[Japan] Famitsu: sales data for past Fiscal Year (April 2023 – March 2024) [Hardware, Software]
During its yearly seminar, held on May 29th, Koichi Hamamura (Senior Advisor for Digital Entertainment at Kadokawa) shared some data about the Japanese video games market during the past fiscal Year (March 27th 2023 to March 31st 2024 to be precise).
During that year, the video games market in Japan did grow slightly, thanks to Hardware. Unfortunately, despite more consoles being sold, Software sales took a hit. Koichi Hamamura explains that it’s primarily due to the Nintendo Switch, which still accounts for a large share of the market; if its Software sales are down, then it’s no wonder the market as a whole is down.
A total of 4 games managed to sell over 1 million units (that’s one more than during Fiscal Year 2023, ended March 2023). That being said, sales aren’t quite as impressive: the best-selling game sold “only” 2 million units, whereas during FY 2023, the top two games both sold around or more than 4 million units each.
Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the best-selling game with nearly 2 million units sold. Super Mario Bros. Wonder came surprisingly close with over 1.8 million units, though its digital sales definitely weren’t as strong as for Tears of the Kingdom (as evidenced by the Nintendo eShop Top 30 for 2023).
As for Pikmin 4, it blew all expectations with over 1 million units sold during the first Fiscal Year, far outselling its predecessors. As for Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope!, it didn’t sell quite as much as its predecessor on Nintendo Switch, but it still managed to sell over 1 million units at retail alone (and is enjoying strong sales to this day).
Finally, Super Mario RPG came close to the 500.000 units milestone. It did enjoy strong sales at launch, but quickly fell off the charts after that.
01./00. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2023.05.12} (¥7.200) – 1.970.381 / NEW
02./00. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.10.20} (¥5.980) – 1.803.747 / NEW
03./00. [NSW] Pikmin 4 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.07.21} (¥5.980) – 1.194.882 / NEW
04./00. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope! <TBL> (Konami) {2023.11.16} (¥6.300) – 1.023.124 / NEW
05./00. [NSW] Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2023.12.01} (¥6.980) – 556.677 / NEW
06./04. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 554.492 / 5.768.608 (-20%)
07./00. [NSW] Super Mario RPG <RPG> (Nintendo) {2023.11.17} (¥5.980) – 473.939 / NEW
08./00. [PS5] Final Fantasy XVI # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2023.06.22} (¥9.000) – 435.582 / NEW
09./06. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) – 400.548 / 3.483.557 (-21%)
10./01. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet # <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2022.11.18} (¥5.980) – 361.362 / 5.320.999 (-93%)
This year, one non-Nintendo Switch game did manage to slip in the Top 10 Software, still dominated by Nintendo’s console and games.
NSW – 9
PS5 – 1
+-------+------------+------------+
|System | This FY | Last FY |
+-------+------------+------------+
| NSW | 16.990.000 | 21.635.355 |
| PS5 | 3.235.000 | 1.779.973 |
| PS4 | 1.530.000 | 2.149.437 |
| OTH | 50.000 | 53.574 |
+-------+------------+------------+
| ALL | 21.805.000 | 25.618.339 |
+-------+------------+------------+Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch was once again the best-selling console in Japan, though sales are down Year on Year. It still managed to sell nearly 4 million units (3.904.542 units to be precise), which is unprecedented for a console in its 7th year on the market. And as Software sales above indicate, the console still has quite a lot of momentum left.
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This FY | Last FY | LTD |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # | 3.904.542 | 4.326.744 | 32.508.397 |
| PS5 # | 2.258.207 | 1.703.839 | 5.459.563 |
| XBS # | 134.945 | 269.885 | 569.120 |
| PS4 # | 63.265 | 42.682 | 9.501.062 |
| 3DS # | 1.829 | 6.733 | 24.601.092 |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
| ALL | 6.362.788 | 6.349.883 | 72.639.234 |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
| PS5 | 1.955.165 | 1.486.087 | 4.713.002 |
| PS5DE | 303.042 | 217.752 | 746.561 |
| XBS X | 79.289 | 94.154 | 262.674 |
| XBS S | 55.656 | 175.731 | 306.446 |
|NSWOLED| 2.853.847 | 2.614.581 | 6.958.780 |
| NSW L | 536.784 | 608.535 | 5.793.705 |
| NSW | 513.911 | 1.103.628 | 19.755.912 |
| PS4 | 63.265 | 42.682 | 7.925.339 |
|n-2DSLL| 1.829 | 6.733 | 1.206.147 |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+Here’s a graph showing the sales trajectory of the Nintendo Switch since launch:
Source: Ascii
Some data compiled by: Chris1964 (Install Base)
