A few years back, traditional games and game hardware were not doing so hot in Japan. That has started to change.
Image: Nintendo
As Kotaku reported earlier this year, the Japanese console game market grew for the first time in 11 years. This came after the Nintendo Switch had an incredible 2017 in Japan.
According to Famitsu, the Japanese console game market grew 121.8 per cent year on year. This is the second year in a row that it has grown.
Here are the top 10 selling games at Japanese retail for the sales period 25 March 2018 (this is the 2017 financial year). Remember, these are Japanese sales numbers!
1. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon (3DS)
2017 sales: 2,198,231 units
Life to date: 2,198,231 units
2. Splatoon 2 (Switch)
2017 sales: 2,146,190 units
Life to date: 2,146,190 units
3. Monster Hunter: World (PS4)
2017 sales: 1,917,492 units
Life to date: 1,917,492 units
4. Dragon Quest 11 (3DS)
2017 sales: 1,763,948 units
Life to date: 1,763,948 units
5. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch)
2017 sales: 1,613,076 units
Life to date: 1,613,076 units
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)
2017 sales: 1,613,076 units
Life to date: 1,613,076 units
7. Dragon Quest 11 (PS4)
2017 sales: 1,353,432 units
Life to date: 1,353,432 units
8. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch)
2017 sales: 563,274 units
Life to date: 870,895 units
9. Yokai Watch Busters 2 (3DS)
2017 sales: 491,779 units
Life to date: 491,779 units
10. Monster Hunter XX (3DS)
2017 sales: 417,119 units
Life to date: 1,687,451 units
And here are the hardware sales numbers for the previous financial year.
Nintendo 3DS
2017 sales：1,410,312 units
Life to date：23,951,928 units
PlayStation Vita
2017 sales：271,716 units
Life to date：5,709,193 units
Nintendo Switch
2017 sales：3,512,773 units
Life to date：4,037,144 units
PlayStation 4
2017 sales：2,036,011 units
Life to date：6,544,228 units
Xbox One
2017 sales：16,212 units
Life to date：92,861 units
Let’s hope this year is another blockbuster one for Japanese gaming!
Comments
13 responses to “Here Are The Biggest Selling Games In Japan In 2017”
I’m just gonna wait until someone else points it out…
the two mario games having the same sales numbers?
You mean the stark difference between the Xbox and the rest of them? It’s kind of impressive in a depressing way…
The Xbox sales? Yeah good luck selling them in Japan haha. I don’t know why Microsoft bothers with Sony and Nintendo having such a dominance in the Japanese market
Nah, that’s not it. I’d expect to see that there.
Also look at number 5 & 6.
It’s a copy/paste error. You weren’t expecting quality or accuracy from a Bashcraft article were you?
According to the Famitsu article, Mario Kart 8 moved only 1,397,018 units.
No. I wasn’t. I’ve avoid criticising him until this point, but he is the Rob Liefeld of video game articles.
Monster hunter world launched in 2018, so wtf?
Also, splatoon 2 didn’t stop selling copies in december last year.
After that i gave up on tracking errors, this whole list is borked.
Japan’s financial year runs from April 1st to March 31st, so Monster Hunter World released in FY17.
Hahaha, I’m such a dummy. I completely dropped that link between the article and the numbers. :p
You shouldn’t really have to make that link as it should not be assumed knowledge. You not a dummy. This is just a terrible article.
It’s still pretty weird to me to see a competitive multiplayer shooter at #2 on this list. And the sales figures suggest more than 1 in every 2 Switch owners own Splatoon 2 as well. Plus this is physical sales only, not counting digital…
Nintendo is life.