Japan: Famitsu sales for May 2022 (Software, Hardware, Publishers)
Famitsu have shared their latest monthly report on video game sales in Japan, this time covering May 2022 (to be more precise, the period going from April 25th to May 29th 2022, so 5 weeks in total).
This time, it’s a different game that claimed the top spot of the Top 5 Software: Nintendo Switch Sports, which is off to a strong start with 419 522 units sold at retail alone during its first month (it grabbed the top spot 5 weeks in a row).
It remains to be seen whether it will manage to keep pace with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort on Wii (both sold over 3 million units in total), but so far, this new entry in the “Sports” series is faring rather well (and the Summer holiday season is drawing near!). Granted, it didn’t manage to outsell the original during the first 5 weeks (553 000 units), but that’s only at retail: there’s digital sales to take into account (and we know they’re particularly strong).
Nintendo Switch Sports was the only entry in the Top 5 Software in May. And along with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, it’s the only one that managed to sell over 100 000 units during that month (one of the slowest for video games sales in Japan, though Famitsu’s tracking period does include the Golden Week in late April/early May).
Here’s the Top 5 Software for May 2022:
01./00. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports <SPT> (Nintendo) {2022.04.29} (¥4.980) – 419.522 / NEW
02./01. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land <ACT> (Nintendo) {2022.03.25} (¥5.980) – 117.806 / 736.287 (-51%)
03./02. [NSW] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 <SPT> (Konami) {2022.04.21} (¥7.500) – 84.484 / 177.208 (-9%)
04./03. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 73.141 / 4.652.766 (+20%)
05./05. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) – 43.104 / 2.655.548 (+14%)
06./08. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) – 36.187 / 4.889.720 (+17%)
07./04. [PS4] eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 <SPT> (Konami) {2022.04.21} (¥7.500) – 35.437 / 89.976 (-35%)
08./00. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure # <HOB> (Nintendo) {2019.10.18} (¥7.980) – 34.610 / 3.162.189
09./10. [NSW] Mario Party Superstars <ETC> (Nintendo) {2021.10.29} (¥5.980) – 28.125 / 971.212 (+22%)
10./00. [NSW] Taiko Risshiden V DX # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.05.19} (¥4.500) – 25.908 / NEW
This month, the Nintendo Switch grabbed all 5 spots of the Top 5 Software:
NSW – 9
PS4 – 1
Once again, the vast majority of Software sales were on Nintendo Switch (over 85%!):
- NSW – 1.385.000 <86,60%>
- ALL – 1.600.000 <100,00%>
This month again, Nintendo was the most successful publisher with nearly 900 000 units sold (882 000 units to be precise; a number that goes up to 935 000 units if you add The Pokémon Company’s sales to the total). Nintendo Switch Sports accounts for roughly half of those sales, with the usual evergreen titles making up the rest. Sales are down compared to April, despite Famitsu including the whole of the Golden Week in their tracking period for May.
Konami was #2 with 153 000 units sold, mostly from the two versions of eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 (with Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! making up the rest). Finally, The Pokémon Company was #3 with 53 000 units sold. Those sales mostly come from Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
- Nintendo – 882.000 <55,10%>
- Konami – 153.000 <9,60%>
- Pokemon Co. – 53.000 <3,30%>
- All Publishers – 1.600.000 <100,00%>
Hardware-wise, the Nintendo Switch sold over 350 000 units; a noticeable increase compared to April, due to the Golden Week and Famitsu’s tracking period including 5 weeks (as opposed to 4 weeks for April). Nintendo’s console is still as popular as ever, and with the Summer holiday season drawing near, sales are unlikely to take a big plunge any time soon.
That being said, shortages may start rearing their head again in the near future. Already, the OLED model is starting to get scarce in some places (though no widespread shortages yet).
As of May 2022, the Nintendo Switch has finally outsold its predecessor, the Nintendo 3DS (24 891 000 units vs 24 595 000 units respectively). It did so 5 years and 3 months after launch. The next and final targets for the console are now the GameBoy and the Nintendo DS, which both sold over 30 million units each.
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This Month | Last Month | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # | 367.630 | 246.105 | 501.705 | 1.971.345 | 2.677.904 | 24.890.846 |
| PS5 # | 81.598 | 70.830 | 123.272 | 426.610 | 526.900 | 1.649.945 |
| XBS # | 30.015 | 20.244 | 4.113 | 85.891 | 14.079 | 214.549 |
| 3DS # | 1.107 | 928 | 2.323 | 7.083 | 14.127 | 24.594.531 |
| PS4 # | 139 | 53 | 7.670 | 363 | 73.058 | 9.395.307 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| ALL | 480.489 | 338.160 | 639.083 | 2.491.292 | 3.306.068 | 61.931.557 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| PS5 | 74.905 | 64.723 | 101.654 | 382.252 | 445.943 | 1.411.378 |
| PS5DE | 6.693 | 6.107 | 21.618 | 44.358 | 80.957 | 238.567 |
| XBS X | 5.466 | 6.625 | 2.405 | 28.031 | 8.781 | 101.322 |
| XBS S | 24.549 | 13.619 | 1.708 | 57.860 | 5.298 | 113.227 |
|NSWOLED| 209.361 | 129.310 | | 1.056.895 | | 1.829.023 |
| NSW L | 46.517 | 39.885 | 143.707 | 324.004 | 777.766 | 4.734.788 |
| NSW | 111.752 | 76.910 | 357.998 | 590.446 | 1.900.138 | 18.327.035 |
| PS4 | 139 | 53 | 7.670 | 363 | 72.834 | 7.819.584 |
|n-2DSLL| 1.107 | 928 | 2.323 | 7.083 | 14.127 | 1.199.586 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+Click here for more Japanese sales data!
