That Nintendo remains top dog in Japan this week in terms of sales perhaps isn't the most shocking news - the company regularly finds itself in pole position in its homeland.
However, the Media Create sales figures for the 14th of May to the 20th show that a PlayStation 4 game came in at number one - but no matter, as the rest of the top 20 is dominated by Switch and 3DS games.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze managed to slot into second place, and has now sold an impressive 129,760 copies since its release. Splatoon 2 is in third position with 2,323,048 units now shifted, while further down the chart the Nintendo Labo Variety Kit is performing well, considering the inflated price.
Out of the top 20, 14 entries are on Nintendo hardware.
1. [PS4] Caligula Overdose – 20,399 / NEW
2. [NSW] Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – 15,452 / 129,760
3. [NSW] Splatoon 2 – 12,646 / 2,323,048
4. [PS4] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2018 – 10,240 / 189,672
5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 10,071 / 1,542,271
6. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies – 8,392 / 500,622
7. [NSW] Nintendo Labo – Variety Kit – 8,151 / 166,536
8. [NSW] Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 5,687 / 991,867
9. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey – 4,632 / 1,725,867
10. [PSV] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2018 – 4,073 / 83,955
11. [NSW] The Snack World: Trejarers Gold – 3,549 / 82,504
12. [PS4] God of War – 3,124 / 101,703
13. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon – 2,927 / 1,634,916
14. [PS4] Rainbow Six Siege Advanced Edition – 2,238 / 53,533
15. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo – 1,791 / 408,980
16. [NSW] Nintendo Labo – Robot Kit – 1,762 / 44,911
17. [NSW] 1-2 Switch – 1,680 / 445,228
18. [PS4] Cities: Skylines – 1,658 / 28,724
19. [NSW] Pokken Tournament DX – 1,562 / 262,871
20. [NSW] ARMS – 1,527 / 406,645
On the hardware side of things, Switch was the winner as well:
Switch – 33,125
PS4 – 12,404
PS4 Pro – 4,536
New 2DS LL – 3,489
New 3DS LL – 2,353
Vita – 2,219
2DS – 413
Xbox One – 146
Xbox One X – 54
Let us know if you're even the least bit surprised by this news by posting a comment below.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 55
Jeez Nintendo are really killing it out there
Meanwhile western media "PS4 breaking records"
wuh?
Switch software is really selling.
That's what happens when you release great games on a system people adamantly adore. Excitement over the hardware means people spend more money on games for that hardware.
It's why games on Wii U never really sold that well, comparatively. People weren't nearly as excited about the hardware the games were being released on.
What's Caligula Overdose?
@Rika_Yoshitake it is though.
Really slow week in japan eh? If the top game is less than 25k, guess it is kind of a lull. Especially considering Hyrule Warriors already released last month for them.
Though, I am real happy for DKTF. Deserves every sale it gets port or not. Wonder how Captain Toad will do.
@Rika_Yoshitake
What's wrong about that?
I'm happy for Nintendo, but it also saddens me that i RARELY EVER get to see a third-party game on these charts....
I truly hope that third-party developers have experienced a decent profit and remain encouraged with Nintendo consoles. Im only referring to the decent / well-developed third-parties, of course.
PlayStation 4 is selling well. First party software always sells well. Every title is a Nintendo first party
Edit snackworld. Yay
God I can only imagine when pokemon comes out...
@Rika_Yoshitake Not to be pedantic but why do you think that is?
I googled Caligula Overdose and sadly did not see any horses holding public offices.
@MarioThePainter
PS4 remaster of a vita game that ties in with an anime that is currently streaming. Sounds like Japanese High school X Matrix?
Well, Caligula was bad enough as he was, without an overdose of the guy!
Wow the Switch is huge in Japan, it is a remarkable little machine. Can you imagine how the Nintendo Switch is gonna do in sells once Smash Bros. and the new Pokemon title get released.
Basically in a trend. PS4 dominating the US and Switch selling well in Japan. But was starting to be oblivious that the Switch is not really a "Market Disrupter"... it is just expanding the market.
Guess publishers will need to deal with a fragmented market for now 🤔
I gotta stop forgetting to pick up snack world. Might look into CO though.
Breath of the Wild, the first game launched for Switch more than one year ago, still in the top 10...
Snack World is actually quite fun. I keep coming to it constantly “just for one more quest”
@Rika_Yoshitake Well, SONY has had the stronger release schedule in the West.
Looks like the market can support both platforms in big numbers right now. That is a good thing.
@ieatdragonz It's like those people in the WiiU days "Smash Bros release shoots up WiiU sales 400% on last week!" And you look and see it sold 1200 units the week before. "But muh 400% though!"
I think there are two things to note about the Japanese market:
1. When Pokemon and Animal Crossing hit it’ll be chaos out there.
2. The game is over there but we’re not seeing the fruits of it yet. The 3 non-Switch games in the top ten could easily be on Switch - surely those types of game will migrate to Switch going forwards. A fully Switch top 10 could easily happen there some point next year. It could even become the norm...
Can't believe they discontinued the New 3DS when its sales dropped below 1,000 a week, yet the 2DS they're sticking with despite being less than half that of the New 3DS- it's just wasting shelf space at this point!
@setezerocinco I do often wonder, even if just initially, how well switch would have performed without BOTW launching along side it.
I don't see 1 2 switch being the wiisports of this console, is what I'm saying.
@diablo2 are you referring to western third party? Those sorts of games just don't appeal to Japanese people at all.
There was a summary a while back, from Japanese gamers, their opinion was pretty much "They're unimaginative, they're visually boring, the characters are all ugly and like 90% of them are about shooting."
@Menchi187
In no way is the Switch selling like the Wii U in Japan or any region.
Tropical Freeze on Switch has outsold Tropical Freeze on Wii U.
@westman98 You missed my point. It had nothing to do with "selling as bad as the wiiu" since it isn't.
12 of the top 20 games are on Switch and Labo is outselling God of War. Japan definitely marches to the beat of its own drummer, which is great as it means more varied games for the entire industry.
I’m currently enjoying Labo with my wife but plan on trying the new God of War as well. Variety is the spice of life!
@Equinox Oh for sure - big games sell hardware. Yeah, be interesting to see. Not sure anything Nintendo can do come September and October - probably swing back to PS4 in the west.
@Equinox
Really? You have not enjoyed it?
@gatorboi352 - I would predict a pack-in by that point. But even then Nintendo was intentionally avoiding the image the Wii and Wii U had, both positive and negative, to make Switch stand out.
It worked in their favor, and if they want instant free money from whatever blue ocean exists they should consider making a Wii Sports Collection, since that was anything that market ever owned.
Sony says it’s the beginning of the end for the PS4:
https://www.engadget.com/2018/05/23/sony-says-it-s-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-ps4/
@Agent721 - I wanted to, but the game feels extremely restricting as opposed to its action game roots.
Literally feels like you're Long for a ride at one of those on rails theme park rides, just with story.
@Paraka
That’s not the God of War I remember at all. I hope I like it better than that...maybe I can borrow it from a buddy first.
Switch selling more than all other consoles combined. That's awesome!
130K for Tropical Freeze in Japan has got to be really good, right? DKC has never been popular in Japan, unless I'm mis-remembering.
@Paraka So it's your typical big-budget, Western action game, right? :b
@Dr_Corndog - But it matters cuz Numbahs!
Where's Xbox?
@Dr_Corndog
Donkey Kong Country on the SNES sold 3 million copies and is the best-selling game in Japan that was developed by a western studio.
Other Donkey Kong Country games haven't sold anywhere near as much. But Tropical Freeze on the Switch has already outsold the Wii U version, and it looks to sell around 300,000 copies lifetime.
Looking at the sales. Breath of the wild is approaching one million sold in Japan, while Kirby reached half a million already..
Hey, is that ARMS in number 20?
Well good work ARMs labs!
Every game is a first party. Good for short term profits. Bad on the long run and for the consumer. Switch need diversity and no i don't mean weird projects like Labo
@gatorboi352,
The PS4 is only selling as well in the west because Microsoft dropped the ball at it's initial Xbox One reveal,Sony is just taking the lions share of the 160 million console hardcore market.
The Nintendo Switch is doing pretty well everywhere and in Japan what they an supply to stores pretty much sells out every week,this is because it's market is not directly linked to Sony's and Microsoft's,the console can survive off minimal AAA third party support because it's main demographic likes indie titles,and in that respect the console has tonnes of content.
@Anti-Matter You know the end of the PS4 means the start of the PS5, right ?
The Persona rhythm games should shoot to the top next week. How I wish that was a worldwide release... .
Japan gets all the good stuff early.
Japanese gamers don’t even give the Xbox One a chance. The PS4 isn’t really any better than the XB1 plus from my personal experience I will never buy another PlayStation. Both my launch edition of PS3 and PS4 died.
@johnvboy "The PS4 is only selling as well in the west because Microsoft dropped the ball at it's initial Xbox One reveal"
2014 called, they want their justification back. Regardless, whether or not that's true, what does it matter? It doesn't. Also, just like Switch, PS4 is doing great EVERYWHERE.
@gatorboi352,
Of course it does not matter as the Ps4 is selling very well,my point was that some people see to think the console is expanding the market when in fact it's just taking up a larger share as it did with the Ps2.
The Switch on the other hand has the potential to hit a larger audience,as Nintendo did with the Wii and 3DS,but has failed to hit with the Wii U and 3DS.
@johnvboy I just don't see the switch expanding the market in the way Wii did. Essentially, I dont see switches piling up in retirement centers and rehabilitation centers anytime soon.
@gatorboi352,
Only time will tell,but Nintendo are putting all their eggs into one basket with this one,so I would assume they will want to sell as many units as the Wii U and 3DS at least.
@Anti-Matter
Ha! I wish, but probably not quite there yet! Cheers!
@Don The Xbox is an American machine made for Americans. I don't even know why Microsoft bothered to launch it over there. Japanese people generally view games as an escape from reality, all western games try to do is simulate reality.
In other news, God of War is getting crushed under the weight of cardboard in Sony's homeland, Japan.
@Agent721 "I’m currently enjoying Labo with my wife but plan on trying the new God of War as well. Variety is the spice of life!"
No, no, no! You're doing this all wrong - you're only supposed to like one or the other. If your opinion isn't divisive then you must leave the internet!
@MischiefMaker
Ha!! Cheers!!
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