
With June now well and truly behind us, we find ourselves in the second half of 2020. In that time, we might not have had quite as many top tier Nintendo releases as we might have expected, but the Switch continues to sell well and one title in particular has been smashing records all over the place.
Newly compiled data from Famitsu has given us a look at just how well things are going in the gaming world in Japan this year. A new report has detailed both hardware and physical software sales for the first half of 2020 (technically covering 30th December 2019 to 28th June 2020), showing us which games have been selling best and how the market has performed compared to the same period last year.
We'll start with the games. Here's a list of 2020's top ten best-sellers (physical sales and download card purchases only):
01./00. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo) {2020.03.20} – 5.004.720
02./00. [PS4] Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix) {2020.04.10} – 931.165
03./00. [NSW] Pokémon Sword and Shield (Pokémon Co.) {2019.11.15} – 650.859
04./00. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} – 577.875
05./05. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 346.034
06./02. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} – 284.717
07./07. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} – 280.662
08./00. [PS4] Resident Evil 3 (Capcom) {2020.04.03} – 263.625
09./00. [NSW] Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX (Pokémon Co.) {2020.03.06} – 260.802
10./00. [PS4] Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Sega) {2020.01.16} – 259.580
Next up, hardware sales. As you can see, Switch is comfortably the best-selling console of the year so far in Japan, with its sales actually being significantly higher than the same period last year.

Famitsu's report notes that the gaming market is doing particularly well this year in Japan, with both software and hardware sales being up year-on-year. Japan has actually had its best first half of a year since 2012, and this is reportedly the first time since 2006 that both hardware and software sales have risen. The table below shows the market value (millions, yen):
First Half of 2020 | First of of 2019 | |
Hardware Sales | 79,340 | 66,120 |
Software Sales | 95,470 | 73,990 |
TOTAL | 174,810 | 140,110 |
Will the Nintendo Switch continue to outperform last year's sales as 2020 goes on? And will the likes Paper Mario: The Origami King be able to break into that top ten? Time will tell.
[source famitsu.com, via resetera.com, perfectly-nintendo.com]
Comments 38
The list is basically Animal Crossing and then everything else...
I hope Nintendo can use this to help convince third parties to continue to support the Switch even after Sony and Microsoft release their next consoles.
Never trust anything Famitsu says
LOL
Where is Xbox sales? 😂
ff7 remake ,some day...one day , on switch
Wow animal crossing outsold ff7 remake.
Wow, Ring Fit Adventure continues to do great!
@Anti-Matter Typically outside of Japan.
Assuming this list is correct, good to see the new Yakuza sneaking onto the list, even if I am unsure about the new gameplay.
Removed - harassment; user is banned
@LetsaGO
Well aren't you edgy. ***** on things girls like and calling people princess. How old fashion of you. Anyway feminine things are fantastic.
@Kirby_Girl I know right? Who said pink is for girls, and blue is for boys? I’ve played some games I’m ashamed to admit because people classify it as “girly”.
@Apportal_SMM2 Why be ashamed? If a game is fun to you than enjoy it. It's your time and money. I'm someone who has played Dark Souls unpatched mulitple times and I love to do Hollow Knight speed runs but I also love Animal Crossing and Style Savvy games. I have Ring Fit Adventure too. I'm a woman so I guess that makes me less ashamed to play things that are deemed feminine or girlie but I don't think ANYONE should care and play what they think is fun. Shaming games for being girlie or players for enjoying them is silly. like we get it YOU A BIG BURLY MAN WITH GUN AND BLOOD games. Who cares.
Switch has now sold 50% more hardware units than PS4, and is around 60% of 3DS lifetime sales. Solid.
@westman98 No kidding! It accounts for 56% of sales on that list, outselling all the other games combined. That's impressive.
@GrandScribe Very much, this should be top of the list, continued support for Switch after Series X and PS5 release...
If they get that along with themselves working hard on first party releases there's no reason why Switch shouldn't continue to sell...
Problem is tech, many games simply will not be able to be ported due to widening power gap..... Interesting times ahead...
@Kirby_Girl feminine things are fantastic. I don’t disagree. Xbox was never big in Japan
I like seeing Japan's top ten charts. There's usually more genre variety vs. what normally happens in Western markets.
Those Animal Crossing numbers though. 😀
Crazy to see a handful evergreen Switch games hang with the new FFVII Remake and even beat out RE3 Remake. No other publisher really comes close to amount of evergreen titles Nintendo has.
@LetsaGO oh I misinterpreted. Agreed. X-box just does not do it over there. That is quite true.
@Anti-Matter "LOL
Where is Xbox sales? 😂"
Right next to the people who play DDR I guess.
@Zuljaras
I mean DDR is like one of two franchises (along with PES) that Konami still makes new games for semi-regularly so it must be at least decently successful.
According to wikipedia, they just released a new one just last week for Japanese arcades.
@Toy_Link
Yup.
It called DDR A20+
Starter licensed songs = All TOHO Eurobeat songs.
@Toy_Link Thank you for the info. Really did not know that as I did not care to check. You must be fun at parties
@BANJO it is going to become interesting also because the industry is probably going to increase prices to $70-$80 per game for those consoles to offset increased production costs. In a lot of places including the United States with the pandemic going on that’ll be unaffordable for a meaningful number of people. I think Sony’s and Microsoft’s console sales will suffer from them being unaffordable to a meaningful number of people but also suffer from people being more financially risk adverse until the pandemic is over. I think it is entirely possible that a lot of third parties are going to stick with the Switch because it’ll be safer financially.
WOW no suprise that Switch continue to sell well, if Switch continue it record sales number, it gonna surpass Wii and PS4 and become Nintendo higest selling console, never in my life i expected Switch to sell you well and no sign of stopping,i knew Switch would be sucess for the moment i watched it debut trailer, who knew Nintendo will do such big comeback after the failure of Wii U.
Clearly Nintendo should release a new more powerful Switch in 2021 with Final Fantasy 7 remake a launch title
@Giancarlothomaz
It isn't a normal home console though so comparing the PS4 numbers vs. the Switch doesn't make sense, you should compare the Switch vs. the PSP and 3DS and DS.
@MarsOne i know i take PS4 and Wii sales numbers as the most highest selling consoles of the previous and current generation, if Switch managed to outsold DS or PS2 sales numbers i will be suprised, i can imagine Switch final sales numbers around 100 to 115 milions consoles sold.
WOW Animal Crossing New Horizons is the best selling Switch game on Japan and maybe others regions so far, can Animal Crossing New Horizons dethone Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and become Switch highest selling game? i'm curious to know Animal Crossing New Horizons worldwide sales numbers now, did it become close to dethone Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?
Nintendo clearly dominates the Japanese market.
@BANJO
Switch will continue to do extremely well in this economic climate versus $500+ consoles with $70 games.
@MarsOne no because the price point matches a console.
In fact the 3DS launched with a £250 price tag on it and it bombed until they lowered it. PS Vita as well.
If the Switch was going to be compared to cheaper handhelds then you'd need to start counting 1 Switch for 2 DS's.
Which would just be silly, so it falls under home consoles.
Edit: we may look at the experience over the price because we know to do that, your average parent will see the price and choose the one they can afford. Those people account for about 80% of console sales. Actual gamers who can buy their own games represent maybe 20%.
@GrandScribe Interesting point, you will get the early subscribbers for both new consoles regardless.
But as you say the cheaper production costs for games could help keep the Switch games continuing to be made by third party... Hopefully that's the case...
@SalvorHardin Fingers crossed that's the case...
@BANJO don’t forget the base for the Switch is already and even if the new consoles are hot items it'll take a while for theirs to build up to anything substantial. If Nintendo releases one or two big games for the Switch like Breath of the Wild 2 or drops the price or both and Switch sales eclipse the new consoles it’d have a big impact on third parties. It is quite possible the Switch will sell better than either of the consoles.
@GrandScribe I'm certainly confident it will continue to sell well, as you say a great game release combined with a price drop down the line would help keep sales high..
Time will tell..
@BANJO Nintendo could go further they could drop free DLC for some of their games, they could drop the price of games like Mario Kart and Breath of the Wild, they revamp the eShop, they could bring the quality of Nintendo online to be on par with Sony's and Microsoft's services.
@Razer It's not a home console because of the cost. That makes no sense. I find it bizarre how effective Nintendo's marketing is, it is a portable, the successor to the 3DS, that is obvious. It uses portable hardware (the same as the portable nVidia Shield devices) and it is indeed portable, you can play the Switch portably.
I can dock the gameboy, the gameboy advance (my gamecube has a dock for it) and the Vita, they are still portables, not home consoles. Nintendo is not selling a home system at the moment. When they want to use a GPU that uses more than 10 watts then we will have a home console again.
One thing to bear in mind: this in ONLY physical sales. It seems PS and XB sell a higher percentage of AAA titles digitally nowadays not sure the same is true of N who rarely discount anything digitally
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