This Week In Sales: Splatoon 2 Starts 2018 With A Big Splashdown And A Loud Woomy

Period: The week of January 1 – January 7 (2018)

Top-seller: Splatoon 2 – 117,840 (Nintendo Switch)

Nintendo Switch sales: 146,006 (Last week – 134,519)

Nintendo 2DS sales: 5,254 (3,700)

New Nintendo 2DS LL sales: 28,237 (20,409)

New Nintendo 3DS sales: N/A (163)

New Nintendo 3DS LL sales: 12,246 (12,542)

Wii U sales: N/A (44)

PlayStation 4 sales: 75,344 (37,175)

PlayStation 4 Pro sales: 16,339 (12,456)

PlayStation 3 sales: N/A (58)

PlayStation Vita sales: 11,929 (7,970)

Xbox One sales: 190 335)

Xbox One X sales: 9 (23)

<< Last week’s software sales chart

<< How to read and understand sales

Last week, Japan saw some time off work and school and plenty of time to buy and play new games to start 2018. No new releases were in the top-20 in the first week of the year, but it was still pretty interesting. Japanese sales tracker Media Create released the latest software and hardware sales data from the week of January 1 through January 7, 2018.

The #1 game of the week goes to the much deserved Splatoon 2 with a whopping 117,840 units sold on Switch. Since its release back in July, Splatoon 2 has seen many big titles occupy the top spot with powerhouses in Super Mario Odyssey, Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, Yo-kai Watch Busters 2, Dragon Quest XI, and many others. The game lurked patiently (in its Squid Form) in the #2~#4 spots for months and after coming close to the top just shy by less than 10K, it jumped and got the Splashdown on Super Mario Odyssey to take the top spot. Media Create has its total at 1,882,709 and it’ll officially be the first Switch title to hit two million units by next week or the week after.

#2 goes to Super Mario Odyssey which was just shy of first place with 110,816 units sold on Switch, which would’ve been enough to get another #1 on any other week, if it weren’t for those meddling Squids. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is keeping in the race after selling 82,806 units on Switch to chart #3 in the week. The game released back in April 2017 so it’s quite impressive to see it continue keeping up with high numbers. Again, there’s probably a lot of money from year-end bonuses and Otoshidama going into these hit titles for those who just got fresh new Switches for Christmas.

At #4 we have Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra moon with 69,355 units sold on Nintendo 3DS. Its total of 1,477,015 is approaching the 1.5 million mark from retail alone in Japan. #5’s Mario Party: The Top 100 impresses again after it sold a stable 51,818 units on 3DS last week after selling 52,181 the week prior. On a final note for software sales, we have a blast from the past make it back to the top-20. It’s a title that we’ve seen remain in the top-20 for months after months (somehow) since its launch in October 2014. Yep, Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition, which charted at #16 with 9,517 units sold after narrowly missing the top-20 the week prior at #21.

On the hardware side of things, we have some sad news—although we all saw it coming—the weekly numbers from Media Create will no longer include figures from the New Nintendo 3DS (standard size), Wii U, and PlayStation 3. It’s been awesome seeing how long they can hang with current generation of consoles, but they’ll now be officially retired. The Nintendo Switch was the top-selling console of the week with 146,006 units sold, putting it at a total of 3,457,354 units sold in Japan since the console’s launch in March 2017 if we go by Media Create’s numbers. The PlayStation 4 also had a huge spike in sales with 75,344 units sold in the week after selling 37,175 units the week prior. With a bunch of major titles coming like Monster Hunter: World, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and more, it’s definitely a good time to be a PS4-owner.

The top-20 chart of the week is as follows:

Sales data acquired from 4Gamer and Media Create.