Nintendo Labo Drops To Fourth (And 17th) In The Japanese Charts

The cynic in me was thinking you guys weren't going to post the sales report this week 🤔

Go Utawarerumono, go!

Oh good you finally combined the PS4 numbers with the Pro. Smart, no real extra information can be learned from that (other than the advance of 4k which ehhhhh).

Sad to see Labo drop off but what can you do. I understand the critics and the fans but in the end, it's the sales that count.

The people have spoken. If labo can't hold strong in japan i dunno where it can succeed.

Welp, since Labo dropped below God of War in Japan, this comment section will be quite the hoot.

@gatorboi352 Damn you beat me to it, I was gonna say bottle of champagne for the dude in Florida...

Maybe not that hot after all?

Hopefully Snack World comes to the west soon to boost its sales.

...or better yet, a new Fantasy Life!

Honest question. Isn't this normally on a Wednesday?

Maybe not a lot of people that get a $300 console is interested in playing with cardboard?

@BensonUii Ye on Wednesday, Labo was Number One baybee (ahem). Sorry about that. Now it's Friday, it's dropped! I'm confused.

@BensonUii Ow, I looked at the wrong date. Hahaha. Ok. Mystery solved Thanks. Thought I was going loopy.

While everyone else is talking about Labo, I'm just amazed at the surge in Xbox One sales. 123 units, that's a 100% increase over last weeks sales of 59 consoles! Maybe Xbox isn't dead in Japan after all!

Labo Shmabo

I really don't understand the appeal of Nintendo Labo. Maybe if I had kids, but this is just a garbage collection.

@Al_Godoy
Well, i'm Single, don't have any kids but LABO is very interesting game in my eyes. LABO has landed in my heart as Kid.

the only thing thats gonna get fire, is this comment section.

Damn UK gamers! Oh wait...

@Haywired

Japanese really Loves Baseball.

Let's see what will be selling a year from now. I think Labo will have a longer lasting appeal, once the usual critics have got bored. It's not overpriced compared with Lego and other toys that do similar things. It's a toy with educational elements, not a computer game.

I suspected this would be a nothing more than a gimmick, the memes are worth it though.

Obviously it would be great to see it at the top of the charts. But isn't Labo more comparable to construction toys like Lego? Surely Lego execs aren't nervously awaiting the first two weeks of sales of new kits on which to base the success or failure of a product? I would imagine it's a slow burn of sales over a long period with a massive spike at Christmas. Who knows? Maybe it will be a commercial flop as many things I hold dear seem to be!

Would love Powerful Pro Baseball on switch (I'll even take it on Vita)

Naruto seems to be doing OK in the US - so hopefully Switch is in Line for anything new in the future.

@Zuljaras And LEGO has that market cornered.

Yep, Time to move on and focus on top quality games - what made the Switch the fastest selling console.

What a surprise. [/sarcasm]

What surging sales? The chart clearly shows that GoW sales fell too, but Labo sales simply crashed, almost twice the percentage decrease of GoW for the Variety Kit, over twice the decrease for the Robot Kit.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Surprising no one.

It will do much better in Japan. Shame on you. Uk gamers don’t know what good games are

Splatoon2 has by far the highest total of sold units in that list... I love Japan!

When the baseball games and God of War start to slide down the charts again, Splatoon 2 will still be there, selling 18,000 or so copies every single week. It's a machine. Wonder if there'll be another bump when the expansion drops.

A tip of my hat to God of War. Because that’s a fairly modest drop for its second week.

LABO is perfect for my girls.
It's funny how much people want to get down on games made for someone other than themselves.

Talk about making yourself the center of the universe!
You'll find more joy and happiness in life when you allow yourself to look through someone else's eyes and perspective.

I'll relentlessly defend LABO as fantastic for a certain age group. It's more innovative than anything I've seen in years, is polished to a crazy shine, and absolutely joyful.

You can love it because it is diversity, something sorely lacking in video games.
Of course diversity is scary and threatening, so hating is an ok response too.

@cyrus_zuo
May your daughter keep playing and innovating from her LABO.

@Agramonte
Actually Lego are struggling at the moment laid off loads of staff last year amid the first drop in sales for 13 years.

Good. Labo is an interesting gimmick but I’d rather it stay as a one-off thing. The higher the sales, the more likely it would bleed into other franchises and personally I’d rather not have a bunch of cardboard accessories with my Switch, I’d rather have regular games.

Besides, God of War definitely deserves a higher spot than Labo, that game is filled with much more content and replayability!

Sorry but I'm glad Labo is failing. This might be selfish of me to say, but the quicker Nintendo drop it, the better.
Give me real games, please?

As for God of War...
Possibly the game of the generation.
It's incredible. Still not finished it yet, but wow, what a game.

I think a lot of people are thinking the same way as I am about labo. I'm interested, but not at that price when the actual software has little to offer except a few hours of messing about. Totally waiting to find a copy of both sets in a bargain bin for a weekend of checking it out, taking it apart again then never using it again. Harsh, but true. £40 for both sets feels about right for me, but I'm not the target to be fair.

"Finally" taken off the top spot. It was there for literally one week, ain't nothing magical about slipping to 4th week 2, especially when a hype new game debuts that week (Japan loves their baseball)

If I could get just the Labo piano for $10 I'd do it. I don't want the whole kit.

@peterstillman Well - that is more that they got big super fast. They basically quadrupled - yet only having 1 real product. No way they could sustain that.

Also, some of their pricing has gone insane. I spent time with my niece and the entire time she wanted to play with her LEGO airport set. She only had 1 small one. When I got home decided to get her another one and was amazed by the pricing. Even the ones with no special license.

People still get them - just fewer... I don't understand what economy they think parents live in right now.

What?! People didn't get excited and blow their money on some insanely priced cardboard gimmick?! Say it isn't so!

Now, I have a question for everyone who slammed UK Gamers and their tastes in games.

Are we gonna slam Japanese gamers now that Nintendo Labo is below God of War on the Japanese charts?

The true test will be where it's at in 4-6 weeks. If it's like Brain Age and some of the DS games it will hang out in the top 10 for a long time. Otherwise it's going to be a flash in the pan.

@Fight_Teza_Fight @Razzy
Is a ~70% week-over-week sales drop for Labo really considered "failing"?? That's the type of drop most games will experience when transitioning from launch Week to Week 2.

I mean, it's pretty clear that Labo is not the next Brain Training or Wii Fit, and I doubt anyone expected it to be.

Golden Week should tell us how appealing Labo is to the casual holiday shoppers.

Nintendo thought ridiculous overpriced Labo would be a game changer. Still can't make up for the lack of new AAA titles.

Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball looks like fun. I never played real baseball but i would try it on Vita if it ever gets a western release.

That's expected with how well it sold compared to anything else on week1. Love all the extremely near-sighted comments though, they make me laugh.

Doesn't matter that it dropped under a very well-received highly rated game that deserves good sales....especially when the powers of basic math reveal that Labo is still outselling God of War there by nearly 80,000 units:
God of War total: 105,125
Labo total: 182,227

And that's without counting all the supplemental kits that Labo sells. Only fools can't see the forest for the trees.

My kids were semi interested in Labo. So basically not enough enthusiasm for me to part with my cash... plus the durability is concerning considering the price.

@westman98 you're responding to someone who unironically called LABO "not a real game" as if their definition of a game is valid for everyone. I'm just reminded of how something like Nintendogs which had even lower sales in the beginning in Japan (where Labo has sold twice as much as GOW yet it's considered a failure) and then went on to sell 24 million copies globally, something that all God of Wars combined together have not achieved. I hope Nintendo ignores these trolls and keeps doing their thing. They did so before and succeeded whereas every time they tried to appeal to the "hardcore" gamers who whine and moan about every little thing they failed spectacularly.

@Zuljaras, @Fight_Teza_Fight (and people that think the same)

Ok, please, define what is a "REAL" videogame?

@Kevember
"After reading many of these comments, I must say I'm glad to see people are coming back to reality and we can move on and leave the state of collective delusion behind. By this time next year I doubt many people will even remember Labo ever existed."

I'm sorry Mr. Donald Trump, but LABO will ALWAYS in my heart.
LABO is one of Nintendo masterpiece, NOT a Delusion.
Anyway, i'm very honored to allow me to press Ignore button to you & i will Never heard your Negative comments from you again.
Beside, last time you called me a Weird people & kids should stay away from me. How quaint... Even the rabble.
I must say, I really felt quite distressed at not receiving reply from you.
Perhaps by Ignoring you is the Best way to keep this Nintendolife threads stay Healthy.
Adios !

@FinalFrog
And you a LABO hater, allow me to press Ignore button to you so we are here keep stay Positive with LABO future. Sayonara !

@Fight_Teza_Fight
And you another LABO hater, just remember if there are some people really in Love with LABO. They like Art & Craft, they have passion while making. People like you will Never understand the work of Art. So, allow me to press Ignore button to you & you can keep saying your Negativity against Brick wall. Bye !

58k vr games seems pretty good. A sector I’m keen on.

Labo, Making profit, making news, making new markets....seems ok to me

@gortsi
Saying Labo isn't a "real" game is just an opinion, and I can certainly understand where that sentiment comes from, especially if you are like most "hardcore" western gamers who only care for open-world action RPGs, multiplayer shooters, and/or some combination of those two genres

But Labo is definitely not failing because of a ~70% week-over-week sales drop from launch. The long term sales, especially during the holidays (Golden Week, Christmas, New Years) will be telling.

Nintendo has pretty much dedicated one of their EPD studios to creating stuff like Labo, 1-2 Switch, Miitopia, etc. Expect more quirky "non-games" to be released from Nintendo regardless of Labo's commercial performance.

@Anti-Matter dude you are a massive hypocrite . You talk about negativity and allowing people to like Labo yet in every single chart post you spout intolerance and hatred of other people’s choices if they deviate from what you are in to. You probably can’t even see it

@westman98
So EPD Studio was behind Nintendo Quirky games such as LABO, 1-2-Switch, Miitopia, etc ?
How interesting...

@Anti-Matter no, just practice what you preach.

@westman98 I've said it before,I'm not into Labo and probably won't be ever. However, saying that it isn't a "real" game is just stereotypical dudebro mentality that shows not just complete lack of awareness of what videogames are but also an outstanding ignorance of the market. If Nintendo listened to those people they would have gone under years ago. Thankfully they didn't.

@SakuraHaruka it's one starring a perpetually angry dude, contains about 5 hours of cutscenes, and includes "mature" themes such as sex or swearing. None of that cartoonish/cardboard crap.

/S

God of War was really disappointing in my opinion. I just lost interest. On the other hand though I'm still enjoying creating my own labo in the toy-con garage To each their own I guess.

Labo just seems too overpriced for what you get, and I think its sales will reflect that. It also doesn't have too much longevity in my opinion. Like, take the piano. You build it, and I guess you learn about how infrared cameras work? If you want to learn about music, there are much better keyboards out there. If you want to learn about robots, I think lego robot kits are better. The cool part is that the kid can say "I built that mini piano!", but it still doesn't seem too appealing. I hope the Switch stays strong regardless.

@Anti-Matter
Nintendo EPD (and EAD/SPD before them) are segmented into multiple studios who work on specific projects. The EPD studio who produced Labo previously made 1-2 Switch, Miitopia, Nintendo's Badge Arcade (RIP), and Rusty's Real Deal Baseball.

As you can see, this studio is known for producing "non-traditional" games and software. Which is why it puzzles me when people get angry at Labo with responses like "Well the money that could have been spent on making the next Zelda or Mario games went into making Labo instead."

@Anti-Matter Thing is, the two kits are separate, thus making the argument of combining the two to have more sale numbers than God of War irrelevant.
That's like saying if we would combine the Japanese charts and U.K. sale charts, God of War would have way more copies sold than both Labo's combined.
But we don't combine them when sharing specific regions sale charts, just like the kits' sale numbers are separate.

Also, Japanese gamers don't have better tastes, they just gravitate more towards Japanese-made games compared to Western games.

I think people (fans and haters) probably put too much stock into how much Nintendo was pushing Labo towards gamers. Considering they didn't announce it in a Direct, and waited a week to announce it separately, leads me to believe that they knew their target audience was not the same people interested in their Directs. It definitely didn't sell as well as they'd like, but it might've done more in line with what they were expecting. If it achieves decent sales, we'll probably see them release they other half of the projects revealed in the release trailer.

Bad Labo sales might reinforce the idea that more games like Mario and Zelda will sell well on Switch. Frankly, that's fime.by me. Bring on the awesome entries in franchises like FE (which I hope we can at least get a trailer of at E3) to Switch.

3DS and Vita just won't die in Japan at all huh.

@retro_player_22 look at the software chart again, there are ZERO 3DS games listed! Not exactly staying alive there, is it? Oh, and here's a shocker, Nintendo's primary income comes from games!

I just can't believe no one is pointing out the obvious. The 3DS had ZERO games in the top 20!! If that's not a sign that Switch has killed it in Japan, then you fanboys will never see it! When Pokemon hits Switch, the 3DS will officially be declared dead, at least in Japan.

@pika677 So does the Xbox One and it still counted as actively alive in Japan despite its low hardware sale. No one is pointing out cause Nintendo already said 3DS isn't dead yet like yesterday ago.

@westman98 The drop is what you would expect with most games, however Labo isn’t like most games. It’s more of a peripheral & should see a slower drop off & steady gains as we move into the holiday season.
The only reason why I said it’s failing is because Nintendo only managed to sell through ~30% of it’s initial shipment in Japan.
https://www.dualshockers.com/nintendo-labo-sales-japan/amp/
Most popular games in Japan do 80%+ during its launch week.
Obviously Nintendo thought Labo was going to be red hot & it hasn’t caught on yet. They’ve clearly overshipped.

@gortsi @SakuraHaruka @Anti-Matter Not trolling. I did say my opinion was selfish as clearly some people have bought it & are probably enjoying it. I don’t have to like everything Nintendo brings out.
Nintendo have spent a lot of resources on Labo. Resources that I would much rather have them spend on games. Selfish yes, but so is human nature.

Just an opinion. If dropping/cooling off Labo means I get more First Party Nintendo titles then that would be great as there would be much more resources available (marketing, money, E3 presence, media coverage...).
This line of thinking is why I’m also glad that neither Sony or Nintendo have been successful in capturing the mobile market.
Anyways going off topic...

@Fight_Teza_Fight
A 30% sell-through is certainly low, but not unusual for a title like this launching near a holiday.

I seriously doubt anyone at Nintendo actually expected Labo to sell 350,000 copies at launch (that would make it the Switch's 3rd fastest-selling game). Not even Wii Fit sold that fast, and that thing was a cultural phenomenon.

But who knows? As I have said, Golden Week will be telling. If sales fall by another 50+% despite the holiday week, then things will be looking grim for Labo.

Good. Nintendo needs to stop with their gimmicks and focus on stuff we want like, you know, actual games?

Sure, Labo has games, but most people agree that the majority of the fun comes from actually building the thing. The games themselves are very, very mediocre.

I don't know about you guys, but what happened to things like good old fashioned LEGO? What's the point of buying into an over-priced, fragile version of that?

Gotta love how most little kids here are making poo poo in their pants because of Labo! 😂🤣😂🤣😂
Nintendo already brought BotW, Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the first year of Switchs lifetime, we get a new Smash Bros. in itˋs second year and people STILL get whiny about some new and different, which isn't totally "hardcore".

@KirbyTheVampire
But itˋs not even a classic "game", itˋs the overall package what makes it interesting.
Labo is essentialy its own thing, which shows the diversity of the Switch. I really donˋt understand whatˋs the problem with this?🤔

@Kevember be careful. He will ignore you if you say anything negative about Nintendo. Anything. You are a Nintendo hater if you have a opinion

@Traskin7 Mind your language!

@westman98 Still it seems like they over-shipped, unless they wanted to keep the stores well stocked ahead of Golden Week. Labo's success/failure will be measured over months/years so it's wait and see so I agree with you.

@FinalFrog I've just learned to roll with it. All he wants is acceptance, yet he doesn't accept anyone else's opinion if it deviates from his own. Anyways, won't get personal, best to just ignore.

@Fight_Teza_Fight yet they keep trying and there must be a reason? Have you seen how many Playlink games Sony has put out last year? I count at least six. Yet nobody claims Sony is diverting resources from God of War or TLOU to make these. It's exactly the same. They both have studios that make these type of games, and that will not change.

@Kevember
Hopefully.

@Kevember
Oh right, speaking of wich, what happened to Sligeach? he was always the first guy to ever show up...

I just hope labo die asap. Switch need more game.

A baseball game is beating God of War? HOW?!
Also, lol, the Vita (dead console) is destroying the X-box One xD

@Fight_Teza_Fight @Zuljaras @Athalias

Everyone's opinion is respectable; and likewise, it is normal that something is not to everyone's liking, and equal is respectable; However, to say something like that, in this case, Labo "is not a real" videogame, it was quite incongruous, not to say that it seems lack of knowledge. Yes, it is not a ""conventional"" video game, but it is a videogame.

And, @Fight_Teza_Fight (and you also @Athalias), Well, Yes, you said it, you will be selfish to wish a game not to be successful, so that the company (Nintendo) dedicates itself to something that "for you" should be dedicated, develop videogames, and that, as far as we know, will be for a long, long time, we do not have to worry about something "silly" like this.
But, Why?, the games should not only improve only in graphics, also in many aspects like gameplay and mechanics that make those games more interesting than 30 years ago; Wii, DS / 3DS are examples of that is possible, yes, lack of experience, lack of patience, lack of improvement and more experimentation, but they showed something better than just beautiful graphics improved, showed games with a lot of entertainment potential for "EVERYBODY"; Microsoft's Kinect also was some interesting for future videogames, but same, people showed selfishness because they thought goodbye to "always format games with improved graphics", and really, "it was not so", but, oh my...

Yes, you don't like LABO, ok, it's normal, it's correct, not bad, and many people don't like LABO, I can't say it otherwise; you hate LABO, well, it's your business, but only "your Business", not ours; and wish it failure, well, I could put it with hate, but it's also sad to think so, but..., oh well...

@gortsi
, XD

And moving on.......will we actually get any games this year worth buying?

@Lord
We are in May (beginning May), then rest June (E3), July, August, September, October, November and December for that the year ends; Do you think Nintendo won't have new games in these remaining 8 months?
If you think that is the case; oh well..., seriously that for Labo you have a serious paranoia and a too big impatience ...

@Kevember I also miss his contributions; always gave an interesting and honest opinion. Slig - you’re the hero this site needs.

It doesn't really surprise me that the Robot Suit flopped. It's like "Did you enjoy playing Wii games, but didn't think you looked ridiculous enough? Then you'll love Labo Robot Suit". In fact, when was the last time they had a motion control-centric game that was actually a big hit? Like 2009?

If I was the new boss, I'd be 'show me where our team is that are working on the voice chat party app! Not the idiots in the wharehouse with cardboard boxes'.

Me before labo came out: "it will flop like wet cardboard
Labo comes out: "flops like wet cardboard"
Me:

@Neferupitou
I know where he went....you guys can have him back if you want.

Kirby dropped because word is getting around Nintendo "phoned it in", it's like half a game....really short.

@Lord depends on your taste mate. What exactly are you after?

@gortsi "it's one starring a perpetually angry dude, contains about 5 hours of cutscenes, and includes "mature" themes such as sex or swearing. None of that cartoonish/cardboard crap."

Yeah that basically. The more stubble the better. Even though there's two machines that churn out tons of that, we also want it here as well.

@WiltonRoots E3 is coming up, I hope they announce something like Switch Fit so we can witness the multiple meltdowns in here. That might even bring the Irish troll back, I'm surprised we haven't gotten any input from him about Labo and how all stores in Ireland are stacked with unsold bundles.

@gortsi He might be on a permaban (we can only hope)....but yeah the more stuff that doesn't look like below the happier, I thrive on 350lb neckbeard tears...if this is what you want, get a PS4 and shut up.

@WiltonRoots I count at least six in this that have been on Nintendo consoles in the past, so that's a healthy angry white dude dosage if someone needs one. Anyway, E3 coming up soon, which means lots of drinks and hopefully if the weather is anything like this bank holiday it will at least dry the tears quickly

@gortsi Yep it's been a good bank holiday, sun's been blazing, I was up in Manchester for most of it painting a wall with my mate. Turns out his son desperately wants a Switch!

I'm astonished by the negativity toward Labo. I've been spending a good hour or so everyday after work with Labo with my kids. This whole thing is a faucet of pure creative engineering. I have every gaming system and played many of the recent AAA games from sony and Microsoft, but Labo has actually given me an experience that will stick for a very long time.

I thought for sure this would blow up with popularity but it seems the "money for cardboard" mentality is too thick.

God of War is $60 and all you get is a little disc... and even then it's only if you buy it physical.

(I even feel stupid being sarcastic about this, it's ridiculous.)

@LastLife I think a lot of the negativity is because people want that scowling white dude taking cover behind rubble, and Labo is the complete antithesis of it. They wanted guns and grit and Nintendo gave them cardboard. Me personally I love the idea behind Labo even though I'd never buy it, because it sticks two fingers up at those people and brings something new to the table.

@Anti-Matter
Labo Piano's replayability (if you know how to play one) and Robot's expensive multiplayer have promise, but everything else is just a couple hours of play, tops. Putting all the mini Labos in a box was a bad move on Nintendo's part considering people would probably much rather buy the individual ones that they actually want and have the game be a download, instead of paying full retail when someone just wants to use the fishing rod for example. This move obviously hurt sales, and knowing Nintendo, they won't admit that their mistakes were the reason why it didnt do well, and abandon the whole idea together which is a shame, because I think that people were more against the Labo launch kits, then the overall idea of Labo.

@PaulDuran
Toy Con 01 Variety kits are Really good deal for me.
I'm interested with All those 5 minigames from there, not just only one minigame.

@Anti-Matter
I for one would be happy to get Labo if they had more content than a quick minigame.
Some ideas:
Guitar, Laser Tag gun and vest, Lightsaber using cameras, (Labo would just be the hilt), Rubic's Cube, Steering Wheel a la the Motorcycle, add-on for the Piano (so it's actually big enough to play with two hands).

@retro_player_22 not by those with common sense!

@pika677 There's common sense in videogames sales?