Based on pre-orders alone, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was already predicted to be the highest-selling Smash and Switch game on launch. Now that the latest entry in the long-running fighting series is finally available worldwide, the first sales data estimates for Japan have now been released.
According to MorganStanley, based on a preliminary Famitsu sales data report, Nintendo's all-star brawler on Switch is estimated to have shifted about 1.3 million copies in its first week within Japan. This would make it the biggest Nintendo-published game launch in Japan ever, not including the Pokémon series. As exciting as this is, it's not as surprising it has likely outpaced existing entries in the Smash franchise, given the ongoing marketing push leading into the game's worldwide release. As for how this compares to other Switch game sales in Japan, it puts it well out in front.
Last month's Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! sold 552,000 copies locally and the month before this Super Mario Party sold 131,000 copies on release. Last year, Splatoon 2 shifted 631,000 copies at launch and Super Mario Odyssey followed this up at the end of the year with 514,000 sales. Ultimate is estimated to shift 10 million in the short-term and is likely to exceed market expectations over the long-term, which will in return improve Nintendo's stock price. More concrete data regarding Japan's Ultimate launch is expected to be revealed soon.
Over in the UK, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate topped the charts in terms of physical sales, and became the fastest-selling Smash game locally of all-time. It even managed to beat the combined sales of Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! domestically. In contrast to existing Smash games in the UK, launch sales for the new game were 302 per cent higher than those achieved by Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 233 per cent higher than Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. Once again, this data is limited to physical sales.
[source resetera.com]
Comments 70
Had the game downloaded since before release, and I still haven't played it. I'm waiting till my brother and I can meet up and play it for the first time together. The wait is killing me...Gotta wait till the 21st.
The Super Smash.
Its sales are Ultimate!
Hoooooo wee what a game
Wow! Incredible!
It’s already sold more than SSB WiiU ever did in Japan and with digital sales has likely outpaced the lifetime sales of SSB64 and SSBM in Japan. Nintendo made the right choice in somewhat overly-focusing on this game.
It’s gonna outsell brawl LTD sales within a year give or take a few months.
Calling it now. This will be the single best-selling Smash game. That way it can truly be the Ultimate Smash in every respect!
Guess you could say Nintendo smashed the charts.
Great job, Nintendo !
But, i'm waiting for Animal Crossing Switch.
What? No way! A Smash Brothers game that's successful? I was expecting this to bomb completely. How the hell did they manage to sell this game? It was practically guaranteed to be a massive failure.
Holy moley, that is massive. Kinda figured since records are being broken everywhere. Just imagine what the US sales numbers are.
@GothicZM It’s Nintendo’s first non-Pokémon published game to sell over 1 million on launch week in Japan. Not any of the Mario, Wii series, or Animal Crossing have been able to sell that much. It is the most successful launch of any Smash game:
NSW Super Smash Bros. Ultimate 1.300.000/NEW Nintendo 7/12/2018
3DS Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS 987.239/2.703.101 Nintendo 13/09/2014
WII Super Smash Bros. Brawl 816.198/2.315.401 Nintendo 31/01/2008
N64 Super Smash Bros. 183.097/1.632.046 Nintendo 21/01/1999
NGC Super Smash Bros. Melee 357.101/1.349.418 Nintendo 21/11/2001
WIU Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 244.747/789.947 Nintendo 06/12/2014
And it's not even Christmas yet... This sure is going to be an interesting month, sales-wise.
Impressive numbers. Well deserved too.
The game is incredible value. The music on it alone, 24+ hours worth, is worth the price tag. Plus 74 fighters out of the box, dozens of stages, several distinct game modes...
And all that just to remind me how much I utterly suck at fighting games. XD
Smash Bros Ultimate is the fastest selling game in Japan that isn't a mainline Pokemon, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, or Monster Hunter entry.
Spectacular achievement indeed. Should be a good wake up call to those who believe that Smash Bros is "niche".
It deserves every ounce of success. I've played and enjoyed every Smash since 64, but this one really is the ultimate. After years of Smash 64 and Melee, I found that Brawl and Smash 4 were enjoyable but didn't wow me. I kind of thought I had just played too much Smash to be impressed anymore. But no... Ultimate has truly wowed me. The improvements are individually small but all come together for what is by far the most perfect Smash game.
Want to continue smashing records and such? Invest a chunk of the profits in the online aspect of the game! (and for Splatoon 2 while you’re at it)
I live in Tokyo and was in a electronics shop on launch day around 9pm and there was a long line of people with arms full of smash related stuff, amiiboos, smash branded pro controllers, GameCube controllers, etc. Nintendo made a LOT of money on this.
Smash announcer voice
Wow! Incredible!
@Giygas_95 that’s some strong Will Power ya got there. I’m sure the wait will be worth it.
Anyways, glad the game is doing well. Not surprised though.
@Mrtoad Are you implying having a practically barren year on Switch was a smart move to sell more copies of SSBU?
lol
I wonder if these numbers will translate into sales of the actual console.
Nintendo has to sell a lot of them if they want to hit the 20mi target.
@LUIGITORNADO Nah, I’m saying focusing on SSBU at E3 was better than giving an extra 5 minutes to explaining the ARK Survival port or have filler Nintendo Directs instead of a Smash Direct. Not sure where you’re getting me saying “BOY OH BOY It was great that Nintendo canceled 5 extra games, for no reason other than Smash!”
They need to add Squad Strike to online multiplayer!! This is the best new addition to the game, but it sucks we can't play online. I want to be able to play 5v5 matches online with my brother. Why add this mode but not let us play it with our distant loves ones?
@Giygas_95 that's awesome, you guys are gonna have a blast, enjoy.
This game is going to absolutely... sleigh this Christmas. Smashed it.
And then there are people like me who plan on buying the game, just not right away (I’m having too much fun with Dark Souls and Civilization 6 to make room for the new Smash Bros.).
@Giygas_95 don't forget that you will need to unlock many characters. If you have specific favourites, it might be wise to play some. There are some gimmicky ways to unlock them faster (it counts only the number of matches played).
@LUIGITORNADO
Number of Switch games released in 2018 with a Metascore of 80 or more - 89
Nintendo published games in 2018 selling over a million copies each - 6
The internet - ‘practically barren year’
@electrolite77
It's an especially stupid comment when you realize that the previous fastest-selling Switch game was released just 3 weeks prior to Smash Bros Ultimate.
Ultimate has already almost passed the lifetime sales for Smash 64 in JP. Only short of about 700,000 units. Sure did take a while to find a contender for Brawl’s top spot, but it’s here now.
Impressive, most impressive!
@tourjeff that's the thing, this doesn't say how many already had a Switch versus how many new owners there are due to Smash. The official numbers from Media Create will be out Wednesday, and that will say- it's going to be interesting to see if the Switch jumped back up to the 200,000 level after Let's Go, or if it's still in the 100,000's.
@Mrtoad He was being sarcastic if you could tell
@westman98
I like it when people post in here about the Switch having a bad year, or for that matter Smash not being a system seller. It’s good to know that people who exist in alternate timelines get to cross over with ours occasionally.
Very enjoyable game!! The World of Light could have been more variable tho since it is very stereotypic
@nintendosage From what I remember reading somewhere, in September Ninty sold around 5-6 million consoles, so they have a long way to reach the 20mi they want to by the end of March next year.
In order to see that I'd say they have to sell a lot of consoles not only in Japan but in the US and Europe too.
As you said, soon enough we will see the numbers for consoles sold in Japan and that, at least, will give us an idea about where the boat is heading.
I really hope they sell it as it would be a lot more support to the platform.
I mean who would not want to put their game on a console that is only two years old and has already an install base of around 30mi users right?
Surprised? Not really, but that amount, good on them.
Must agreee with @BlackenedHalo the World of Light is a bit flat. But still enjoying it, even if I dont get the over complication with the spirits and upgrade tree etc.
@Heavyarms55 It’s really more 8 characters out of the box; ‘cause then you have to unlock 69 more. Lol, it can feel absolutely daunting. Some of the challenger matches are super difficult.
@Antraxx777 No... it's all in the box, yeah you have to unlock them, but they are there. Not as DLC or additional content.
I don't deny some of the matches are pretty hard. I got really lucky with Simon Belmont, he killed himself. Jumped right off the edge like 3 seconds into the game. But I've failed several times with other characters.
@tourjeff
I'm still not convinced they'll make it. However if they get close, say 18/19m for the Financial Year, that puts them on 35/36m total in just over 2 years, which is actually phenomenal. Up there with the fastest sellers ever.
Considering Nintendo's biggest titles are evergreen,this could have very long legs sales wise.
Would like to see if it's contributed to a hardware bump in Japan.
@electrolite77,
I think when you consider a lot of people on forums said they would be miles away from their 20 million target it's a pretty good shout to get anywhere near it.
But with Nintendo's track record at Christmas I think it's still there to be achived.
I think it could sell over 5 million physical for it's first 3 days. Which is amazing.
@electrolite77 I agree, even if they don't reach that 20mi mark it will still be an impressive number regardless. I reckon it will be in line with the PS4 sales in its second year.
I just hope that it will get more third party support next year, the devs have to invest more in the platform.
It's, honestly, still incredible to me that the Switch didn't receive the Batman Arkham trilogy or an Assassin's Creed game.
Heck, even the PS Vita had a AC game that was developed and exclusive for a while.
These are just two examples but the point I'm trying to make is that when people buy a console they want to know what games they will be able to play and having these big names available on the platform will certainly help the sales.
I also hope that Ninty will release a lot more games through out the year next year, because, let's be honest, this year was a little bad...
@LUIGITORNADO Barren for whom? I've had plenty to play this year.
I hope astonishing Switch December sales in Japan will make publishers like Konami, Capcom and Enix focus more on Switch. (no Pro Evolution Soccer yet Konami? Shame on you) But even record sales of Smash Bros and Pokemon can't make up for a mediocre and slow year especially in European markets.
@Giygas_95 respect!
@electrolite77
Very good comment,but it minorities will never let facts get in the way of their argument.
Move over Brawl! A new sales king is in town!
@Giygas_95 Hey, I respect the willpower because I have to have that atm, too, so I don't have too many games going on at once, since I just finished the main bits of Mario Party and have been on Diablo.
I only put Smash in to get my gold coins, but haven't launched the game yet.
@Hrimfaksi I play Ike, Roy, and Ganondorf. He plays Captain Falcon. We know we won't be able to play them at first, but we're really looking forward to unlocking them all together.
@CarsonCool I was using him as a springboard to show how much more successful it is than the rest of the Smash series.
@electrolite77 Don't waste your time bringing facts to a conversation with the resident numpties mate
Really glad people are buying this and enjoyi g it.
Personally i think its rubbish, i tried my friends copy to "try before i buy"... I will defo not be buying this, certainly not for full price. The online is a total joke of a mess. The base game is hardly an upgrade from the 3ds version outside of visual updates.
Its great that many people enjoy the game though.
In October i had a list of 11 games to buy before the end of the year...
I haven't purchased one of them and my Nintendo Switch is now collecting dust.
Try harder Nintendo... Try much harder.
@Razer try harder for you? nintendo has a lot of good games out this year. if yours is collecting dust then more power to you, but there are a lot of good games that others play.
@Heavyarms55 I was just about to say I got lucky yesterday when Chrom killed himself, was in shock.
I wouldn't say it's too tough though. I'm a very casual player (block what block?!) but have managed to unlock a fair few on the first or 2nd try, occasionally 3rd.
I find the AI doesn't like dash hits much
Glad the game is doing well it is very fun.
Good, now fix your online modes
wow!! I have already played dozens of hours!
@tourjeff
I think next year will be better for third party support. I don’t mean everything that appears on the competition but there’s plenty of potential for more last gen ports or simultaneous releases where it’s possible. I’m not sure what impact the likes of Assasins Creed will have but they can’t do any harm.
I also think Nintendo will do better, it already looks that way. However I can’t fault the logic of what they’ve done. To the majority of people in 2018 the Switch got a new Donkey Kong, new Bayonetta, a Zelda spin off, a new Captain Toad game, and has a new 2D Mario out in January along with the actual new games, Torna, Octo expansion etc. Personally I’d say they’ve had better years but they’ve certainly had worse.
The ball is in Nintendo’s court now. They’ve handled the Switch very well so far. Hopefully it continues to be the clever, logical and clear-headed Nintendo we’ve seen over the past 2 years.
@johnvboy
I don’t think anyone is ruling it out any more. Anything over 15 mill is an improvement on last year and a great success.
@Mrtoad Oh I get you, sorry then.
@GothicZM Is that sarcasm?
@electrolite77 If you're looking for games like Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Mario Odyssey it was barren. Indies and ports. Kirby and Mario Party are both bleh. Not something I'd spend $60 on.
@LUIGITORNADO,
But that is just you and the core audience,and their own personal want's and needs.
To the masses the Switch has over a 1000 titles and counting,we have to look a little outside of the box on this one,a big factor with any product is momentum and the Switch has that covered,it will be a very tempting buy for families this holiday season.
@johnvboy People mostly bought the Switch to play 2 of those games, not continuing to publish those types of experiences is a mistake and you risk losing your audience’s attention.
I like my Seitch. Played it all year, but there is no explaining this barren year away. Nintendo didn’t plan right.
@LUIGITORNADO,
Yes that's why the Switch continues to sell despite the intetrnet minorities stating it has no games that offer the core experience.
@johnvboy Oh yeah how are you getting on with Smash? Had a few hours on it last weekend and loved it. Everything feels super responsive and tight.
@WiltonRoots,
Awesome game,a bit mind boggling with all the options at first,but I am getting to grips with it.
The game looks awesome,very impressed with how good it looks in handheld mode.
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