Japan: more sales data for Week 10 2019, Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn, Nintendo Switch (Publishers) (Media Create, Dengeki)

Here’s the latest sales data reports from Media Create and Dengeki!

Media Create (Week 10)

Today, Media Create shared their weekly report on video games sales in Japan. It reveals that Software sales topped 409 000 units, which is 103.80% of Week 9 sales. The number of new releases dropped sharply, from 23 to only 4, but despite that, their sales increased compared to the previous week (156.42% of Week 9 sales). The reason? One of the new releases was fairly popular, and more than compensated for the drop. Quality over quantity!

Hardware-wise, sales are also on the rise with 111 000 units sold (111.59% of Week 9 sales), and this is due to the increase for the PlayStation 4 due to the 5 000 Yen price drop/offer (211.89% of Week 9 sales), but also the strong sales of the Nintendo Switch 101.60% of Week 9 sales).

Source: Media Create

Media Create – Day 1 Sell-through (Week 11)

This week, we have the Day-1 sell-through for a few Nintendo Switch games (platforms and games are listed based on sales, from most successful to least successful):

• [PS4] [NSW] Blade Arcus Rebellion from Shining # <FTG> (Sega) (¥5.990) – 20%. A rather poor debut, with lots of unsold units. Unfortunately, not much of a surprise given the market hasn’t been very receptive of fighting games the past few years (with some exceptions), and this is one is quite niche;
• [PS4] [NSW] Destiny Connect <RPG> (Nippon Ichi Software) (¥7.200) – 20%. Unfortunately, yet another poor showing for a Nippon Ichi Software title. It seems not many players were attracted to the unique 3D aesthetics of this game…
• [NSW] The Caligula Effect: Overdose <RPG> (FuRyu) (¥6.980) – 30%. Poor debut, but that’s no wonder for the late port of an enhanced port of a FuRyu game.

Source: Media Create
Via: hiska-kun (ResetERA)

Dengeki (Week 10)

Dengeki report that Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn sold about 9 900 units at launch, with a poor sell-through ratio: 35%. Shipment wasn’t all that big (retailers learned their lesson after Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey ended up in the “bomba” bins), but there’s still a fair amount of copies left unsold. Retailers should be able to sell the remaining units eventually, but it’s pretty clear there will never be an additional shipment.

Dengeki point out that the Nintendo 3DS market has been shrinking continually (in the past year or so), and so those sales are no big surprise. This version of the game fared pretty poorly compared to the original on Wii, which sold 94 000 units at launch and 468 000 units LTD. Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn doesn’t have a chance of selling even half as much as the original at launch.

Not much happening in the top spots of the Top 30, still dominated by the usual Nintendo Switch titles.

This week, Dengeki share some data about publishers on both the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4, which have been dominating the Japanese market for a while now. Looking at the Top 100 Software for both consoles, Dengeki found out games came from roughly the same amount of publishers: 30 on Nintendo Switch, and 31 on PlayStation 4.

This may seem rather balanced, but the reality is that there’s huge discrepancies between the two platforms. Take the PlayStation 4 for example: about half of the market is monopolised by three companies:

1. Square-Enix with 17.1% market share
2. Sony with 16% market share
3. Bandai-Namco with 12.1% market share

Also, the Top 5 publishers account for 60% of the market, with all the others accounting for 40%. A somewhat balanced situation.

But on the other hand, things are much more lopsided with the Nintendo Switch. Indeed, Nintendo alone account for 62.1% of the market, and the Top 5 publishers account for 91.1%. This leaves a measly 9.9% market share for the remaining companies (more than 20).

Nintendo’s domination is still quite strong, but it’s nowhere as bad as it was during the previous Fiscal Year when its market share was 79.9%. Third-party publishers are finally starting to find success on the platform, and the market as a whole is become more balanced. Yet, there’s still much room for improvement!

Next, here’s Software sales for each platform:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	213,023	55.2％	9,043,652	35.3％
Vita	5,323	1.4％	775,433	3.0％
Switch	140,446	36.4％	13,598,186	53.1％
3DS	24,796	6.4％	2,080,980	8.1％
ETC（※2）	2,424	0.6％	90,083	0.4％
Total	386,012	100.0％	25,588,334	100.0％

And here’s Hardware sales:

Platforms	This week	This week (%)	Fiscal Year	Fiscal Year (%)
PS4	24,719	25.0％	1,376,498	24.2％
Vita	4,003	4.1％	120,870	2.1％
Switch	66,698	67.6％	3,774,711	66.3％
3DS	3,213	3.3％	410,983	7.2％
ETC	69	0.1％	8,878	0.2％
Total	98,702	100.0％	5,691,940	100.0％

Finally, here’s the Top 50 Software:

01./00. [PS4] Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom) {2019.03.08} – 128,263 / NEW
02./01. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} – 24,088 / 2,986,823
03./03. [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Nintendo) {2019.01.11} – 18,935 / 510,274
04./07. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} – 9,700 / 705,447
05./00. [3DS] Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn (Nintendo) {2019.03.07} – 9,333 / NEW
06./10. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} – 9,325 / 2,077,177
07./12. [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} – 7,519 / 2,944,535
08./11. [NSW] Super Mario Party (Nintendo) {2018.10.05} – 7,235 / 971,963
09./20. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} – 6,247 / 969,122
10./02. [PS4] Dead or Alive 6 (Koei Tecmo) {2019.03.01} – 5,940 / 30,971
11./13. [NSW] Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! (Pokemon Co.) {2018.11.16} – 5,167 / 799,759
12./04. [PS4] Anthem (Electronic Arts) {2019.02.22} – 5,041 / 116,527
13./08. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts III (Square Enix) {2019.01.25} – 5,035 / 716,075
14./09. [PS4] Jump Force (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.02.14} – 4,994 / 107,016
15./14. [NSW] Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! (Pokemon Co.) {2018.11.16} – 4,900 / 639,620
16./05. [PS4] Left Alive (Square Enix) {2019.02.28} – 4,175 / 21,163
17./18. [PS4] Resident Evil 2 (Capcom) {2019.01.25} – 3,353 / 352,724
18./15. [PS4] NieR: Automata – Game of the YoRHa Edition (Square Enix) {2019.02.21} – 3,019 / 24,323
19./06. [NSW] Zoids Wild: King of Blast (Takara Tomy) {2019.02.28} – 2,688 / 13,451
20./17. [PS4] Far Cry: New Dawn (Ubisoft) {2019.02.15} – 2,540 / 47,034
21./24. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.07.19} – 2,425 / 325,093
21./26. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 ReMIX (Square Enix) {2017.03.09} – 2,294 / 266,083
23./23. [NSW] Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Square Enix) {2018.12.20} – 2,053 / 230,458
24./28. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies (Nintendo) {2018.03.16} – 1,925 / 733,546
25./19. [NSW] Doraemon: Nobita no Getsumen Tansaki (FuRyu) {2019.02.28} – 1,900 / 6,223
26./30. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} – 1,619 / 1,814,414
27./36. [NSW] Fit Boxing (Imagineer) {2018.12.20} – 1,587 / 28,956
28./25. [PS4] Metro: Exodus (Spike Chunsoft) {2019.02.15} – 1,438 / 27,224
29./41. [PS4] Minecraft: Playstation 4 Edition (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2015.12.03} – 1,219 / 364,703
30./40. [PS4] Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII (Sony Interactive Entertainment) {2018.10.12} – 1,128 / 526,234
31./57. [PS4] Winning Eleven 2019 (Konami) {2018.08.30} – 1,125 / 166,251
32./33. [PS4] Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.01.17} – 1,117 / 245,232
33./38. [NSW] Go Vacation (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.12.27} – 1,113 / 67,157
34./50. [NSW] FIFA 19 (Electronic Arts) {2018.09.28} – 1,088 / 75,289
35./44. [PS4] PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation) {2019.01.17} – 1,087 / 20,844
36./00. [PS4] Flowers: Les Quatre Saisons (Prototype) {2019.03.07} – 1,087 / NEW
37./37. [NSW] Mario Tennis Aces (Nintendo) {2018.06.22} – 1,050 / 419,736
38./49. [PS4] Battlefield V (Electronic Arts) {2018.11.20} – 1,029 / 170,697
39./43. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two Interactive Japan) {2018.12.06} – 980 / 17,557
40./27. [PS4] Catherine: Full Body (Atlus) {2019.02.14} – 975 / 62,556
41./51. [PS4] Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Square Enix) {2018.12.20} – 950 / 199,931
42./32. [PS4] Nobunaga’s Ambition: Taishi with Power-Up Kit (Koei Tecmo) {2019.02.14} – 947 / 15,480
43./48. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo (Nintendo) {2016.11.23} – 939 / 414,094
44./53. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} – 917 / 900,420
45./22. [NSW] Wizard’s Symphony (Arc System Works) {2019.02.28} – 894 / 3,627
46./00. [XB1] Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom) {2019.03.08} – 877 / NEW
47./21. [PS4] Wizard’s Symphony (Arc System Works) {2019.02.28} – 861 / 3,974
48./39. [NSW] Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (Bandai Namco Games) {2019.01.11} – 861 / 41,527
49./45. [NSW] Dragon Ball FighterZ (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.09.27} – 844 / 86,558
50./54. [PS4] Monster Hunter: World [Best Price] (Capcom) {2018.08.02} – 831 / 31,225

Source: Dengeki
Data compiled by: ZSaberLink (ResetERA)

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