The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

[Japan] Famitsu sales for H1 2023 (Top 10 Software, Hardware, Publishers)

17 July 202317 July 2023 Lite_Agent Famitsu, Fire Emblem Engage, HAL Laboratory, Intelligent Systems, Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Famitsu has shared its latest report on video games sales in Japan, covering the first half of 2023 (to be more precise, the period going from December 26th, 2022 to June 25th 2023).

Unsurprisingly, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was (by far) the best-selling game during the first half of the year with nearly 1.7 million units sold at retail alone. It sold a lot more than its predecessor (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, released alongside the Nintendo Switch on March 3rd 2017), and may well succeed in outselling it before the end of the year (Breath of the Wild currently stands at 2.223.557 units as of July 9th).

Meanwhile, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe came shy of the half-million milestone during its launch semester with 451.178 units sold. If it follows the same sales trajectory as past mainline games on Nintendo Switch, it should end up selling over 1 million units (especially with digital included).

Finally, Fire Emblem Engage was the 8th best-selling game of H1 2023, selling between 219.600 and 211.601 units (for some reason, Famitsu did not provide sales data for two games in the Top 10 Software). A fairly solid debut, though the game does not seem to be enjoying the same longetivity as its predecessor.

01./00. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2023.05.12} (¥7.200) – 1.697.225 / NEW
02./00. [NSW] Pokemon Scarlet / Violet # <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2022.11.18} (¥5.980) – 719.526 / 5.058.457
03./00. [NSW] Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe <ACT> (Nintendo) {2023.02.24} (¥5.980) – 451.178 / NEW
04./00. [NSW] Splatoon 3 <ACT> (Nintendo) {2022.09.09} (¥5.980) – 355.621 / 4.043.435
05./00. [PS5] Final Fantasy XVI # <RPG> (Square Enix) {2023.06.22} (¥9.000) – 336.027 / NEW
06./00. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 330.169 / 5.344.544
07./00. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports # <SPT> (Nintendo) {2022.04.29} (¥4.980) – 219.601 / 1.107.323
08./00. [NSW] Fire Emblem: Engage # <SLG> (Nintendo) {2023.01.20} (¥6.980)
09./00. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) – 211.600 / 3.171.606
10./00. [PS5] Hogwarts Legacy # <RPG> (WB Games) {2023.02.10} (¥8.980)

The Nintendo Switch nearly grabbed all 10 spots in the Top 10, leaving only two for the competition.

NSW – 8
PS5 – 2

Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch saw strong sales during the first half of 2023… so much so in fact that it’s getting hard to believe it’s currently on its 7th year on the market! It nearly sold 2 million units (1.942.366 units to be precise), which is a very soft drop compared to last year during the same period (2.197.857 units).

The launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the special OLED model gave a big boost to sales, and since those were far from anemic before that, it’s no wonder they ended up so high. The console is all but guaranteed to reach the 30 million units milestone before the end of the month (July), and by the end of the year, it will come pretty close to outselling the GameBoy and the Nintendo DS (both sold over 32 million units).

As for the Nintendo 3DS, it sold a further 2.103 units, bringing total sales to 24.6 million units.

+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This H1-CY | Last H1-CY |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # |  1.942.366 |  2.197.857 |  29.666.413 |
| PS5 # |  1.425.794 |    479.849 |   3.803.183 |
| XBS # |     71.353 |    119.316 |     469.748 |
| PS4 # |     37.331 |        497 |   9.455.098 |
| 3DS # |      2.103 |      7.937 |  24.600.000 |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |  3.478.947 |  2.805.456 |  69.186.256 |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  PS5  |  1.213.655 |    429.926 |   3.273.600 |
| PS5DE |    212.139 |     49.923 |     529.583 |
| XBS X |     29.378 |     40.573 |     201.789 |
| XBS S |     41.975 |     78.743 |     267.959 |
|NSWOLED|  1.329.154 |  1.155.295 |   4.901.166 |
| NSW L |    263.688 |    360.304 |   5.367.382 |
|  NSW  |    349.524 |    682.258 |  19.397.865 |
|  PS4  |     37.331 |        497 |   7.879.375 |
|n-2DSLL|      2.103 |      7.937 |   1.205.055 |
+-------+------------+------------+-------------+

Click here for more Japanese sales data!

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