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[Japan] Famitsu sales for Week 35, 2019 (August 26th – September 1st) [Top 30]

Here’s the latest sales report from Famitsu (and Media Create), covering Week 35, 2019 in Japan.

Famitsu

This week was pretty quiet when it comes to new releases, with only two of them in the Top 10 from Famitsu. Unfortunately, Astral Chain missed the top spot by about 1 000 units, but it still manage to sell 32 236 units which is a rather satisfying debut, especially for a brand new IP.

What’s more, just like with Super Mario Maker 2 and especially Fire Emblem: Three Houses, there’s also digital sales to take into account. Astral Chain is one of the games you can get with a Nintendo Switch Game Voucher, and the weekly Nintendo eShop charts indicate that many players took advantage of this offer. Unfortunately, we will have to wait until October to get any sort of data about digital sales for this game.

It’s not clear whether Astral Chain will sell in the long-run or not, as it’s usually family-friendly games that do, but one thing’s for sure: it should have no trouble selling at least 100 000 units LTD (including digital sales).

This week saw a major increase in Nintendo Switch sale due to the release of the new model with improved battery life. Apparently, quite a lot of people were waiting for it to finally get a Nintendo Switch, and since they obviously needed games to play, we’re seeing a significant increase in Software sales this week (with a few exceptions).

Here’s details about each game:

  • 03./01. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo) – 22.580 / 582.001 (+0%) . Sales didn’t increase for this one, but they still remained stable (even though they should have dropped, like sales usually do in September). One reason to explain is the fact that the game is still relatively recent (barely 2 months old);
  • 04./04. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo) – 11.114 / 3.233.205 (+27%). The new Nintendo Switch model provided it a healthy boost;
  • 05./08. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) – 9.725 / 2.431.605 (+28%). It remains one of the most popular games on the platform, and so it’s no wonder sales are increasing at the same time. It will reach the 2.5 million units milestone in the next few weeks;
  • 06./05. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version (Bandai Namco Games) – 9.715 / 144.136 (+14%) . The game sold out at various stores during Obon, and it looks like retailers finally got new shipments;
  • 08./07. [NSW] Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Nintendo) – 7.641 / 229.097 (-3%). It didn’t benefit from the new Nintendo Switch model as much as other games, but just like Super Mario Maker 2, sales at least remained stable;
  • 09./15. [NSW] Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! (Pokemon Co.) – 6.697 / 1.619.353 (+72%). The biggest increase this week. Despite Pokémon Sword and Shield drawing ever nearer, sales remain unusually strong;
  • 10./11. [NSW] Super Mario Party (Nintendo) – 5.544 / 1.097.721 (+19%). Another game that benefited from the new Nintendo Switch model.

Famitsu – Software sales (Top 30)

01./00. [PS4] Azur Lane: Crosswave # <STG> (Compile Heart) {2019.08.29} (¥7.800) – 33.763 / NEW <80-100%>
02./00. [NSW] Astral Chain # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.08.30} (¥7.980) – 32.236 / NEW <80-100%>
03./01. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.06.28} (¥5.980) – 22.580 / 582.001 <80-100%> (+0%)
04./04. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200) – 11.114 / 3.233.205 <80-100%> (+27%)
05./08. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 9.725 / 2.431.605 <80-100%> (+28%)
06./05. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version <SPT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.07.25} (¥5.700) – 9.715 / 144.136 <80-100%> (+14%)
07./06. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) – 9.340 / 907.250 <80-100%> (+10%)
08./07. [NSW] Fire Emblem: Three Houses # <SLG> (Nintendo) {2019.07.26} (¥6.980) – 7.641 / 229.097 <80-100%> (-3%)
09./15. [NSW] Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! # <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2018.11.16} (¥5.980) – 6.697 / 1.619.353 <80-100%> (+72%)
10./11. [NSW] Super Mario Party # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2018.10.05} (¥5.980) – 5.544 / 1.097.721 <80-100%> (+19%)
11./12. [PS4] Monster Hunter: World [2][Best Price] <ACT> (Capcom) {2019.07.18} (¥2.990) – 5.152 / 31.298 <60-80%> (+25%)
12./16. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980) – 4.982 / 1.390.540 <80-100%> (+37%)
13./14. [NSW] Splatoon 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} (¥5.980) – 4.637 / 3.145.071 <80-100%> (+16%)
14./02. [PS4] Oninaki <RPG> (Square Enix) {2019.08.22} (¥5.800) – 4.562 / 18.751 <60-80%> (-68%)
15./10. [NSW] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball <SPT> (Konami) {2019.06.27} (¥6.980) – 4.421 / 153.258 <80-100%> (-5%)
16./03. [NSW] Oninaki <RPG> (Square Enix) {2019.08.22} (¥5.800) – 4.269 / 16.999 <60-80%> (-66%)
17./09. [NSW] Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game <SPT> (Sega) {2019.07.24} (¥4.990) – 3.868 / 44.274 <60-80%> (-19%)
18./18. [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe <New Super Mario Bros. U \ New Super Luigi U> <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.01.11} (¥5.980) – 3.269 / 676.210 <80-100%> (+14%)
19./13. [PS4] Professional Baseball Spirits 2019 <SPT> (Konami) {2019.07.18} (¥8.800) – 3.051 / 241.594 <80-100%> (-26%)
20./17. [NSW] Yo-kai Watch 4: We Are Looking Up at the Same Sky <RPG> (Level 5) {2019.06.20} (¥5.980) – 2.961 / 263.956 <80-100%> (-13%)
21./00. [NSW] Towaware no Palm # <ADV> (Capcom) {2019.08.30} (¥5.990) – 2.469 / NEW <40-60%>
22./21. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.07.19} (¥6.100) – 2.436 / 363.107 <80-100%> (+28%)
23./00. [NSW] Friday The 13th: The Game – Ultimate Slasher Edition <Friday the 13th: The Game \ Friday the 13th: The Game – Paranoia> <ACT> (Natsume Atari) {2019.08.29} (¥4.800) – 2.341 / NEW <40-60%>
24./00. [NSW] Psikyo Shooting Library Vol.2 <Samurai Aces \ Tengai \ Sengoku Cannon \ Gunbird \ Gunbird 2 \ Gunbarich> # <STG> (City Connection) {2019.08.29} (¥3.800) – 2.148 / NEW <60-80%>
25./00. [PS4] Immortal: Unchained <RPG> (Oizumi Amuzio) {2019.08.29} (¥6.400) – 1.931 / NEW <40-60%>
26./00. [PSV] Kannagi no Mori Satsukiame Tsuzuri <ADV> (Matatabi) {2019.08.29} (¥6.800) – 1.848 / NEW <60-80%>
27./24. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} (¥5.980) – 1.816 / 1.998.038 <80-100%> (+15%)
28./27. [NSW] Doraemon: Story of Seasons <SLG> (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.06.13} (¥6.100) – 1.743 / 90.675 <80-100%> (+15%)
29./23. [NSW] Tetris 99 <PZL> (Nintendo) {2019.08.09} (¥3.418) – 1.583 / 8.221 <20-40%> (-3%)
30./00. [NSW] Brothers Conflict: Precious Baby for Nintendo Switch # <ADV> (Idea Factory) {2019.08.29} (¥6.800) – 1.549 / NEW <60-80%>

Number of games in Top 30

NSW – 24
PS4 – 5
PSV – 1

Famitsu – Hardware

Unlike most other regions where it became available progressively over the course of several weeks, the new Nintendo Switch model with improved battery life had a hard release date in Japan (August 30th). As a result, whatever impact it was going to have on sales would have been more noticeable, since it would not be spread over the course of several weeks.

And it looks like this new model had a really noticeable impact on sales. The Nintendo Switch sold 90 553 units during Week 35, which is an unusually high number for late August/early September, especially during a non-holiday week and without a major Software release. This shows that quite a lot of people were waiting for the improved model before buying a Nintendo Switch, and the rather lukewarm sales in August were pretty much due to that.

The Nintendo Switch Lite is releasing on September 20th, and it’s pretty safe to expect another major boost in sales then. But the question is: what about the weeks before that? It’s pretty safe to expect sales to drop, but it remains to be seen how low they will go.

Considering the release date for the new Nintendo Switch model was announced pretty much the same week as it was “released”, there may be people who were caught by surprise and didn’t get to buy it during Week 35.

As mentioned above, 90 000 units is unusually strong for the current period: in comparison, the Nintendo Switch only sold 41 125 units during Week 35 in 2018. With such strong sales, the 2 million units milestone for YTD sales is now pretty close at hand: it should be reached during Week 36 if sales do not drop too sharply (Week 37 at the very latest). The Nintendo Switch has sold 1 953 042 units this week, as opposed to 1 600 210 units last year after the same amount of weeks.

As for the Nintendo 3DS, it sales remain anecdotal with 1 934 units sold. Sales didn’t increase because they usually do not in late August and September, and unlike the Nintendo Switch, there was no new model to boost sales. In comparison, the handheld sold 2 227 units during Week 34, and 7 715 units during Week 35 2018. YTD sales are still lagging way behind last year’s numbers, with only 158 152 units sold this year (vs. 413 822 in 2018 after the same amount of weeks).

The Nintendo 3DS has now sold 24 463 116 units LTD.

+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System |  This Week |  Last Week |  Last Year |     YTD    |  Last YTD  |     LTD     |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  NSW  |     90.553 |     30.072 |     41.125 |  1.953.402 |  1.600.210 |   8.842.948 |
| PS4 # |     10.924 |      9.746 |     17.564 |    761.232 |  1.140.076 |   8.313.322 |
| 3DS # |      1.934 |      2.227 |      7.715 |    158.152 |    413.822 |  24.463.116 |
| XB1 # |         57 |         44 |        144 |      4.390 |     10.392 |     107.321 |
| PSV # |         50 |         67 |      2.325 |     37.098 |    142.048 |   5.862.452 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|  ALL  |    103.518 |     42.156 |     68.895 |  2.914.274 |  3.308.450 |  47.589.159 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| XB1 X |         34 |         32 |        109 |      2.995 |      7.183 |      16.451 |
| XB1 S |         23 |         12 |         35 |      1.395 |      3.209 |      18.868 |
|PS4 Pro|      4.615 |      4.008 |      4.803 |    274.904 |    276.845 |   1.247.494 |
|  PS4  |      6.309 |      5.738 |     12.761 |    486.328 |    863.231 |   7.065.828 |
|  PSV  |         50 |         67 |      2.325 |     37.098 |    142.048 |   5.862.452 |
|n-2DSLL|      1.725 |      2.003 |      5.002 |    129.160 |    257.715 |   1.073.404 |
| n-3DS |        209 |        224 |      2.408 |     27.901 |    138.881 |   5.883.726 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+

Media Create – Software Top 10

01./00. [PS4] Azur Lane: Crosswave # <STG> (Compile Heart) {2019.08.29} (¥7.800)
02./00. [NSW] Astral Chain # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.08.30} (¥7.980)
03./01. [NSW] Super Mario Maker 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2019.06.28} (¥5.980)
04./04. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # <FTG> (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7.200)
05./06. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980)
06./05. [NSW] Fire Emblem: Three Houses # <SLG> (Nintendo) {2019.07.26} (¥6.980)
07./08. [NSW] Fishing Spirits: Nintendo Switch Version <SPT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.07.25} (¥5.700)
08./07. [NSW] Minecraft # <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600)
09./10. [NSW] Super Mario Party # <ETC> (Nintendo) {2018.10.05} (¥5.980)
10./00. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980)

Number of games in Top 10

NSW – 9
PS4 – 1

Click here for more Japanese sales data!

Source: Media Create / Famitsu / Famitsu
Data compiled by: Chris1964 (ResetEra)
Additional data via: Game Data Library

Lite_Agent

Founder and main writer for Perfectly Nintendo. Tried really hard to find something funny and witty to put here, but had to admit defeat.

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