushi / Tempura (Level-5, 07/16/16) – 632,135 (New)
  2. [PSV] The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd Evolution (Kadokawa Games, 07/14/16) – 10,485 (New)
  3. [3DS] Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (Marvelous, 06/23/16) – 9,806 (156,484)
  4. [Wii U] Splatoon (Nintendo, 05/28/15) – 8,241 (1,423,257)
  5. [Wii U] Minecraft: Wii U Edition (Mojang, 06/23/16) – 8,127 (50,957)
  6. [Wii U] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Nintendo, 06/23/16) – 7,611 (45,896)
  7. [PSV] Uppers (Marvelous, 07/14/16) – 6,931 (New)
  8. [3DS] Culdcept Revolt (Nintendo, 07/07/16) – 6,519 (35,839)
  9. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (SIE, 03/19/15) – 6,121 (824,235)
  10. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot (Nintendo, 04/29/16) – 5,484 (350,387)
  11. [PSV] Coven and Labyrinth of Refrain (NIS, 06/23/16) – 5,214 (39,786)
  12. [PS4] Overwatch (Square Enix, 05/26/16) – 4,798 (120,522)
  13. [PS4] Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers (Bandai Namco, 06/30/16) – 4,561 (84,032)
  14. [3DS] Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Nintendo, 02/18/16) – 4,187 (191,526)
  15. [3DS] Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire (Pokemon, 11/21/14) – 4,102 (2,823,853)
  16. [3DS] Taiko Drum Master: Doko Don! Mystery Adventure (Bandai Namco, 06/16/16) – 3,971 (61,181)
  17. [PS3] Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers (Bandai Namco, 06/30/16) – 3,451 (48,769)
  18. [PSV] Dragon Quest Heroes II: The Twin Kings and the Prophecy's End (Square Enix, 05/27/16) – 3,198 (215,631)
  19. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (4,990 yen Version) (10/08/15, Rockstar Games) – 3,188 (133,568)
  20. [PSV] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2016 (Konami, 04/28/16) – 2,887 (156,427)

Moving on to hardware, we have the New 3DS LL (XL) overtaking the PS4 thanks to a Yo-kai Watch 3 boost. The Wii U has fallen away again following the previous boost from a Splatoon bundle, and aside from that figures are relatively stable; the results below have last week's sales in brackets.

  1. New 3DS LL – 23,382 (16,505)
  2. PlayStation 4 – 20,395 (22,717)
  3. PlayStation Vita – 10,991 (11,042)
  4. Wii U – 7,601 (15,470)
  5. New 3DS – 3,665 (3,284)
  6. PlayStation 3 – 1,045 (1,126)
  7. 3DS – 653 (670)
  8. 3DS LL – 106 (87)
  9. Xbox One – 63 (72)

It was another big Yo-kai Watch launch for Level-5, then, though it may be a little disappointed at the sales when compared to previous entries. In any case, the franchise is still hugely lucrative in Japan.

[source gematsu.com]