Japan: more sales data for Week 52, holiday season, 2017, Mario Party: The Top 100, more (Media Create, Dengeki)
Week 52, holiday season (Media Create)
Today, Media Create published their weekly report on video game sales in Japan during Week 52, 2017. It reveals that total Software sales topped 944 000 units, which is 53.04% of Week 51 sales. Unsurprisingly, sales are down now that the holiday season is over, and both Software and Hardware sales dropped by roughly 50%.
For the holiday season specifically (November 13th to December 31st), Media Create report a significant drop in Software sales: they topped 7 538 000 units, which is 78.97% of sales during the same period the previous year. What really hurt is the lack of new releases that stood out.
In 2016, 15 of the Top 20 best-selling games for that period (about 6 681 000 units sold combined) were all new releases. In 2017, the number of new releases in the Top 20 dropped to only 9 (about 2 988 000 units sold combined). There was a clear lack of momentum for new releases, and overall Software sales suffered as a result.
Hardware-wise, Media Create paint a much more positive picture. Sales topped 1 893 000 units, which is 123.91% of sales during the same period the previous year. The thing is, if not for the Nintendo Switch (and the PlayStation 4 Pro, thanks to the Monster Hunter World bundle), Hardware sales would also be down during the holiday season. Speaking of the Nintendo Switch, it sold about 1 147 000 units during that period.
Source: Media Create
Week 51, FY 2017 (Dengeki)
Dengeki report that Splatoon 2 sold about 95 000 units during Week 52 in Japan, bringing the total since launch to 1.8 million units. Unless something unexpected happen, it will reach 2 million units in January. As for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, it sold 83 000 units during Week 52, and 1 160 000 units since launch. Finally, Super Mario Odyssey sold an additional 81 000 units, and 1.35 million units since launch.
The only new release is Mario Party: The Top 100, that sold about 50 000 units at launch. The sell-through ratio varied from store to store, but on average, it was about 60%.
Dengeki also share some data about 2017 as a whole (January 2nd to December 31st):
- Software: 32 460 000 units (-1.4%) / 198.1 billion Yen (+2.9%)
- Hardware: 7 180 000 units (+36.6%) / 195.8 billion Yen (+49.9%)
- Total: 393.9 billion Yen (+ 21.3%)
Hardware sales generated more money this year, thanks to the Nintendo Switch (and the PlayStation 4), which are more expensive than handhelds. Dengeki note that it’s the first time in 10 years that the market isn’t down, which is pretty good news.
Naturally, the Nintendo Switch was the main driving force behind that increase, as it generated no less than 99.4 billion Yen (50.8%) in Hardware sales, 44.5 billion Yen (22.5%) of Software sales, and 143.9 billion Yen (36.5%) for both combined.
The best-selling games of the year are:
- [3DS] Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (The Pokémon Company): 2.1 million units
- [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo): 1.8 million units
- [3DS] Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square-Enix): 1 780 000 units (3.16 million units combined with PlayStation 4 version)
- ???
- [PS4] Dragon Quest XI: Echos of an Elusive Age (Square-Enix): 1 360 000 units (3.16 million units combined with Nintendo 3DS version)
One of the thing Dengeki is looking forward to is how the Nintendo Switch is going to carry over the momentum of the game market in 2018.
Next, here’s Software sales for each platform:
| Platform | This week | This week (%) | Fiscal Year | Fiscal Year (%) |
| PS4 | 167,324 | 18.3％ | 7,105,720 | 29.5％ |
| PS3 | 3,391 | 0.4％ | 147,523 | 0.6％ |
| Vita | 32,658 | 3.6％ | 1,183,463 | 4.9％ |
| Switch | 435,271 | 47.5％ | 6,605,578 | 27.4％ |
| Wii U | 3,606 | 0.4％ | 275,932 | 1.1％ |
| 3DS | 274,287 | 29.9％ | 8,745,668 | 36.3％ |
| X One | 112 | 0.0％ | 13,805 | 0.1％ |
| Total | 916,649 | 100.0％ | 24,077,689 | 100.0％ |
And here’s Hardware sales:
| Platforms | This week | This week (%) | Fiscal Year | Fiscal Year (%) |
| PS4 | 58,108 | 24.7％ | 1,267,833 | 23.2％ |
| PS3 | 20 | 0.0％ | 7,113 | 0.1％ |
| Vita | 6,650 | 2.8％ | 191,514 | 3.5％ |
| Switch | 138,120 | 58.8％ | 2,743,509 | 50.3％ |
| Wii U | 25 | 0.0％ | 4,256 | 0.1％ |
| 3DS | 11,247 | 4.8％ | 565,560 | 10.4％ |
| 2DS | 20,726 | 8.8％ | 668,808 | 12.3％ |
| X One | 150 | 0.1％ | 5,186 | 0.1％ |
| Total | 235,046 | 100.0％ | 5,453,780 | 100.0％ |
Finally, here’s the Top 50 Software:
01./02. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} – 94,750 / 1,802,793
02./03. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 83,139 / 1,158,487
03./01. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} – 81,483 / 1,341,499
04./00. [3DS] Mario Party: The Top 100 (Nintendo) {2017.12.28} – 50,456 / NEW
05./06. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 29,754 / 709,439
06./07. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Moon (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 28,851 / 690,338
07./09. [NSW] 1-2-Switch (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 24,239 / 368,136
08./12. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Explorer’s Edition (Nintendo) {2017.11.23} – 22,883 / 92,060
09./04. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Hihou Legend Banbarayaa – Magnum (Level 5) {2017.12.16} – 22,235 / 217,713
10./05. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch Busters 2: Hihou Legend Banbarayaa – Sword (Level 5) {2017.12.16} – 21,895 / 221,602
11./10. [NSW] ARMS (Nintendo) {2017.06.16} – 17,556 / 327,916
12./16. [PS4] Earth Defense Force 5 (D3Publisher) {2017.12.07} – 15,535 / 182,087
13./11. [NSW] Pokken Tournament DX (Pokemon Co.) {2017.09.22} – 14,500 / 187,474
14./22. [PS4] Yakuza: Kiwami 2 (Sega) {2017.12.07} – 12,177 / 188,956
15./21. [NSW] FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts) {2017.09.29} – 11,078 / 75,457
16./27. [NSW] Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Nintendo) {2017.12.01} – 10,533 / 152,821
17./08. [3DS] Kirby Battle Royale (Nintendo) {2017.11.30} – 10,297 / 120,365
18./17. [NSW] Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 for Nintendo Switch (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.09.07} – 9,022 / 108,555
19./35. [PS4] Call of Duty: WWII (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.11.03} – 8,263 / 386,647
20./31. [NSW] Snipperclips Plus: Cut it Out, Together! (Nintendo) {2017.11.10} – 7,467 / 33,773
21./20. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} – 7,160 / 307,795
22./19. [NSW] Sumikko Gurashi: Sumikko Park e Youkoso (Nippon Columbia) {2017.12.07} – 6,367 / 41,645
23./13. [3DS] Style Savvy: Styling Star (Nintendo) {2017.11.02} – 5,966 / 116,475
24./24. [NSW] One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 – Deluxe Edition (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.12.21} – 5,878 / 20,278
25./15. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon Veteran Trainer’s Dual Pack (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 5,577 / 348,699
26./51. [NSW] Super Bomberman R (Konami) {2017.03.03} – 5,194 / 140,887
27./14. [PS4] Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings (Koei Tecmo) {2017.12.21} – 4,775 / 27,456
28./33. [PSV] Minecraft: Playstation Vita Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.03.19} – 4,737 / 1,173,799
29./61. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 4,317 / 612,214
30./46. [NSW] Monster Hunter Double Cross: Nintendo Switch Ver. (Capcom) {2017.08.25} – 4,272 / 189,425
31./25. [PS4] A-Train Exp. (Artdink) {2017.12.21} – 3,966 / 17,583
32./52. [PSV] Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth – Hacker’s Memory (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.12.14} – 3,806 / 32,567
33./57. [PS4] Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.12.03} – 3,760 / 283,332
34./34. [PS4] Okami HD (Capcom) {2017.12.21} – 3,743 / 12,796
35./49. [PS4] Star Wars: Battlefront II (Electronic Arts) {2017.11.17} – 3,706 / 64,146
36./71. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two Interactive Japan) {2015.10.08} – 3,594 / 343,483
37./56. [PS4] Winning Eleven 2018 (Konami) {2017.09.14} – 3,594 / 129,259
38./77. [PS4] Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.12.07} – 3,589 / 18,065
39./58. [PS4] Ark: Survival Evolved (Spike Chunsoft) {2017.10.26} – 3,554 / 135,327
40./40. [3DS] Harvest Moon: Twin Villages+ (Marvelous) {2017.12.14} – 3,509 / 25,785
41./43. [PS4] Resident Evil 7: biohazard – Gold Edition (Capcom) {2017.12.14} – 3,482 / 24,106
42./26. [3DS] The Snack World: TreJarers (Level 5) {2017.08.10} – 3,474 / 244,761
43./18. [PS4] The Idolm@ster: Stella Stage (Bandai Namco Games) {2017.12.21} – 3,377 / 23,858
44./29. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo) {2016.12.01} – 3,314 / 1,143,134
45./30. [3DS] Mario Kart 7 (Nintendo) {2011.12.01} – 3,240 / 2,705,158
46./78. [PS4] Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix) {2016.11.29} – 3,234 / 1,040,140
47./73. [PS4] Gran Turismo Sport (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2017.10.19} – 3,153 / 206,056
48./37. [3DS] Attack on Titan 2: Future Coordinates (Spike Chunsoft) {2017.11.30} – 3,114 / 31,877
49./94. [PS4] Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Square Enix) {2017.07.29} – 3,086 / 1,360,572
50./32. [3DS] Beyblade Burst God (FuRyu) {2017.11.23} – 2,960 / 36,688
Source: Dengeki
Top 50 data compiled by ZSaberLink (ResetEra)
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