Game and console sales drop as Japan braces for Switch impact

New releases top the charts

Before a tsunami comes ashore, water recedes back into the ocean to feed the coming wave. If Japanese consumers are shoreline water, then they are pulling back as all console sales have dropped a significant amount from last week, many having dropped to less than half what they sold last week. The likely cause? Nintendo Switch pre-orders go live on January 21. 

Not just consoles, but games have also had a significant drop this week. Pokémon Sun & Moon, which has sold above or near 100,000 every week since release, has dropped to just over 31,000 sales this week. Super Mario Maker for 3DS, last weeks top seller, went from 100k to 23.8k. Such drops are the same across the board, ignoring the new releases.

Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue opens up at number one, but sold only 137,797 copies. Part of the low number could also be attributed to the fact that it’s just a movie, port, and a new piece of content that is only a few hours long. New Danganronpa V3 is second and third place for PS Vita and PS4, respectively, selling a combined 116,172 units.

Media Create Sales 1/9/17-1/15/17 [4gamer]

Top 20 selling games this week in Japan. Lifetime sales in parentheses.

1. [PS4] Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue – 137,797 (New)
2. [PSV] New Danganronpa V3 – 76,166 (New)
3. [PS4] New Danganronpa V3 – 40,006 (New)
4. [3DS] Pokémon Sun & Moon – 31,656 (3,071,241)
5. [3DS] Super Mario Maker for 3DS – 23,845 (914,683)
6. [3DS] Yo-kai Watch 3: Sukiyaki – 23,192 (608,398)
7. [3DS] Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! – 16,734 (261,089)
8. [PS4] Grand Theft Auto V (4,990 Yen Edition) – 10,066 (245,418)
9. [PS4] Final Fantasy XV – 10,004 (917,772)
10. [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition – 8,890 (1,083,384)
11. [PS4] SG/ZH: School Girl/Zombie Hunter – 8,439 (New)
12. [3DS] Miitopia – 7,334 (152,172)
13. [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Welcome amiibo – 6,410 (107,764)
14. [PSV] Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni – Bikini Party Edition – 5,078 (New)
15. [PS4] Yakuza 6 – 5,064 (331,388)
16. [WIU] Minecraft: Wii U Edition – 4,940 (275,984)
17. [PS4] Watch Dogs 2 – 4,656 /(102,611)
18. [PS4] Battlefield 1 – 4,647 (249,053)
19. [3DS] Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Heroes – 3,714 (77,274)
20. [PS4] Resident Evil 6 – 3,272 (28,196)