Japan: Famitsu sales for February 2022 (Software, Hardware, Publishers)

Famitsu have shared their latest monthly report on video game sales in Japan, this time covering February 2022 (to be more precise, the period going from January 31st to February 27th 2022, so 4 weeks in total).

Despite a massive drop (well over 50%), Pokémon Legends: Arceus is still #1 in sales in February, which is partly due to the game launching at the very end of the previous month. The game sold 544 892 units in February, which brings total sales to over 2 million units. Sales took a big hit in February, which is due to two factors:

• the game was released outside the usual end of year holiday season (unlike most previous Pokémon games), which always provide a big boost for video games sales;
• the game, so far, has only managed to attract a (significantly) older audience than typical mainline Pokémon games. This is directly tied to the first reason, as young kids (those in elementary school, for example) generally cannot afford to buy games on their own, and instead rely on gifts from parents/family to get them.

Therefore, we can expect an increase in sales during upcoming holiday periods (Golden Week, Summer)… provided the recently announced Pokémon Scarlet and Violet doesn’t completely overshadow this game!

In February, the Top 5 was (for once) dominated by PlayStation platforms, and the only other Nintendo Switch game in the chart is Touken Ranbu Warriors. It’s off to a great start with 122 980 units sold during the first two weeks. Unfortunately, Week 2 data showed a massive drop in sales (-91%), and so it looks like sales are going to be rather frontloaded for this particular title.

Here’s the Top 5 Software for February 2022:

01./01. [NSW] Pokemon Legends: Arceus <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2022.01.28} (¥5.980) – 644.892 / 2.069.549 <80-100%>
02./00. [PS4] Elden Ring # <RPG> (From Software) {2022.02.25} (¥8.400) – 188.490 / NEW <80-100%>
03./00. [NSW] Touken Ranbu Warriors # <ACT> (EXNOA) {2022.02.17} (¥7.980) – 122.890 / NEW <80-100%>
04./00. [PS5] Elden Ring # <RPG> (From Software) {2022.02.25} (¥8.400) – 90.017 / NEW <80-100%>
05./00. [PS4] Horizon Forbidden West # <RPG> (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2022.02.18} (¥6.900) – 59.944 / NEW <60-80%>

This month, the Nintendo Switch only grabbed 2 of the 5 spots in the Top 5 Software:

NSW – 2
PS4 – 2
PS5 – 1

This month again, The Pokémon Company was the most successful publisher with nearly 700 000 units sold; those sales come from Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Nintendo is once more #2 with 388 000 units sold; those sales come exclusively from the usual evergreen titles (like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe). Sales saw a sharp drop (down from over 1 million units in January), but that was to be expected during a rather slow month like February, and especially without any new releases!

1. The Pokémon Company: 699 000 units
2. Nintendo: 388 000 units
3. From Software: 279 000 units

Hardware-wise, February was a rather slow but still fairly solid month for the Nintendo Switch, which sold over 370 000 units. That’s quite the drop compared to January (615 437 units), but it’s easily explained: the tracking period for January had 5 weeks, including New Year (an important week for video games sales in Japan), and February only 4.

But even with the same number of weeks, sales would have inevitably been down in February, which is a rather slow month for the video games market in Japan. Also, there was no release big enough to boost sales; Pokémon Legends: Arceus seemed to fit the bill, but it had a more limited impact on sales than expected… and shortages impacting the OLED models (periodically) certainly didn’t help!

+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This Month | Last Month |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # |    377.678 |    615.437 |    350.447 |    993.115 |  1.225.836 |  23.912.616 |
| PS5 # |     65.772 |    114.003 |     95.289 |    179.775 |    167.709 |   1.403.110 |
| XBS # |     21.029 |      7.376 |      2.167 |     28.405 |      4.093 |     157.063 |
| 3DS # |      1.499 |      2.010 |      3.121 |      3.509 |      5.959 |  24.590.957 |
| PS4 # |         40 |         81 |     13.802 |        121 |     49.056 |   9.395.065 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |    466.018 |    738.907 |    464.826 |  1.204.925 |  1.452.653 |  60.641.616 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  PS5  |     59.511 |     99.464 |     87.107 |    158.975 |    150.061 |   1.188.101 |
| PS5DE |      6.261 |     14.539 |      8.182 |     20.800 |     17.648 |     215.009 |
| XBS X |      7.944 |      3.692 |      1.755 |     11.636 |      3.007 |      84.927 |
| XBS S |     13.085 |      3.684 |        412 |     16.769 |      1.086 |      72.136 |
|NSWOLED|    201.034 |    305.160 |            |    506.194 |            |   1.278.322 |
| NSW L |     63.023 |    119.570 |     95.558 |    182.593 |    274.564 |   4.593.377 |
|  NSW  |    113.621 |    190.707 |    254.889 |    304.328 |    951.272 |  18.040.917 |
|  PS4  |         40 |         81 |     13.740 |        121 |     48.893 |   7.819.342 |
|n-2DSLL|      1.499 |      2.010 |      3.121 |      3.509 |      5.959 |   1.196.012 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+

Source: Famitsu
Data compiled by: Chris1964 (Install Base)

Click here for more Japanese sales data!