Japan: Famitsu sales for May 2018
Today, Famitsu shared their latest monthly report on video game sales in Japan, covering May (and more precisely the period going from April 30th to May 27th, so 4 weeks in total).
Let’s start with the Top 5 Software, dominated by Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. It sold nearly 150 000 units at retail during its launch month, which is more or less the same as the games ranked #2 and #3 combined. It was the only game to sell over 100 000 units in May: a pretty slow month for Software sales.
In the Top 5, we find two evergreen titles on Nintendo Switch: Splatoon 2 with 71 980 units sold (2 313 090 units LTD), and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with 54 236 units sold (203 219 units LTD). It’s quite an impressive performance for the latter, as it was released one year ago (in April 2017) and it’s still charting. Then again, it probably wouldn’t be in the Top 5 if the market as a whole was a bit healthier…
Also, Famitsu reports that Nintendo Labo has now sold over 200 000 units, though that’s only if you combine sales of the Variety Kit and the Robot Kit.
Here’s the Top 5 Software for May 2018:
01./00. [NSW] Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze <ACT> (Nintendo) {2018.05.03} (¥5.980) – 149.643 / NEW
02./00. [PS4] Dark Souls Remastered <Dark Souls \ Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss> <RPG> (From Software) {2018.05.24} (¥4.800) – 77.435 / NEW
03./00. [NSW] Splatoon 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} (¥5.980) – 71.983 / 2.313.090
04./03. [PS4] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2018 <SPT> (Konami) {2018.04.26} (¥7.980) – 69.664 / 203.219 (-48%)
05./00. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 54.236 / 1.506.430
This month, the Nintendo Switch managed to grab 3 of the 5 spots of the Top 5 Software, with the Nintendo 3DS once again not getting a single one.
NSW – 3
PS4 – 2
Software-wise, Nintendo was the most successful publisher with 534 000 units sold: that’s more than two times more than Konami and From Software combined. The latter didn’t even reach 100 000 units sold: another sign of how slow May was for video games sales.
Nintendo – 534.000
Konami – 111.000
From Software – 81.000
The Nintendo Switch sold 144 455 units in May, which is a fairly good number (though it definitely could be better), given how slow sales always are in May (and June). That’s the 3rd month in a row that the Nintendo Switch is dominating Hardware sales in Japan.
Also, now that shortages are finally over, Nintendo Switch sales are no longer held back by insufficient stocks. As a result, May 2018 sales surpasses May 2017… but not by that much: only 17 000 units (which is why we said that sales definitely could be better, though it would definitely be a stretch to call them bad).
Nintendo 3DS sales dropped to 33 387 units: that’s 14 000 units less than in April, and 30 000 units less than in May 2017. If you want to see how “bad” sales are compared to last year, just look at the LTD column below: by that time last year, the Nintendo 3DS had already sold 823 805 units. This year? Only 294 589 units as of May 27th…
Quite interestingly, Famitsu is still sharing data for Wii U Hardware in its monthly reports, allowing us to find out the console sold 113 units in May.
Here’s Hardware sales for May 2018 from Famitsu:
Click here for more Japanese sales data!
