Japan: more sales data for Week 19, 2017, Nintendo Switch, more (Media Create, Dengeki)

Week 19 (Media Create)

Today, Media Create published their weekly report on video game sales in Japan during Week 19, 2017. It reveals that total Software sales topped 233 000 units, which is 49.38% of Week 18 sales. This is quite obviously the usual post-Golden Week drop, though it was worse than previous years this time around, due to the fact that sales during the Golden Week already were lower.

Media Create then compared Software sales during the same period to the past couple of years:

• 2016: 347 000 units (72.37% of sales during the previous week)
• 2015: 235 000 units (60.03% of sales during the previous week)

Since Week 19 2017 was an even worse year than Week 19 2015, it becomes the worst week on record since 2001… not quite a record to be proud of! What’s more, not only sales were lower, the drop from the previous week was quite worse too.

Media Create explains that the big drop is due to the lack of major release this week, but also the drop in sales for the Nintendo Switch, that basically carried the whole market during the Golden Week. Since the console suffered worse shortages during Week 19 than in previous weeks, Software sales naturally took a hit, which had an impact on the market as a whole.

Source: Media Create

Week 19 (Dengeki)

Since there was no new major releases this week, it’s natural that Dengeki would report a drop in sales for both Software and Hardware:

• Software: 226 000 units (-53.2%)
• Hardware: 61 000 (43.5%)

With about 32 000 units sold, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the best-selling game for the 3rd week in a row. It’s already sold 474 000 units, which means it’s possible it will reach 500 000 units sold by next week.

Attack on Titan: Shichi Kara no Dasshutsu made its entry at #4, with only 10 000 units sold (sell-through ratio: about 30%). That’s much lower than the previous Attack on Titan game, though obviously, the genre is not the same (visual novel/adventure game vs action game):

• PSV: 58 000 units at launch, 143 000 units LTD
• PS4: 63 000 units at launch, 111 000 units LTD
• PS3: 29 000 units at launch, 57 000 units LTD

This week, Dengeki compared Nintendo Switch sales with the Wii and the Wii U during the first two months:

• Nintendo Switch Hardware: 852 000 units sold / Nintendo Switch Software: 1.38 million units sold (for 11 titles) / Nintendo Switch attach rate: 1.6
• Wii Hardware: 1 514 000 units sold / Wii Software: 3 610 000 units sold (26 titles) / Wii attach rate: 2.4
• Wii U Hardware: 768 000 units sold / Wii U Software: 1.1 million units sold (16 titles) / Wii U attach rate: 1.4

It’s pretty clear that the Nintendo Switch is well on its way to outsell the Wii U, but sales are nowhere near explosive as they were for the Wii. The fact that the console is virtually sold out every week really doesn’t help. But perhaps more importantly, Dengeki points out that Nintendo games account for the vast majority of Software sales: 83.8%.

With previous consoles, Nintendo games were very frequently the most popular, outshining games from third-party. This led third-party publishers to hesitate when it came to releasing games on Nintendo platforms, which resulted in less games being released. This in turn led to decreased sales, and then less support… a negative spiral.

Naturally, it’s unavoidable that first-party titles would outsell the competition at launch (especially when the third-party offer was rather poor), but Dengeki certainly hopes that third-party publishers will also release hits, and then revitalise the entire market. After all, for the Nintendo Switch be truly successful, and have a really positive impact on the market as a whole, and on the long term, third-party publishers are crucial.

Next, here’s Software sales for each platform:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	51,271	22.7％	490,130	18.9％
PS3	3,309	1.5％	22,496	0.9％
Vita	21,023	9.3％	226,735	8.7％
Switch	49,410	21.8％	703,170	27.1％
Wii U	7,641	3.4％	71,792	2.8％
3DS	93,383	41.3％	1,079,275	41.6％
X One	113	0.0％	1,818	0.1％
Total	226,150	100.0％	2,595,416	100.0％

And here’s Hardware sales:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	16,341	26.9％	123,347	21.1％
PS3	264	0.4％	2,659	0.5％
Vita	3,920	6.5％	34,585	5.9％
Switch	24,123	39.8％	279,686	47.9％
Wii U	124	0.2％	1,410	0.2％
3DS	13,411	22.1％	117,514	20.1％
2DS	2,436	4.0％	23,705	4.1％
X One	55	0.1％	431	0.1％
Total	60,674	100.0％	583,337	100.0％

Finally, here’s Dengeki’s Top 50 Software sales:

01./01. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 31,772 / 474,926
02./03. [3DS] Monster Hunter Double Cross (Capcom) {2017.03.18} – 12,394 / 1,557,776
03./02. [3DS] Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission X (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.04.27} – 10,895 / 134,430
04./00. [3DS] Attack on Titan: Escape from Certain Death (Koei Tecmo) {2017.05.11} – 9,510 / NEW
05./04. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 8,778 / 450,027
06./05. [3DS] Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Nintendo) {2017.04.20} – 5,961 / 184,573
07./13. [PS4] NieR: Automata (Square Enix) {2017.02.23} – 4,111 / 303,569
08./06. [3DS] Pro Baseball Famista Climax (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.04.20} – 3,900 / 68,355
09./10. [PS4] Dark Souls III: The Fire Fades Edition (From Software) {2017.04.20} – 3,789 / 56,800
10./11. [WIU] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 3,250 / 113,108
11./07. [3DS] Mario Sports Superstars (Nintendo) {2017.03.30} – 3,244 / 91,432
12./08. [NSW] 1-2-Switch (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 3,144 / 227,793
13./09. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2016.12.01} – 3,100 / 1,057,897
14./15. [PS4] Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Ubisoft) {2017.03.09} – 2,906 / 173,947
15./12. [3DS] Yo-Kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki (Level 5) {2016.12.15} – 2,744 / 750,383
16./18. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} – 2,067 / 161,631
17./21. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two Interactive Japan) {2015.10.08} – 2,044 / 267,507
18./19. [PS4] Horizon: Zero Dawn (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.03.02} – 2,000 / 206,249
19./17. [NSW] Super Bomberman R (Konami) {2017.03.03} – 1,944 / 93,455
20./16. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} – 1,900 / 2,633,895
21./14. [3DS] Cube Creator DX (Arc System Works) {2017.04.27} – 1,894 / 12,261
22./28. [PS4] Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft) {2015.12.10} – 1,750 / 199,434
23./20. [3DS] Pokemon Sun (Pokemon Co.) {2016.11.18} – 1,628 / 1,700,266
24./29. [PS4] Winning Eleven 2017 [Konami the Best] (Konami) {2017.04.13} – 1,582 / 11,869
25./22. [PSV] Minecraft: Playstation Vita Edition (SCE) {2015.03.19} – 1,539 / 1,089,015
26./25. [PSV] Dungeon Travelers 2-2: The Maiden Who Fell into Darkness and the Book of Beginnings (Aqua Plus) {2017.04.20} – 1,519 / 40,313
27./00. [PSV] Owaru Sekai to Birthday (Entergram) {2017.05.11} – 1,493 / NEW
28./24. [3DS] Pokemon Moon (Pokemon Co.) {2016.11.18} – 1,489 / 1,558,446
29./30. [PS4] Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix) {2016.11.29} – 1,467 / 954,127
30./32. [PS4] Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.12.03} – 1,461 / 204,381
31./33. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 ReMIX (Square Enix) {2017.03.09} – 1,456 / 102,223
32./31. [PS4] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 (Konami) {2016.04.28} – 1,372 / 189,884
33./26. [3DS] Kirby: Planet Robobot (Nintendo) {2016.04.28} – 1,278 / 522,527
34./27. [3DS] Miitopia (Nintendo) {2016.12.08} – 1,272 / 214,315
35./23. [3DS] Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World (Nintendo) {2017.01.19} – 1,194 / 124,447
36./34. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition (Microsoft Game Studios) {2016.06.23} – 1,083 / 303,995
37./37. [PS4] PaRappa the Rapper Remastered (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.04.20} – 1,056 / 12,339
38./39. [PS4] LEGO Worlds (Warner Entertainment Japan) {2017.04.06} – 989 / 24,853
39./38. [NSW] Dragon Quest Heroes I & II for Nintendo Switch (Square Enix) {2017.03.03} – 983 / 50,122
40./00. [PSV] Starry Sky: Summer Stories (Honeybee) {2017.05.11} – 950 / NEW
41./40. [NSW] Minna de Wai Wai! Spelunker (Square Enix) {2017.04.20} – 933 / 11,792
42./42. [NSW] Puyo Puyo Tetris S (Sega) {2017.03.03} – 883 / 37,281
43./45. [PSV] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 2016 (Konami) {2016.04.28} – 844 / 204,266
44./35. [3DS] Sumikko Gurashi: Mura o Tsukurundesu (Nippon Columbia) {2016.07.21} – 822 / 174,786
45./36. [3DS] Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 – Professional (Square Enix) {2017.02.09} – 772 / 203,728
46./43. [3DS] Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2014.09.13} – 761 / 2,419,265
47./41. [3DS] Kawaii Pet to Kurasou! Wan Nyan & Mini Mini Animal (Nippon Columbia) {2017.04.06} – 761 / 9,937
48./47. [3DS] Monster Hunter Stories (Capcom) {2016.10.08} – 733 / 336,355
49./46. [PSV] Gun Gun Pixies (Compile Heart) {2017.04.27} – 663 / 10,574
50./44. [3DS] Mario Party Star Rush (Nintendo) {2016.10.20} – 650 / 172,413

Source: Dengeki
Software sales compiled by: ZSaberLink (NeoGAF)

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