Japan: more sales data for Week 14 2018, Fiscal Year 2017 (Media Create, Dengeki)

More sales data from Japan, with the latest reports from Media Create and Dengeki!

Media Create (Week 14)

Today, Media Create published their weekly report on video game sales in Japan during Week 14, 2018. It reveals that total Software sales topped 321 000 units, which is 53.03% of Week 13 sales: a decrease due to the end of the Spring holidays, but also a complete lack of new releases.

Media Create point out that the first week of April generally sees a 50% to 60% drop in sales compared to the last week of March, but this year was particularly bad with a new “record”. Indeed, it was the worst first week of April in 5 years, and the market as a whole was more sluggish than usual during this period.

Hardware sales are also down, with 67 000 units sold: that’s only 80.02% of Week 13 sales. The drop is mostly due to two platforms:

• the Nintendo 3DS, and more specifically the New Nintendo 3DS XL (19.79% of Week 14 2017 sales in 2018)
• the PlayStation 4 (52.88% of Week 14 2017 sales in 2018)

The reason for these drops? The lesser demand in handheld devices (due to the Nintendo Switch, mostly), and shortages impacting the PlayStation 4.

Source: Media Create

Dengeki (Week 14)

Dengeki report that Kirby Star Allies sold about 36 000 units during Week 14, with total sales since launch topping 405 000 units. It reached the 400 000 units milestone within 4 weeks! As for Splatoon 2, it sold 22 000 units this week, bringing the total since launch to over 2 271 000 units.

They also share some more data for Fiscal Year 2017:

• Total: 406.4 billion Yen (+20.9%)
• Software: 32.52 million units (-1.4%)

They point out that less games were sold during Fiscal Year 2017, despite that year having no less than 7 million sellers. The reason for that? The gap between the best-selling and least-selling games just keep on widening (something they’ve repeatedly pointed out in the past couple of years).

Here’s some data based on the games in the Top 500:

• Million-sellers: 7 (3 to 5 every year since 2010, so 2017 was particularly good in that regard. There were 4 million-sellers in 2016)
• 500 000 to 1 million units = from 4 to 1
• 500 000 to 200 000 units = from 21 to 15
• 200 000 to 100 000 units = from 43 to 30
• 100 000 to 50 000 units = from 52 to 44
• 50 000 to 30 000 units = from 43 to 55
• less than 10 000 units = from 149 to 164

Here’s some data that shows just how serious the situation is: 69.6% of games released during Fiscal Year 2017 did not even sell at least 30 000 units, and 32.8% of them (1 out of 3) did not even sell 10 000 units!

Dengeki expect this trend to worsen in the future, what with the rise of Free 2 Play games. But they also hope that the market as a whole will be lifted by hits, that will raise sales of other games, and revitalize the whole market as a result.

Next, here’s Software sales for each platform:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	114,033	36.1％	114,033	36.1％
Vita	19,992	6.3％	19,992	6.3％
Switch	125,567	39.8％	125,567	39.8％
3DS	53,506	16.9％	53,506	16.9％
ETC	2,691	0.9％	2,691	0.9％
Total	315,789	100.0％	315,789	100.0％

And here’s Hardware sales:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	12,963	20.4％	12,963	20.4％
Vita	3,088	4.9％	3,088	4.9％
Switch	36,426	57.3％	36,426	57.3％
3DS	10,909	17.2％	10,909	17.2％
ETC	134	0.2％	134	0.2％
Total	63,520	100.0％	63,520	100.0％

Finally, here’s the Top 50 Software:

01./03. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies (Nintendo) {2018.03.16} – 36,079 / 405,423
02./02. [PS4] Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft) {2018.03.29} – 27,627 / 100,937
03./05. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} – 22,189 / 2,271,045
04./09. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 12,894 / 1,489,103
05./01. [PS4] Super Robot Wars X (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.03.29} – 12,131 / 96,986
06./07. [PS4] Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Level 5) {2018.03.23} – 8,669 / 83,707
07./08. [3DS] Detective Pikachu (Pokemon Co.) {2018.03.23} – 7,239 / 65,699
08./04. [PSV] Super Robot Wars X (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.03.29} – 7,088 / 59,039
09./12. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} – 6,983 / 1,614,443
10./16. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 5,372 / 729,676
11./10. [PS4] Monster Hunter: World (Capcom) {2018.01.26} – 5,017 / 1,975,748
12./11. [NSW] Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.22} – 4,528 / 37,247
12./12. [PS4] Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega) {2018.03.21} – 4,006 / 70,318
14./14. [PS4] Attack on Titan 2 (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.15} – 3,978 / 48,530
15./06. [PS4] Shining Resonance Refrain (Sega) {2018.03.29} – 3,688 / 24,951
16./17. [PS4] Like the North Star (Sega) {2018.03.08} – 3,660 / 160,938
17./21. [NSW] Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 for Nintendo Switch (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.09.07} – 3,611 / 167,211
18./15. [NSW] Attack on Titan 2 (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.15} – 3,472 / 46,855
19./18. [PS4] Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege – Advanced Edition (Ubisoft) {2018.03.01} – 3,050 / 32,565
20./23. [NSW] ARMS (Nintendo) {2017.06.16} – 2,911 / 414,521
21./22. [NSW] Pokken Tournament DX (Pokemon Co.) {2017.09.22} – 2,906 / 250,801
22./27. [3DS] Mario Party: The Top 100 (Nintendo) {2017.12.28} – 2,850 / 192,288
23./29. [NSW] 1-2-Switch (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 2,789 / 445,895
24./28. [NSW] Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Nintendo) {2018.01.18} – 2,633 / 206,071
25./24. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 2,517 / 808,635
26./25. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Moon (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 2,272 / 785,424
27./32. [NSW] Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix) {2018.03.01} – 2,128 / 46,787
28./33. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} – 1,961 / 345,866
29./30. [3DS] Kirby Battle Royale (Nintendo) {2017.11.30} – 1,922 / 166,818
30./20. [PSV] Attack on Titan 2 (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.15} – 1,833 / 25,252
31./38. [3DS] Doraemon: Nobita no Takarajima (FuRyu) {2018.03.01} – 1,806 / 17,110
32./36. [NSW] FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts) {2017.09.29} – 1,533 / 119,232
33./31. [NSW] PriPara All Idol Perfect Stage! (Takara Tomy) {2018.03.22} – 1,506 / 14,124
34./37. [PS4] Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.12.03} – 1,361 / 310,044
35./51. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2016.12.01} – 1,289 / 1,163,327
36./39. [PS4] Call of Duty: WWII (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.11.03} – 1,233 / 430,389
37./56. [NSW] Snipperclips Plus: Cut it Out, Together! (Nintendo) {2017.11.10} – 1,128 / 66,044
38./53. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two Interactive Japan) {2015.10.08} – 1,117 / 368,442
39./00. [3DS] Kawaii Pet to Kurasou! Wan Nyan & Idol Animal (Nippon Columbia) {2018.04.05} – 1,081 / NEW
40./65. [NSW] Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso (Nippon Columbia) {2017.12.07} – 1,067 / 68,600
41./40. [PSV] Minecraft: Playstation Vita Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.03.19} – 1,061 / 1,198,702
42./58. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} – 1,017 / 2,724,487
43./49. [NSW] Monster Hunter Double Cross: Nintendo Switch Ver. (Capcom) {2017.08.25} – 944 / 220,477
44./55. [PS4] Winning Post 8 2018 (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.15} – 939 / 10,107
45./41. [PS4] Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.02.08} – 922 / 111,071
46./61. [3DS] The Snack World: TreJarers (Level 5) {2017.08.10} – 906 / 267,938
47./64. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot (Nintendo) {2016.04.28} – 878 / 576,107
48./43. [PS4] Devil May Cry HD Collection (Capcom) {2018.03.15} – 873 / 10,592
49./54. [PS4] Dynasty Warriors 9 (Koei Tecmo) {2018.02.08} – 850 / 172,007
50./59. [3DS] Beyblade Burst God (FuRyu) {2017.11.23} – 849 / 51,916

Source: Dengeki
Top 50 data compiled by ZSaberLink (ResetEra)

Click here for more Japanese sales data!