Investor Briefing (Oct. 2016) – Yo-kai Watch: ~400 000 units sold in EU, stronger start than in Japan

After taking Japan by storm a few years ago, Yo-kai Watch finally reached North America in November last year. In Europe, players had to wait until late April before being able to discover what those mysterious Yo-kai were all about. And it looks like the late release really wasn’t an issue for the game… far from it.

During today’s meeting with investor, Tatsumi Kimishima showed the following graph:

It shows that so far, Yo-kai Watch has sold almost 400 000 units in Europe. That’s actually significantly better than in Japan, when sales were steady but nowhere near their levels post-anime launch. In the United States, the game sold a similar amount during the first couple of months, but the game was released in November.

In Europe, the game was released in late April, though it did benefit from the Summer holidays. But the most important period of the year for video game sales, especially those aimed at children, is yet to come. As a result, Nintendo anticipates further demand in the upcoming weeks, as the holiday period draws near. It will be interesting to see if European sales will keep outpacing those in Japan, and if yes, for how long.

Right now, it’s not clear what kind of impact the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon will have on Yo-kai Watch sales. The two titles may well enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship. After all, in Japan, Yo-kai Watch 2 didn’t really have a negative impact on the sales of Pokémon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire.

Finally, Tatsumi Kimishima mentions that in Spain and France, the Yo-kai Watch toys are actually selling pretty well, which is pretty good news (though Nintendo isn’t involved with those).

Yo-kai Watch 2 (3DS) will be released in Spring 2017 in Europe.

Source: Nintendo