Japan: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sells over 1.23 million units at launch, Switch over 278 000 units

Today, Famitsu shared their early sales report for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, revealing that the latest entry in the popular fighting game series is off to a strong start.

According to that report, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 1 238 358 units at launch in Japan, between December 7th and December 9th (so 3 days in total). That number includes the following:

• physical copies (stand-alone)
• physical copies included in the Nintendo Switch bundle (since the bundle was released on November 16th, that’s 3 weeks worth of sales)
• download codes

Unfortunately, Famitsu does not have access to digital sales data from Nintendo, which means Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has actually sold even more than 1 238 358 units!

This is by far the best debut for a Super Smash Bros. game in Japan, as you can see for yourself:

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: 1 238 358
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS: 987 239 units (2 703 101 units LTD)
  
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl: 916 198 units (2 315 401 units LTD)
  
• Super Smash Bros. Melee: 657 101 units (1 349 418 units LTD)
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 244 747 units (789 497 units LTD)
• Super Smash Bros.: 183 097 units (1 632 046 units LTD)

If Super Smash Bros. Ultimate follows a similar sales trajectory as the Nintendo 3DS entry, then it should easily be able to reach 3 million units LTD. In fact, it should be able to sell more than the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U entry combined. Strong, sustained sales from 2019 onwards will be key to that.

Quite interestingly, this game is the first Nintendo-published one since Pokémon Gold and Silver to sell over 1 million units at launch in Japan. While this may seem surprising, it’s actually because The Pokémon Company took over publishing duties for Pokémon games in that country.

Also, plenty of Nintendo games ended up selling over 1 million units in Japan (there’s actually a fair number of multi-million sellers), it’s just that Nintendo games tends to sell on the long-run (as opposed to explosive sales at launch).

Hardware-wise, the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate didn’t go unnoticed. As expected, Nintendo Switch sales literally exploded, with 278 313 units sold last week in Japan. That’s no less than one of the best week ever for the console, outside of launch week.

In comparison, Famitsu reported 107 450 units sold during the previous week, which means the console sold 2.6 times more during the week with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Thanks to this strong performance, the Nintendo Switch has now sold over 6 million units in Japan alone: 6 116 566 units to be precise. It took it 93 weeks to do so.

Since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 1 238 358 units, and the Nintendo Switch is at 6 116 566 units as of Week 49, that means the attach rate for the game is 1:5. In other words, 20% of all Nintendo Switch owners also have Super Smash Bros. Ultimate… and that’s not taking into account digital sales!

Long story short: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is off to a great start, and Nintendo Switch greatly benefited from its launch. Now that the holiday season is in full swing, we can safely expect both Software and Hardware sales to keep increasing.

Click here for more Japanese sales data!

Source: Famitsu