We're back with another look at the latest Japanese charts from Famitsu (via Gematsu) and once again, the ranking is overpowered by a new RPG.
Yes, after enjoying a week in the spotlight last time, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has made way for Vanillaware's Unicorn Overlord which tops this week's chart on Switch, lands in third on PS5 and in eighth on PS4.
In fact, the latest tactical RPG has been performing so well that Atlus has started advising customers in Japan to consider buying the game digitally rather than physically as boxed copies continue to sell out (thanks, VGC). Talk about popular, huh?
The Japan-exclusive Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise is another new entry this week, taking fourth place with 14,128 sales and pushing Nintendo's latest, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, down to fifth.
Here's your look at this week's top ten in full:
- [NSW] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 40,991 (New)
- [PS5] Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Square Enix, 02/29/24) – 24,482 (287,138)
- [PS5] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 24,398 (New)
- [NSW] Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku: Isshoni Exercise (Imagineer, 03/07/24) – 14,128 (New)
- [NSW] Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 02/16/24) – 13,238 (116,761)
- [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 11,669 (5,739,869)
- [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo, 10/20/23) – 11,417 (1,779,209)
- [PS4] Unicorn Overlord (ATLUS, 03/08/24) – 8,797 (New)
- [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! (Konami, 11/16/23) – 7,053 (1,006,010)
- [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 6,460 (4,246,168)
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It looks like all of those game sales have helped Switch hardware too. The OLED model is Japan's best-selling console this week, with an additional 50,240 units putting it ahead of Sony's PS5 which had 34,799 sales.
Combining the consoles' SKUs leans things even further in Nintendo's favour. The Standard, Lite and OLED Switches put up a combined total of 65,898 units this week while the two PS5 models come together for 39,064.
And, of course, we can't not shout out the New 2DS LL which is still chugging along with another 14 sales this week. Keep it up, little guy!
Here's your look at this week's hardware chart:
- Switch OLED Model – 50,240 (6,838,219)
- PlayStation 5 – 34,799 (4,647,882)
- Switch Lite – 10,762 (5,770,240)
- PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 4,265 (736,531)
- Switch – 4,896 (19,738,694)
- Xbox Series X – 2,290 (259,961)
- PlayStation 4 – 1,816 (7,923,822)
- Xbox Series S – 1,456 (304,927)
- New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 14 (1,192,879)
What do you make of this week's Japanese charts? Let us know in the comments.
[source famitsu.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 45
As it should be
Unfortunately I'm still searching for a non-overpriced physical copy. All we got around here are resellers and they know this is a good game
switch version sold far less then i would have thought i expected triple digits..
ATLUS had to release an apology due to stock shortages in the country. The good reviews and positive word-of-mouth definitely helped boost sales after the release date.
Love to see Unicorn Overlord selling well physically in Japan across all systems and especially on Switch!
Also nice to see Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku other than the usual suspects here, forgot it came out last week... fingers crossed it will be released also outside of Japan, if not I'm definitely importing it at some point!
@Erigen maybe atlas did not think the game would sell well considering it is a strategy rpg and those do not sell as well as traditional rpg games..
@johnedwin Yep but you're not counting digital versions on the Switch...
so atlas only printed 74 thousand physical copies ? possible i noticed here in some us stores the physical version is also sold out.
Unicorn Overlord deserves it, clearly there is a lot of money, time, effort, and love put into this game.
Really bad stock issues with Unicorn Overlord. The Switch version is literally sold out. As in, there are no more copies. But a great success regardless.
@steely_pete switch version hard to find even in some specialty game stores it is sold out.
Loving Unicorn Overlord. Hopefully it sells well enough Vanillaware can continue to spend all of their money on their new games.
I'm envious of those 14 new 2DS LL buyers. There's nothing new in the 3DS line anywhere around here, and I'd love another backup!
it is like with dragon quest monsters did square-enix make more copies you cant find a physical version even many months later.. i hope this is not a trend of companies printing less copies and expecting people to buy a digital version instead..
I'm curious how to take the Mario vs DK sales. Not that I expected a huge slam dunk like many of their releases, but overall, what's the expectation/how does this stack up to other similar caliber releases from N?
@johnedwin If they didn't want it to sell so well they shouldn't have made it so good.
I kid, I kid. I know what you meant, just poking fun
Happy to see, I mostly enjoyed the game from start to finish. Just Grinding CC's at this point. Hope it makes up for VW having ran out of money during development.
Tactical rpg? Hard pass.
Surprisingly weak sales for Unicorn...
But seriously, yikes! Those FF7 Remake Rebirth sales! It sells even much worser than FF16 which didn't managed to sell +500k.
The sales of FF7 Remake and FF15 were abysmal with just 900k each, but it looks like that FF7 Remake Rebirth will just sell 1/3 of FF7 Remake...
What is people in Japan even playing on their PS5? Just buying it for the sake of just buying it to showing their loyalty and support to Sony?
+5m PS5 units sold in Japan this so far, and the biggest game of the year in Japan for PS5 can't even manage to sell +400k as the mostly!? That's insane!
I've been loving the game so far so I can confidently say this was well deserved.
Has anyone else been having issues with the DLC though?
I bought the digital Monarch Edition since it came with a digital artbook and 16 Bit music, but I can't seem to access it at the moment. Feels like I'm the only one who bought it too since I haven't seen anyone else talk about it.
Deserved. Hopefully it has good legs and pushes past 100k and maybe even 150-200k.
Snuffkin leads the eShop charts, both all and digital only.
Just wanted to mention this
@Keman Well considering Sony announced that more digital games are being bought than physical I would assume FF7 ReBirth has sold near enough the same digitally as it has physically so I'd wager it's closer to 500k sold in Japan, maybe more so when you factor in they also have a digital only console as well.
The more years that pass the bigger the gap between Physical and Digital sales become until it reaches around 90% digital and that's when everyone pulls the plug on physical software altogether and these charts become non existant.
I've yet to buy Unicorn Overlord but it's definitely top of my list of games to buy next alongside Dragons Dogma 2. I may give the demo a try whilst I wait to see what the hype is about and maybe persuade me to get it sooner.
Nice to see the Switch version of Unicorn Overlord selling so well. The fact that even if you combine the sales numbers of the PS4 and PS5 versions, both still falls behind the Switch version. Very impressive. As for the multiverses timeline focus Final Fantasy VII Rebirth that doesn't even look, follow, or play like the original anymore, I'm very disappointed in this game. It looks like they did a cool recap, had a good beginning, an interesting middle, and somehow screw up the end.
Did anyone else see the Twitter thread by a player slamming the localization because it dared to add flavor to the English dialogue?
@NerdyBoutKirby Yeah I did, there are some changes I didn't like in the English dialogue and changes I was fine with.
Regardless of that I will be getting this game still, probably gonna focus on the gameplay most likely I think for this game.
Glad to see Uni-O is selling well, as it really is a very high-quality game worthy of its Vanillaware pedigree.
But stock shortages already? They really are running lean on physical print-runs in this digital age. It's getting to the point where you have to preorder if you want a physical copy.
@NerdyBoutKirby
I haven't seen the offended person's video, but heard there was a bit of a stir over Uni-O's localization. Over the course of a couple hours of playing with Japanese dialogue and English subs, I can confirm the translators took some "poetic license" with the script. There were a couple occasions where the Japanese can be rather matter-of-fact and terse, but the English was more colorful and flowery, like the Middle Ages. I certainly have no problem with that, considering the setting of the game. Really, when translating creative works, I'd say it's better to be more imaginative and elegant with your translations than the opposite - where it is basic and devoid of nuance. Good for them for putting their heart into that translation!
And really, what I heard of the English voice-acting was quite good, so just stick with one language or the other and poof! no dissonance.
@johnedwin they were short stock
@Zaruboggan
Yes. I'd love to be able to buy a new 2DS XL at retail price too. Too bad they aren't region-free.
@johnedwin I happen to think you’re right with companies printing less physical copies trying to push digital sales.
They are trying to kill the second hand market sadly imo.
@Keman "What do people even play on their Playstation" is an evergreen question for me, thanks for voicing it.
For a new IP in a niche genre, those Unicorn Overlord sales are far, far better than I thought they’d be. Atlus barely gets that for SMT, let alone a dense, menu-laden Vanillaware RTS with an apparently mediocre story.
Just shows that reviews and word of mouth still count for something, and a good game can get the sales it deserves.
Switch version sold twice as much as the PS5 version and 5x as much as the PS4 version.
That shows you where the fans of these games are.
Awesome, well deserved. Great game.
@johnedwin The company is called Atlus, with a U, not Atlas.
Unicorn Overlord will probably be my game of the year so glad to see it doing so well. Game is truly awesome and will probably to 150+ hours just to beat
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the worst selling Final Fantasy ever. It has a monstruos drop on every region. Square-Enix have shot themselves in the foot.
I'm so glad for Unicorn Overlord! Such an amazing game.
@Keman I hope they are buying digital, FF7Rebirth is fantastic
@JR150 seeing that the switch has sold 26 million more systems in Japan the switch version of Unicorn Overlord out selling the ps5 version two to one isn’t that impressive, It’s kind of pathetic actually.
@IndoorEnthusiast
It's a niche game. It selling this much is impressive.
Very well-deserved first place by SingleMaize HyperJesus. The game is so much fun to play. I hope this pushes Vanillaware to continue making games like this, maybe even a sequel or spin-off.
This game is really good.
Unicorn Overlord is amazing, it deserves all the success it can get.
I snagged a physical copy, luckily. I worried prices might start going up. I hope everyone gets to play it. I've only barely started it, but I can tell that it's special.
@IndoorEnthusiast Game sales don't grow linearly with the hardware installbase. The Switch having sold over six times as much hardware as the PS5 doesn't mean every multiplat should sell over six times as much on the Switch.
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