Splatoon 3: over 3.45 million units sold during launch week in Japan, best launch ever for any game in Japan

Splatoon 3 was released last week worldwide, and it’s off to a great start. With how popular the series has been in Japan since the first entry on Wii U, this long-awaited third entry was bound to do well in that country. And it turns out that the game sold so well, Nintendo actually sent a press release to announce how much (which is extremely unusual)!

According to the press release sent by Nintendo, Splatoon 3 sold no less than 3.45 million units during its launch week in Japan (September 9th to September 11th). That number includes both retail copies and digital copies, though unfortunately, Nintendo do not provide a retail /digital breakdown.

According to Nintendo, this is the highest domestic (Japan) sales for any Nintendo Switch games during a similar 3-day period. In other words, it sold even better than Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2.68 million units during launch week), which truly was no small feat! In fact, it sold so well, it’s no less than the best launch ever for a game in Japan!

In comparison, the first Splatoon on Wii U ended up selling 4.95 million units LTD, which means that Splatoon 3 will have no trouble whatsoever outselling it within the next few weeks.

Also, according to the latest CESA White Book, Splatoon 2 ended up selling 5.03 million units in Japan alone (retail + digital) as of December 2021. Unless something unexpected happens to kill sales outright, Splatoon 3 will also have no trouble outselling its predecessor.

If Nintendo do not share a press release for worldwide (and/or European/North American) sales, then we will have to wait until early November for the company to share their latest financial results (where they’re pretty much guaranteed to talk about how well Splatoon 3 has been performing)

Source: Nintendo