It's been another slow week for software sales in Japan, as Kingdom Hearts III and Resident Evil 2 have taken an inevitable tumble off the top after two weeks of reigning supreme. The former fell from first into second, while the latter dropped from second to fourth. No new releases knocked them off, either -- it's just a case of gradually declining sales, with evergreen Nintendo titles holding as strong as ever.
Elsewhere, hardware numbers have stagnated, with the PS4 and PS4 Pro moving a combined 20,000 units.
Hardware sales
- Switch – 61,280 (69,472)
- PlayStation 4 – 11,583 (15,074)
- PlayStation 4 Pro – 8,111 (10,540)
- New 2DS LL – 3,216 (3,622)
- PlayStation Vita – 1,475 (1,521)
- New 3DS LL – 1,070 (1,188)
- 2DS – 138 (104)
- Xbox One X – 129 (86)
- Xbox One – 16 (17)
Software sales
- [NSW] New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Nintendo, 01/11/19) – 38,482 (397,231)
- [PS4] Kingdom Hearts III (Limited Edition Included) (Square Enix, 01/25/19) – 35,450 (736,545)
- [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 31,174 (2,831,143)
- [PS4] Resident Evil 2 (Z Version and Limited Edition Included) (Capcom, 01/25/19) – 22,670 (326,856)
- [NSW] Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Let’s Go, Eevee! (Bundle Editions Included) (Nintendo, 11/16/18) – 17,596 (1,475,502)
- [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 12,250 (2,120,772)
- [NSW] Super Mario Party (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 10/05/18) – 11,863 (1,007,947)
- [NSW] Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition (Bundle Version Included) (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 8,308 (598,597)
- [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Limited Edition Included) (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 7,273 (1,283,831)
- [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Bundle Version Included) (Nintendo, 07/21/17) – 7,068 (2,925,436)
- [PS4] Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (Limited Edition Included) (Bandai Namco, 01/17/19) – 6,267 (245,589)
- [NSW] Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Square Enix, 12/20/18) – 4,477 (227,902)
- [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix (Square Enix, 03/09/17) – 3,777 (239,083)
- [PS4] Arc of Alchemist (Compile Heart, 02/07/19) – 3,328 (New)
- [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Limited and Bundle Editions Included) (Nintendo, 10/27/17) – 3,060 (1,948,284)
- [NSW] Fitness Boxing (Imagineer, 12/20/18) – 2,789 (26,121)
- [PS4] Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World (Limited Editions Included) (Koei Tecmo, 01/31/19) – 2,762 (21,442)
- [PS4] Dragon Quest Builders 2 (Square Enix, 12/20/18) – 2,760 (217,731)
- [NSW] Kirby: Star Allies (Nintendo, 03/16/18) – 2,453 (730,492)
- [PS4] PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation, 01/17/19) – 2,280 (15,786)
[source 4gamer.net, via gematsu.com]
Comments 4
@NintendoFan4Lyf I know its not a Japanese developer but Ghost of Tsushima (if it does release this year) could have a big appeal in the Japanese market. Death Stranding no doubt will appeal too with Kojima at the helm. There is also Shenmue 3 of course which could be very big in Japan. Nioh 2 is expected but probably not this year...
Days Gone maybe a bit too 'western' but it could do well in Japan with its subject matter. Dreams could do well too with the creative types. Other than these 4, I can't think of any other 'Big' releases specific to PS4. Obviously there are games like Sekiro, Code Vein and Devil May Cry 5 too and, with Xbox having a very 'small' presence in Japan, these are likely to do well for PS4
@NintendoFan4Lyf Historically, Sony's consoles tend to go on longer in Japan than the rest of the world and years after the release of a next generation upgrade. As such, it wouldn't surprise me if the PS4 continues to do well, not only sales but software support for years after the PS5 launches. If you look at the date at which the old generation ceases manufacture, its generally less than a year before the generation after the next is due. For example, the PS1 ceased manufacture less than a year before the PS3 launched, the PS2 ceased manufacture less than a year before the PS4 launched. The PS3 was discontinued in May 2017, less than year after the Pro launched. These dates though are the dates in Japan but the PS3 was discontinued in Europe in March 2016 so you can see how much longer it was produced for the Japanese market.
I think the 'Freakers' and open world horror survival formula that Days Gone offers could appeal to the Japanese market. I don't know if the western setting and western characters would go against it but we will see in April. These are the games I can think of and there maybe some I've overlooked as well as games that are yet to be announced. I forgot the Final Fantasy 7 remake too which I would expect to do well in Japan. Sony haven't exactly revealed a lot of 'new' games in the past year and a few have (Spider-Man) or will be released (Days Gone) soon. The others that Sony have shown haven't received a release date - GoT, DS and LoU2 for example.
They really have Zero taste in gaming this days not that NSMBUD is bad but not as good to top KH3 or RE2 maybe they only want to support the most Japanese company now which is Nintendo and if that's the case they have no salvation at this point
Surprised to see Dragon Quest Builders 2 still not having reached half a million sales across both the PS4 and Switch versions. It's a fantastic game that has improved on nearly and expanded far beyond just about everything that was in its predecessor.
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