Japan: more sales data for Week 18 2018, DKC Tropical Freeze, Golden Week, April 2018 (Media Create, Dengeki)

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

Media Create (Week 18, Golden Week)

Today, Media Create published their weekly report on video game sales in Japan during Week 18, 2018. It reveals that total Software sales topped 547 000 units, which is 97.99% of Week 17 sales: a slight decrease.

We also get some data for the Golden Week (or rather, the Golden Week and the previous week, so April 23rd to May 6th). Media Create reveal that Software sales dropped during that period: 1 105 000 units sold in 2018, as opposed to 1 174 000 units in 2017 (April 24th to May 7th, to be precise). Sales in 2018 account for 94.18% of sales during the same period, last year.

Nintendo platforms saw a noticeable drop in sales: 2018 sales account for “only” 62.51% of sales during the same period last year. The main culprit is the Nintendo 3DS, as its sales during the Golden Week this year only account for 23.78% of sales during the Golden Week in 2017. Talk about a brutal drop!

On the other hand, sales for Sony platforms more than doubled (208.14% of Golden Week 2017 sales), thanks to Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2018.

As for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Media Create reported 88 000 units sold at launch, earlier this week. That’s a really pretty good start for this Nintendo Switch port, as its sales are more than double the original’s at launch (about 36 000 units).

Source: Media Create

Dengeki (Week 18)

Dengeki report slightly higher sales than Media Create for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Acording to them, the game sold about 92 000 units at launch, which is nearly three times what the original did on Wii U (about 36 000 units at launch, and 122 000 units LTD).

The sell-through ratio for the Nintendo Switch version is about 65%, which is good: retailers will have no trouble selling the remaining units, especially as word of mouth seems particularly positive.

As for Kirby Star Allies, Dengeki report 35 000 units sold for this week, and over 501 000 units since launch. Finally, Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01, Variety Kit sold 31 000 units this week, and 146 000 units since launch.

Dengeki also shared some data for the Golden Week, but only for April 30th to May 6th. They report that Hardware sales increased noticeably: +38.4%, to 107 000 units. Unfortunately, Software sales were slightly down with 555 000 units sold (-0.3%).

It’s now been a month since the new Fiscal Year started, and Dengeki point out that unlike last year, there’s only two consoles competing this time around: the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4 (the Nintendo 3DS has not been all that relevant this year).

Here’s sales for Fiscal Year 2017:

• Nintendo Switch: 48.1% market share for Hardware, 28.3% for Software
• PlayStation 4: 27.9% market share for Hardware, 34.9% for Software
• Nintendo 3DS: 20.2% market share for Hardware, 30.5% for Software

And here’s sales for Fiscal Year 2018 so far:

• Nintendo 3DS: 13.19% market share for Hrdware, 11.1% for Software
• Nintendo Switch + PlayStation 4: 81% market share for Hardware (76% during FY 2017), 79.6% for Software

It’s now been 7 years since the Nintendo 3DS (yes, time sure flies by!), which has already sold over 23 million units. To the surprise of no one, Dengeki do not expect major growth for the handheld this year, especially since it does not have big hits like Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon or Dragon Quest XI this year to boost sales.

It’s pretty clear that the main “fight” will be between the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4, which will dominate the market. Dengeki point out that one important thing about Nintendo is how much they will be able to compensate for the drop in Nintendo 3DS sales thanks to the Nintendo Switch.

Next, here’s Software sales for each platform:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	132,632	23.9％	751,639	35.4％
Vita	36,328	6.5％	185,332	8.7％
Switch	313,427	56.5％	934,815	44.1％
3DS	69,448	12.5％	236,194	11.1％
ETC	3,098	0.6％	12,608	0.6％
Total	554,933	100.0％	2,120,588	100.0％

And here’s Hardware sales:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	32,122	30.0％	92,657	25.8％
Vita	4,707	4.4％	17,820	5.0％
Switch	56,954	53.2％	198,519	55.2％
3DS	13,011	12.2％	49,919	13.9％
ETC	167	0.2％	753	0.2％
合計	106,961	100.0％	359,668	100.0％

Finally, here’s the Top 50 Software:

01./00. [NSW] Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Nintendo) {2018.05.03} – 92,228 / NEW
02./01. [PS4] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2018 (Konami) {2018.04.26} – 37,126 / 169,150
03./06. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies (Nintendo) {2018.03.16} – 34,650 / 501,288
04./03. [NSW] Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit (Nintendo) {2018.04.20} – 30,618 / 145,632
05./05. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} – 30,356 / 2,348,434
06./09. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 23,294 / 1,546,647
07./02. [PSV] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2018 (Konami) {2018.04.26} – 17,437 / 77,395
08./11. [NSW] The Snack World: TreJarers (Level 5) {2018.04.12} – 14,094 / 74,121
09./04. [PS4] God of War (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2018.04.20} – 13,333 / 87,633
10./14. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} – 10,161 / 1,641,098
11./16. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 8,350 / 751,798
12./15. [NSW] Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 02: Robot Kit (Nintendo) {2018.04.20} – 6,538 / 35,550
12./08. [NSW] SD Gundam G Generation: Genesis for Nintendo Switch (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.04.26} – 5,544 / 20,351
14./28. [NSW] ARMS (Nintendo) {2017.06.16} – 4,600 / 425,815
15./12. [NSW] Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Legacy for Nintendo Switch (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.04.26} – 4,580 / 12,811
16./19. [PS4] Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft) {2018.03.29} – 4,547 / 132,754
17./29. [NSW] 1-2-Switch (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 4,383 / 456,251
18./32. [NSW] Pokken Tournament DX (Pokemon Co.) {2017.09.22} – 4,183 / 260,551
19./26. [3DS] Detective Pikachu (Pokemon Co.) {2018.03.23} – 4,089 / 79,928
20./30. [NSW] Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 for Nintendo Switch (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.09.07} – 3,911 / 177,608
21./07. [PS4] Utawarerumono: Chiriyukusha e no Komoriuta (Aqua Plus) {2018.04.26} – 3,581 / 19,530
22./24. [PS4] Monster Hunter: World (Capcom) {2018.01.26} – 3,329 / 1,988,887
23./18. [PS4] Cities: Skylines – PlayStation 4 Edition (Spike Chunsoft) {2018.04.12} – 3,280 / 27,008
24./42. [3DS] Mario Party: The Top 100 (Nintendo) {2017.12.28} – 3,228 / 200,443
25./39. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 3,044 / 816,589
26./40. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} – 3,017 / 353,216
27./38. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Moon (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 2,839 / 793,286
28./27. [PS4] Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege – Advanced Edition (Ubisoft) {2018.03.01} – 2,811 / 43,804
29./47. [NSW] Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle (Nintendo) {2018.01.18} – 2,756 / 213,099
30./54. [NSW] FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts) {2017.09.29} – 2,483 / 125,248
31./50. [3DS] Kirby Battle Royale (Nintendo) {2017.11.30} – 2,383 / 173,006
32./46. [NSW] Dragon Quest Builders (Square Enix) {2018.03.01} – 2,261 / 53,720
33./45. [NSW] Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.22} – 2,200 / 45,092
34./36. [NSW] Cube Creator X (Arc System Works) {2018.04.26} – 2,161 / 3,840
35./35. [NSW] Attack on Titan 2 (Koei Tecmo) {2018.03.15} – 2,106 / 54,950
36./10. [PS4] The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II Kai – The Erebonian Civil War (Nihon Falcom) {2018.04.26} – 2,088 / 14,069
37./34. [NSW] Portal Knights (Spike Chunsoft) {2018.04.19} – 1,961 / 6,926
38./48. [PS4] Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.12.03} – 1,950 / 315,827
39./51. [PSV] Minecraft: Playstation Vita Edition (SCE) {2015.03.19} – 1,811 / 1,203,852
40./12. [PSV] Utawarerumono: Chiriyukusha e no Komoriuta (Aqua Plus) {2018.04.26} – 1,765 / 10,944
41./70. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2016.12.01} – 1,739 / 1,167,222
42./52. [3DS] The Snack World: TreJarers (Level 5) {2017.08.10} – 1,656 / 272,961
43./23. [PS4] Metal Max Xeno (Kadokawa Games) {2018.04.19} – 1,644 / 18,923
44./73. [3DS] Doraemon: Nobita no Takarajima (FuRyu) {2018.03.01} – 1,644 / 21,265
45./63. [PS4] Persona 5 (Atlus) {2016.09.15} – 1,541 / 436,091
46./79. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} – 1,522 / 2,727,903
47./64. [NSW] Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso (Nippon Columbia) {2017.12.07} – 1,483 / 72,483
48./62. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 ReMIX (Square Enix) {2017.03.09} – 1,472 / 154,245
49./68. [NSW] Snipperclips Plus: Cut it Out, Together! (Nintendo) {2017.11.10} – 1,461 / 69,928
50./33. [PS4] Death end re;Quest (Compile Heart) {2018.04.12} – 1,425 / 24,442

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

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