Sales charts are, as a rule, somewhat dull. That is, except when they are interesting. Funny that, no? And the most recent Japanese sales charts do have one intriguing factoid.
The biggest selling game in Japan for the week between April 28 to May 5 is Yokai Watch for the 3DS. According to Famitsu, it sold over seven thousand copies — two thousand more than the number two game, Mario Gold World Tour — and is actually running the risk of selling out.
OK. So what, right? Well, what makes this interesting is that the game is not new: Yokai Watch was first released in July 11, 2013 in Japan. At that time, the game, which is developed by Level-5 of Professor Layton fame, was not a smash.
However, as Kotaku previously reported, the anime, which started this past January, is incredibly popular among Japanese children. And thus, the game is now a big hit.
There is sequel slated this July, and it is also for the 3DS. Expect it to do well, too.
週間ソフト&ハードセルスルーランキング(2014年4月28日~5月4日)[Media Create]
Comments
5 responses to “A Year-Old Game Rules The Japanese Sales Charts”
I hope this 3DS game will be realesed in Europe, I am sure that someone already translated the anime to English.
Awesome. Kinda reminds me of Simpsons: Hit and Run, and how I remember seeing it randomly in the charts in, I think, 2007-ish. Considering it came out in 2003…
I’ve got to admit, I’m surprised by how much the Japanese game market has shrunk. 7,000 sales get you a number one spot? I know it’s not the traditional boom time of the year – but wasn’t this the second largest country for unit sales not so long ago? Crazy.
7000 makes you number 1??!?!?!?
Why the frack is MS bothering to localise the x1 for such a tiny market?
It says 7,000 in the article, but that Famitsu source link says 70,000. Typo?
Must be to do with the exchange rate for the ¥ 😛