The Nintendo Switch has sold an estimated 330,637 units in its first three days on sale in Japan.
[Image: Nintendo]
That’s according to Famitsu, which adds that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold an estimated 190,060 copies in the country. That figure is retail only and does not include downloads.
These early figures are from March 3 to March 5 — the Switch’s launch week and first three days on sale. (Expect Nintendo to release sales data of its own in the future.)
To put these hardware numbers into context, the Nintendo Wii U sold an estimated 308,570 units in its first two days on sale, with the Wii U’s launch week being from December 8 to 9 December 2012. The Wii, however, sold around 371,936 units in its first two days on sale from 2 December 2006 during its debut launch week.
Both those earlier consoles went on sale in December, and the Switch put those numbers on the board, absent of any major holidays.
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4 responses to “The First Nintendo Switch Sales Numbers For Japan”
That’s not too bad. I mean, the Wii U didn’t exactly leave a good taste in everyone’s mouth, so it’s encouraging that the Switch’s sales numbers are actually holding up well. Especially given that it’s not a holiday season right now.
The Zelda sales numbers are telling, too. If the Switch didn’t have such a damn fine launch title, I doubt it’d be doing even remotely this well. Nintendo made a very smart move by shifting it from being a Wii U project to a Switch-centric project.
Now we wait for Monster Hunter, I guess. That’s when the Japanese sales numbers will really boom. If the 3DS could sell it with Lego resolution and a hand-destroying control scheme, then selling it with the Switch should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
I think the big question is how the Switch will go in the first three months. Nintendo can sell a system pretty easily at launch, but the Switch is going to struggle now that people have it in their hands and can nit pick. Look at the response to stories about how it’s flimsy kickstand that you’ll never use might break if you blindly slam the console into the dock. People were waiting to pounce. It’s going to be a real up hill battle for the Switch.
I saw somewhere that the PS4 had an opening week or weekend of 331,000.
PS4 released much later than US in Japan though.