Japanese game media powerhouse Famitsu gave a half-year update on how games and game hardware are selling in Japan this year, in the process providing a list of top sellers that’s dominated by Nintendo hardware.
For devs, these figures (helpfully translated and annotated by Japanese game industry expert Dr. Serkan Toto) provide some insight into where the Japanese game market is at.
However, they also come with some caveats: most notably, Famitsu gets its data from a network of Japanese game shops, which means these charts probably don’t included digital console game sales and they definitely don’t account for Japan’s massive mobile game market.
That being said, Famitsu’s figures (reprinted below) suggest eight of the top ten best-selling console games in Japan this year are on Nintendo hardware, and at least four of them are developed by Nintendo teams.
However, Monster Hunter still dominates; the magazine reports that Capcom’s Monster Hunter XX for Nintendo’s 3DS is the top-selling (retail) console game in Japan so far this year, surpassing 1.6 million units sold since it was released in March.
Monster Hunter XX for 3DS (1,640,005 units sold)
Pokemon Sun and Moon for 3DS (527,862)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Switch (501, 614)
Zelda Breath Of The Wild for Switch (464,480)
Super Mario Maker for 3DS (397,656)
Biohazard 7 for PS4 (324,066)
NieR: Automata for PS4 (311,906)
Momotaro Dentetsu 2017 Tachiagare Nippon!! for 3DS (263,790)
Yokai Watch Sukiyaki for 3DS (215,297)
1-2 Switch for Switch (200,807)
Famitsu’s figures also suggest Japan’s console game market (hardware + software) has seen a year-over-year increase in sales revenue for the first time in three years, due primarily to strong demand for Nintendo’s new Switch console.