[Japan] Famitsu sales for December 2023 (Top 5 Software, Publishers, Hardware)

Here’s the latest sales report from Famitsu, with Hardware and Software sales for December 2023 in Japan (November 27th to December 31st 2023, so 5 weeks in total).

Famitsu

Top 5 Software

Unsurprisingly for December, the Nintendo Switch grabbed all 5 spots in the Top 5 Software thanks to strong sales for key third-party games and equally strong sales for Nintendo’s own titles (newly-released titles and evergreens alike).

All games but Super Mario RPG sold over 100 000 units in December, with Pikmin 4 reaching the 1 million units milestone at retail.

01./00. [NSW] Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2023.12.01} (¥6.980) – 510.477 / NEW
02./03. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.10.20} (¥5.980) – 460.684 / 1.549.401 (+61%)
03./01. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru! <TBL> (Konami) {2023.11.16} (¥6.300) – 382.671 / 795.681 (-7%)
04./00. [NSW] Pikmin 4 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.07.21} (¥5.980) – 153.710 / 1.119.027
05./02. [NSW] Super Mario RPG <RPG> (Nintendo) {2023.11.17} (¥5.980) – 92.032 / 447.687 (-74%)

Market share

NSW – 5

Publishers

Once again, Nintendo was the most successful publisher in Japan with nearly 1.5 million units sold (1.477.000 units to be precise). The newly released titles like Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Super Mario RPG enjoyed strong sales, and the usual evergreen titles (including Pikmin 4) proved as popular as ever.

Thanks to Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru!, Konami was the 3rd most successful publisher with nearly 450.000 units sold.

• Nintendo: 1.477.000
• Square-Enix: 598.000
• Konami: 444.000

Hardware

Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch had a decent yet underwhelming December with “only” 435.000 units sold (down from over 600.000 units during the same month in 2022, despite Famitsu’s tracking period having 5 weeks instead of 4 in 2023). While the console did sell a lot better than any other platform during its 7th holiday season, it’s pretty clear the time for record-breaking sales is over.

+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This Month | Last Month |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # |    435.340 |    296.274 |    647.029 |  4.062.609 |  4.804.546 |  31.786.656 |
| PS5 # |    212.371 |    231.317 |    185.972 |  2.587.468 |  1.154.054 |   4.964.857 |
| XBS # |      7.336 |     12.574 |      5.397 |    141.712 |    269.737 |     540.107 |
| PS4 # |      6.581 |      5.362 |     13.683 |     73.292 |     22.823 |   9.491.059 |
| 3DS # |         84 |        102 |        461 |      3.033 |     10.449 |  24.600.930 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |    661.712 |    545.629 |    852.542 |  6.868.114 |  6.261.609 |  72.576.353 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  PS5  |    177.864 |    189.074 |    165.766 |  2.238.225 |  1.030.819 |   4.298.170 |
| PS5DE |     34.507 |     42.243 |     20.206 |    349.243 |    123.235 |     666.687 |
| XBS X |      5.987 |      9.099 |        863 |     72.573 |     99.120 |     244.984 |
| XBS S |      1.349 |      3.475 |      4.534 |     69.139 |    170.617 |     295.123 |
|NSWOLED|    290.044 |    200.149 |    388.310 |  2.856.146 |  2.799.884 |   6.428.158 |
| NSW L |     77.934 |     61.730 |    109.827 |    570.380 |    692.910 |   5.674.074 |
|  NSW  |     67.362 |     34.395 |    148.892 |    636.083 |  1.311.752 |  19.684.424 |
|  PS4  |      6.581 |      5.362 |     13.683 |     73.292 |     22.823 |   7.915.336 |
|n-2DSLL|         84 |        102 |        461 |      3.033 |     10.449 |   1.205.985 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+

Source: Famitsu
Some data compiled by: Chris1964 (Install Base)