Japan: Famitsu sales for March 2018
This week, Famitsu shared their monthly report for the video game market in Japan, covering March (from February 26th to March 25th, so 4 weeks in total).
Unsurprisingly, Kirby Star Allies was the best-selling game in March, and by a wide margin: with 317 961 units sold in 10 days, it sold more than two times better than the game ranked #2 (despite it launching a full week earlier).
As for Splatoon 2, it’s still enjoying strong sales, and came close to 100 000 units in March. It sold 92 362 units, which is a 12% increase compared to February. That increase is due to two things: bigger Nintendo Switch shipments, and more importantly the re-release of the Nintendo Switch bundle.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also enjoyed strong sales, but unlike Splatoon 2, its sales are down. It sold 55 410 units in March.
Here’s the Top 5 Software for March 2018:
01./00. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies <ACT> (Nintendo) {2018.03.16} (¥5.980) – 317.961 / NEW
02./00. [PS4] Like the North Star # <ADV> (Sega) {2018.03.08} (¥8.390) – 155.378 / NEW
03./05. [NSW] Splatoon 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} (¥5.980) – 92.362 / 2.146.190 (+12%)
04./01. [PS4] Monster Hunter: World # <ACT> (Capcom) {2018.01.26} (¥8.980) – 88.389 / 1.917.492 (-82%)
05./06. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 55.410 / 1.397.018 (-19%)
As you can see, the Nintendo Switch managed to grab 3 of the 5 spots in the Top 5, with the Nintendo 3DS not getting any.
NSW – 3
PS4 – 2
Nintendo was (by far!) the most successful publisher in March, after letting Capcom take that spot in February. Quite interestingly, Kirby Star Allies only account for half of sales in March, which shows that the various evergreen titles on Nintendo Switch are selling pretty steadily.
Also, Famitsu confirm that both versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild have sold over 1 million units combined. Just like Dengeki last week, Famitsu expect Nintendo Labo to be one of the key titles of the new Fiscal Year (that began on April 1st).
Nintendo – 682.000
Sega – 221.000
Koei Tecmo – 153.000
Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch is back at the top with 188 951 units sold in March. Of course, that’s a lot less than in March 2017 (over 500 000 units), but it would have been rather impressive for the console to do as well in March (of all months) as during the launch month. The console has now sold over 4 million units since launch, and reached that milestone during its 13th month on the market.
Nintendo 3DS sales were surprisingly stable, though they really were nothing to write home about: the handheld did sell 3 times less than during the same month, last year. Then again, a certain Monster Hunter XX did release in March 2017, making any direct comparison even worse.
Finally, the Wii U sold a whopping 324 units.
Click here for more Japanese sales data!
