A Closer Look At Pikmin 3’s Launch Sales In Japan

Nintendo released Pikmin 3 in Japan last week, and the game sold 92,720 copies in its first week. That’s more than Pikmin 1 sold in its first week, but far less than Pikmin 2.

Here’s a look at the sales of all three Pikmin games to date, along with their sell-through percentages, courtesy of Japanese sales tracker Media Create:

(2001) Pikmin – First week: 90,000 (54.9%)  | Total sales: 549,000

(2004) Pikmin 2 – First week: 160,000 (48.4%)  | Total sales: 484,000

(2013) Pikmin 3 – First week: 92,720 (48.45%)

Ouch. Quite the drop from the previous game. Additionally, it also needs to be noted that while Pikmin 1 didn’t sell quite as much right out the game, it went on to sell a high number of copies in the long run.

It should be interesting to see if Pikmin 3 can make up for the drop by selling consistently over time like Pikmin 1 did; although, in order for it to do that, the Wii U itself would need to sell to a larger audience first.