Nintendo Switch sales up 10% in Japan

Nintendo Switch sales rose by 10 per cent week-on-week in Japan last week, according to the latest figures from Famitsu, showing the appetite for Nintendo’s new console is still as fierce as ever despite a lack of new releases. The console sold another 77,000 units last week, taking its cumulative total this fiscal year (since April) to an impressive 933,245 units.

The 3DS version of Square Enix’s Dragon Quest XI still claimed the No.1 spot on the Japanese weekly chart, but the PS4 version of the popular RPG slipped down to No.4 this week, after a fortnight at No.2. This allowed Nintendo’s Splatoon 2 to claw back some ground as it rose to No.2, with sales remaining steady at 87,000 units.

Also pushing down the PS4 version of Dragon Quest XI was new entry The Snack World: Trejarers from Level-5 for the 3DS, which shifted an impressive 84,000 copies in its first week. Square Enix’s Hitman The Complete First Season also made its Japanese debut last week, selling 18,000 copies, as did Capcom’s Mega Man Legacy Collection 2, which entered the charts at No.9 with just under 10,000 units.

Prompted by the rise in Switch sales, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also experienced a slight growth last week, with sales rising by 16 per cent week-on-week. However, it still wasn’t enough for Breath of the Wild or Arms to re-enter the Top Ten.

Crash Bandicoot, meanwhile, saw a 49 per cent fall in sales week-on-week, dropping three places to No.8, while sales for Level-5’s Layton’s Mystery Journey declined by 31 per cent week-on-week, taking it to No.10.

Here’s the Japanese Top Ten in full for the week ending August 13th:

1. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (3DS), Square Enix, 116,639
2. Splatoon 2 (Switch), Nintendo, 87,222
3. The Snack World: TreJarers (3DS), Level 5, 84,288 (New)
4. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (PS4), Square Enix, 71,611
5. Hitman The Complete First Season (PS4), Square Enix, 18,387 (New)
6. Dai Ace Attorney 2: Naruhodo Ryunosuke no Kakugo (3DS), Capcom, 14,812
7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch), Nintendo, 14,020
8. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (PS4), Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia, 9,870
9. Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (PS4), Capcom, 9,370 (New)
10. Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaire’s Conspiracy (3DS), Level 5, 7,440

And here are the hardware figures for the same period:

Nintendo Switch, 77,146
PlayStation 4, 31,721
New Nintendo 2DS XL, 25,103
New Nintendo 3DS XL, 17,682
PlayStation 4 Pro, 6294
PlayStation Vita, 5038
Nintendo 2DS, 3,036
New Nintendo 3DS, 527
Wii U, 136
Xbox One S, 87
PlayStation 3, 65