Japan: Famitsu sales for January 2021 (Software, Hardware, Publishers)
Famitsu have shared their monthly report on video game sales in Japan, this time covering January 2021 (to be more precise, the period going from December 28th 2020 to January 31st 2021, so 5 weeks in total).
This month, there’s not a single entry in the Top 5, which really isn’t surprising in January as most releases are focused on the last two weeks of the month. The usual evergreen titles all enjoyed strong sales, but none of them came even close to the latest behemoth: Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban!, which is #1 for the 3rd month in a row. It sold over half a million units in January, after an already strong holiday season.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is back in the Top 5 Software with 120 689 units sold in January, and 4 133 863 units sold since launch. With DLC planned until the end of the year, there’s little doubt it will keep on enjoying steady sales throughout the year.
Only one milestone this month:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has now sold over 3.5 million units since launch.
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe has now sold over 1 million units since launch, with 44 000 units sold in January (14th best-selling game)
Here’s the Top 5 Software for January 2021:
01./01. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! <TBL> (Konami) {2020.11.19} (¥6.300) – 556.733 / 1.789.756 (-27%)
02./03. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure # <HOB> (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} (¥7.980) – 229.006 / 2.316.011 (+11%)
03./02. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2020.03.20} (¥5.980) – 227.903 / 6.606.006 (-31%)
04./04. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 181.258 / 3.638.441 (+8%)
05./00. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) – 120.689 / 4.133.863
This month again, the Nintendo Switch grabbed all 5 spots in the Top 5 Software, thanks to the strong sales of the usual evergreen titles and the equally strong performance of Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban!.
NSW – 5
Unsurprisingly, Nintendo was once again the most successful publisher with nearly 1.4 million units sold. And those sales come almost exclusively from evergreen titles (the only new release was Buddy Mission BOND on January 29th).
Konami is #2 with 594 000 units sold (mostly from Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban!), and The Pokémon Company is #3 with 123 000 units sold thanks to Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee!.
Nintendo – 1.399.000
Konami – 594.000
Pokemon Co. – 123.000
Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch saw yet another month of strong sales with 875 389 units. That’s only 100 000 units less than in December, but there’s two reasons behind such a soft drop:
- the Nintendo Switch did sell really well in January, even better than last year during the same month (565 573 units, so x1.4 for 2021)
- January had 5 weeks, with Week 1 including New Year (which was particular strong this year)
The Nintendo Switch is kicking off 2021 in top form, and it’s quite likely that February will also be up Year on Year due to the shortages that started to impact sales last year. In January, it hit another milestone (18 million units sold), and the next one should come sometime in March.
Here’s Hardware sales for January 2021:
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This Month | Last Month | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # | 875.389 | 975.797 | 565.573 | 875.389 | 565.573 | 18.215.763 |
| PS5 # | 72.420 | 53.715 | | 72.420 | | 327.570 |
| PS4 # | 35.254 | 35.270 | 78.258 | 35.254 | 78.258 | 9.326.144 |
| 3DS # | 2.838 | 2.284 | 6.457 | 2.838 | 6.457 | 24.561.746 |
| XBS # | 1.926 | 3.613 | | 1.926 | | 33.350 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| ALL | 987.827 | 1.070.807 | 650.665 | 987.827 | 650.665 | 53.618.167 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| PS5 | 62.954 | 42.184 | | 62.954 | | 269.576 |
|PS5 Dig| 9.466 | 11.531 | | 9.466 | | 57.994 |
| XBS X | 1.252 | 3.019 | | 1.252 | | 26.128 |
| XBS S | 674 | 594 | | 674 | | 7.222 |
| NSW L | 179.006 | 192.254 | 204.157 | 179.006 | 204.157 | 3.251.098 |
| NSW | 696.383 | 783.543 | 361.416 | 696.383 | 361.416 | 14.964.665 |
|PS4 Pro| 101 | 260 | 38.127 | 101 | 38.127 | 1.575.600 |
| PS4 | 35.153 | 35.010 | 40.131 | 35.153 | 40.131 | 7.750.544 |
|n-2DSLL| 2.838 | 2.171 | 6.143 | 2.838 | 6.143 | 1.166.801 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+Click here for more Japanese sales data!
