Splatoon 3 just continues to splatter ink over all sorts of records, especially in Japan where the IP is huge. And it's just surpassed another one — with the release of the Japan Monthly Report for September 2022, it's now been confirmed that Splatoon 3 is the best-selling video game in Japan in 2022.
The data from the report was shared by Game Data Library on Twitter, and it reveals that Nintendo's third ink-based shooter sold just over 2.9 million retail units in the month of September alone. That means, in just a month, it's surpassed Pokémon Legends: Arceus' 2.295 million retail unit sales.
It's worth emphasising that this is just based on retail units, but if we were to include digital sales too (of what we currently know thanks to Nintendo revealing some sales figures when Splatoon 3 launched), that means that the game has sold over 4 million units already (up to 2nd October).
We're not surprised, let's say, more like staggered. We know how popular Splatoon is in Japan, but seeing these huge figures in such a short space of time is pretty amazing. It's still yet to be knocked off of the top spot in Japan!
When Splatoon 3 launched on 9th September, it became the fastest-selling Switch game in Japan ever in its opening weekend, selling nearly 2 million physical copies in those first few days.
There's only really one potential contender to take the crown for the best-selling video game in Japan in 2022 — Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. The ninth generation of Pokémon games launch on 18th November, so they'll have six weeks to try and take Splatoon's ink-splattered crown. It could be a close race.
Are you happy or surprised with Splatoon 3's success? Have you picked up the game yet? Let us know in the comments!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 35
Well Pokemon is coming up so should be interesting numbers.
Congratz to the Nintendo EPD devs for this massive success, I'm sure they didn't expect this when they came up with the idea all those years ago. Unfortunately I am strongly opposed to paying a subscription to simply play online, so nothing for me.
Japan loves tentacles.
Well deserved it's great fun game and I'm having a blast playing it. Still hope they add Local split screen. Would love to play with my kids and that i don't need 4 switches to be able to play with my family. Missed opportunity, especially since they promote family fun so much with the switch.
I always like looking back at news stories for the original Splatoon and seeing how monumental 4 million units sold on the Wii U felt at the time. To then see 3 sell the same amount within a MONTH feels absolutely amazing. So happy to see one of Nintendo's rare ventures into a fully-fledged new IP absolutely blow up over the past few years (especially when it's a series I have absolutely fallen for in that timespan)!
Shame it's so broken.
@Hck,
I hate to ask.... but why is it broken exactly.
Nice. I was unsure to buy but got it last week and do not regret that decision (although I should have bought digital because I got lazy ...). The fact that you can "minimize" the News every time you start the game was worth the money! 🤣
Plus you can play SR when you want (except for server maintenance of course) convinced me. Overall the game experience is better. Good buy for me!
@johnvboy
The new netcode has unfortunately not been perfected yet, so disconnects are still pretty common. The game also has some weird latency issues, so people end up getting killed from "nothing" or 5 seconds after the event.
The game still has not patched some game-breaking glitches such as some weapons being able to attack from underneath platforms. Some weapons are still not properly functioning like the Tenta Brella in Salmon Run.
The game is amazing, but it has room for improvement.
Well deserved I would say! Been enjoying this game a heck ton since it came out.
@johnvboy Probably the large amounts of communication errors if I had to guess. Along with certain other things like unbalanced Tricolor battles and Conch shells being given even when one hasn't picked a Splatfest team yet and the game not handling that correctly somehow.
Removed - trolling/baiting
@Moistnado That joke is so tired. Move on.
@ModdedInkling yeah the game is great it’s just some lag issues. All brellas but specifically tenta are almost unplayable at a high level due to the fact that you can often get shot through the shield
@Yosher,
Apart from launch day, I have had zero issues with it, I think there was an update shortly after launch.
Removed - unconstructive
This is one of those examples where a title absolutely deserves its success and deserves to be huge.
I love Splatoon 3, so it’s great to see it doing so well.
Loved the second game, can’t wait to get hands on this one early Christmas. Just hope won’t be too late though 🥲
@johnvboy I play daily and I still get relatively frequent issues where matches end early due to players dropping out. It's not game breaking, but it's certainly noticable. The patch that was supposed to fix it didn't really do much in my experience.
@LittIeZ You'll be fine. I think I got Splatoon2 four to five months after it's release. There's still two years of new periodic content updates for Splatoon 3.
@Yosher,
I would not call the game broken though.
@ModdedInkling,
Very true, but as I said hardly broken.
I bet at least half of them have their locker as just a 🗿
@johnvboy Me neither, but I can see why some might.
It's a great game, well deserved. At least I had fun while I played it, though I haven't had much time with it, since Switch Sports takes most of my game time.
@steely_pete can I honestly ask why?
I mean I've been gaming for 30 years and I DO miss the days of free online gaming for consoles but not enough to not enjoy new stuff. I'm genuinely curious as to why you are opposed to it.
@Erigen this can be implied many different ways, lol.
Splatoon 3 the best selling game of japan in 2022, Pokémon Scarlet e Violet:hold my pokeball
@johnvboy The disconnects, the matcmaking issues. I live in Japan and play in that region in Splatoon 3. My wife, who does NOT play games, was commenting to me how just the other day that the topic of issues with Splatoon 3 was trending on Twitter in Japan. Couple that with places like GameFaqs whose Splatoon 3 Salt thread reached the maximum allowable post count in record time speaks to the game having issues.
@johnvboy Having said that, though, I still play every day
@Ratmasterd21
In the first place online gaming is not the MOST important thing to me, though I do enjoy it whenever I tried out a 1 year sub/ before that back when it was free, but I can live without. Also some people are just really stubborn about some arbitrary principles and choose to die on that hill.
@steely_pete thanks for the info. It was honestly helpful in my understanding
@Hck,
Great game, and love the single player campaign.
@Hck,
As I said, apart from launch time, I have had very few issues.
Not bad at all for DLC.
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