Japan: more sales data for Week 20, 2016, worst week since W20, 2015 (Software)

Today, Media Create released its weekly report for video game sales in Japan, providing us with more sales data for Week 20. During that week, a total of 249 000 games were sold, which amounts to 71.75% of Week 19 sales. Even though it’s usually a pretty slow period for the video game market in Japan, sales were quite sluggish (more than usual).

This can be seen when looking at new games, with all the new entries barely selling 40 000 units combined. The ratio of new games in total Software sales is also down to 30.74% of sales for Week 19. Then again, Uncharted 4 did come out last week, so it’s not too surprising that sales would drop so much week on week.

That being said, sales of already-released game didn’t drop that much: they amount to 95.90% of Week 19 sales. In other words: most of the drop in Software sales come from new games.

Media Create notes that Week 20 2016 was the worst week for Software since Week 20, 2015. Why is that significant? It’s because it was the worst week ever on record, with only 235 000 units in total for all games. Week 20, 2016 is only slightly better, with 14 000 units more (249 000 units) compared to the same week last year.

Source: Media Create