Top Sales of the Week in Japan: Elder Ring Reminds Us of the PS5

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The Japanese video game sales ranking for the week of June 24-30, 2024, published by Famitsu, reveals some surprises and interesting trends in the Japanese video game landscape.

Nintendo's dominance is very visible in this ranking with eight of the ten games in the top 10. This shows the popularity and diversity of Nintendo's catalog, as well as the longevity of some of its flagship titles.

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  • Luigi's Mansion 2 HDa remaster, takes the top spot with impressive sales in its first week. This indicates that remasters of popular games can still attract a wide audience, mixing nostalgic and new players.
  • Luigi's Mansion 3 also saw a significant increase (+46%), which may be linked to the release of the remaster of the second installment, reviving interest in the franchise.
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons And Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continue to sell many years after their release. The increase in sales (+47% and +21% respectively) underlines Nintendo's effectiveness in maintaining player interest.
  • Minecraftdespite being a Microsoft game, continues to sell well on the Switch, demonstrating the game's universal popularity beyond its original platform.
  • Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Edition saw a sharp 71% drop from the previous week, typical after the initial launch week.

01./00. [NSW] Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Nintendo) {2024.06.27} (¥5,980) – 88,425 / NEW
02./06. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons # (Nintendo) {2020.03.20} (¥5,980) – 8,977 / 7,815,790 (+47%)
03./05. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5,980) – 7,473 / 5,884,212 (+21%)
04./01. [PS5] Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Edition # (From Software) {2024.06.21} (¥8,200) – 6,993 / 31,005 (-71%)
05./03. [NSW] Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo) {2024.05.23} (¥5,980) – 6,457 / 193,142 (-10%)
06./08. [NSW] Minecraft # (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3,600) – 5,037 / 3,554,008 (+9%)
07./17. [NSW] Luigi's Mansion 3 (Nintendo) {2019.10.31} (¥5,980) – 4,438 / 994,862 (+46%)
08./14. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: The Earth Spins with Hope! (Konami) {2023.11.16} (¥6,300) – 4,367 / 1,076,481 (+34%)
09./16. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo) {2023.10.20} (¥5,980) – 3,807 / 1,877,772 (+23%)
10./13. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate # (Nintendo) {2018.12.07} (¥7,200) – 3,679 / 5,532,620 (+10%)

Top Hardware

Nintendo continues to dominate the console market with the Switch leading the way. The Switch, with its various versions (OLED, Lite, and standard), sold 46,265 units this week. The 21% increase over the previous week shows that demand remains strong, despite a significant drop from last year's figures. The OLED version of the Switch is particularly popular, indicating that consumers are willing to invest in improvements in display quality and battery life.

The PlayStation 5 follows with solid sales, reaching 27,505 units this week, up 20% from the previous week. Although sales are lower than last year, the PS5 is showing good resilience in the Japanese market. The standard version of the PS5 is the best-selling, suggesting a preference for the full version with disc drive, as opposed to the digital version (PS5DE).

The Xbox Series (XBS) remains a niche console in Japan, with just 1,592 units sold this week. Despite a slight improvement from the previous week, overall Xbox sales are weak compared to Nintendo and Sony. This reflects Microsoft’s continued difficulty in penetrating the Japanese market, which has traditionally been dominated by local consoles.

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The PlayStation 4, with just 218 units sold this week, is showing a clear decline as gamers migrate to the PS5. Year-to-date sales for the PS4 are also very low, which is understandable given that the console is now considered a previous generation.

+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
|System | This Week | Last Week | Last Year | YTD | Last YTD | LTD |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| NSW # | 46.265 | 38.205 | 106.214 | 1.390.393 | 2.048.580 | 33.177.049 |
| PS5 # | 27.505 | 22.830 | 49.294 | 791.497 | 1.475.088 | 5.756.354 |
| XBS # | 1.592 | 958 | 971 | 60.338 | 72.324 | 600.445 |
| PS4 # | 218 | 292 | 2.093 | 11.924 | 39.424 | 9.502.983 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| ALL | 75.580 | 62.285 | 158.612 | 2.254.314 | 3.637.559 | 73.637.923 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+
| PS5 | 25.301 | 19.661 | 44.967 | 658.889 | 1.258.622 | 4.957.059 |
| PS5DE | 2.204 | 3.169 | 4.327 | 132.608 | 216.466 | 799.295 |
| XBS X | 1.154 | 771 | 466 | 40.030 | 29.844 | 285.014 |
| XBS S | 438 | 187 | 505 | 20.308 | 42.480 | 315.431 |
|NSWOLED| 30.743 | 26.476 | 60.045 | 1.027.222 | 1.389.199 | 7.455.380 |
| NSW L | 10.580 | 7.721 | 22.051 | 229.328 | 285.739 | 5.903.402 |
| NSW | 4.942 | 4.008 | 24.118 | 133.843 | 373.642 | 19.818.267 |
| PS4 | 218 | 292 | 2.093 | 11.924 | 39.424 | 7.927.260 |
+-------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+-------------+

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