Japan: Famitsu sales for April 2022 (Software, Hardware, Publishers)
Famitsu have shared their latest monthly report on video game sales in Japan, this time covering April 2022 (to be more precise, the period going from March 28th to April 24th 2022, so 4 weeks in total).
This month again, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is #1 of sales with over 238 000 units sold. That’s a strong performance for a second month, though that’s partially due to the game releasing at the very end of March. Still, there’s little doubt it will keep on selling steadily throughout the year, with a noticeable boost expected during the Golden Week.
There’s two entries in the Top 5 Software this month: the two versions of eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2022, which ended up selling about 147 000 units combined (a slightly disappointing performance, though at least digital sales were strong on the Nintendo eShop).
The Nintendo Switch version was by far the best-selling one with 92 724 units sold (nearly 1/3 of sales). If it follows the same sales trajectory as past games in the series, this 2022 entry should have no trouble selling well over 200 000 units at retail alone.
As for the Nintendo Switch port of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, it’s off to a decent start with 33 216 units sold. Meanwhile, Winning Post 9 2022 sold a little over 26 000 units during its launch month, with the Nintendo Switch version selling the most (nearly 15 000 units).
Finally, Famitsu point out that the two versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U and Nintendo Switch) have now sold over 2 million units (combined) at retail since launch.
Here’s the Top 5 Software for April 2022:
01./01. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land <ACT> (Nintendo) {2022.03.25} (¥5.980) – 238.421 / 618.481 (-37%)
02./00. [NSW] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 <SPT> (Konami) {2022.04.21} (¥7.500) – 92.724 / NEW
03./07. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 61.152 / 4.579.625 (-2%)
04./00. [PS4] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 <SPT> (Konami) {2022.04.21} (¥7.500) – 54.539 / NEW
05./08. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) – 37.720 / 2.612.444 (-10%)
06./00. [NSW] 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim <ADV> (Atlus) {2022.04.14} (¥6.980) – 33.216 / NEW
07./02. [NSW] Pokemon Legends: Arceus <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2022.01.28} (¥5.980) – 33.122 / 2.228.522 (-74%)
08./09. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) – 30.910 / 4.853.533 (-21%)
09./03. [PS4] Elden Ring # <RPG> (From Software) {2022.02.25} (¥8.400) – 24.256 / 331.802 (-80%)
10./00. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars <ETC> (Nintendo) {2021.10.29} (¥5.980) – 23.052 / 943.087
14./00. [NSW] Winning Post 9 2022 <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.04.14} (¥7.800) – 14.974 / NEW
19./00. [PS4] Winning Post 9 2022 <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.04.14} (¥7.800) – 11.151 / NEW
In April, the Nintendo Switch grabbed the most spots in the Top 5 Software thanks to the good sales of already-released games (and the relative weakness of the market as a whole; April wasn’t the most exciting of months this year!):
NSW – 8
PS4 – 2
Naturally, it’s no wonder the Nintendo Switch also sold the most games in April:
- NSW – 995.000 <79,60%>
- PS4 – 198.000 <15,84%>
- PS5 – 56.000 <4,48%>
- ALL – 1.250.000 <100,00%>
Nintendo once again dominated Software sales in April, though said sales are down compared to March 2022. Still, the company ended up selling over 500 000 units of its games, with roughly half of that number coming from Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
Konami is #2 with 180 000 units sold. eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 accounts for the majority of those sales, with Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! making up the rest.
Finally, The Pokémon Company sold 54 000 units, mostly thanks to Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The fact that a company made the Top 3 Publishers with barely 50 000 units sold really shows how slow sales were in April!
- Nintendo – 508.000 <40,64%>
- Konami – 180.000 <14,40%>
- Pokemon Co. – 54.000 <4,32%>
- All Publishers – 1.250.000 <100,00%>
Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch sold 246 105 units, which is a noticeable drop compared to March 2022 (364 495 units). Considering the tracking period doesn’t include the Golden Week, that drop is nothing all that worrying for Nintendo. Indeed, the Nintendo Switch clearly has a lot of fuel left in the tank, and sales are expected to go back up in May (in part due to Famitsu’s tracking period covering 5 weeks in May).
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This Month | Last Month | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # | 246.105 | 364.495 | 431.225 | 1.603.715 | 2.176.199 | 24.523.216 |
| PS5 # | 70.830 | 94.407 | 78.567 | 345.012 | 403.628 | 1.568.347 |
| XBS # | 20.244 | 7.227 | 1.381 | 55.876 | 9.966 | 184.534 |
| 3DS # | 928 | 1.539 | 2.436 | 5.976 | 11.804 | 24.593.424 |
| PS4 # | 53 | 50 | 5.499 | 224 | 65.388 | 9.395.168 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| ALL | 338.160 | 467.718 | 519.108 | 2.010.803 | 2.666.985 | 61.449.961 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| PS5 | 64.723 | 83.649 | 65.435 | 307.347 | 344.289 | 1.336.473 |
| PS5DE | 6.107 | 10.758 | 13.132 | 37.665 | 59.339 | 231.874 |
| XBS X | 6.625 | 4.304 | 616 | 22.565 | 6.376 | 95.856 |
| XBS S | 13.619 | 2.923 | 765 | 33.311 | 3.590 | 88.678 |
|NSWOLED| 129.310 | 212.030 | | 847.534 | | 1.619.662 |
| NSW L | 39.885 | 55.009 | 179.168 | 277.487 | 634.059 | 4.688.271 |
| NSW | 76.910 | 97.456 | 252.057 | 478.694 | 1.542.140 | 18.215.283 |
| PS4 | 53 | 50 | 5.499 | 224 | 65.164 | 7.819.445 |
|n-2DSLL| 928 | 1.539 | 2.436 | 5.976 | 11.804 | 1.198.479 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+Source: Famitsu
Data compiled by: Chris1964 (Install Base)
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