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[reksveks]

Famitsu has published its estimated physical game software and hardware sales data for Japan for the week of July 18, 2022 to July 24, 2022.
The HD-2D remake of LIVE A LIVE was the top selling release last week, opening at 71,137 retail sales. It was followed by Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rebirth, which sold 23,425units on PlayStation 4 and 21,753 units on Switch for a combined opening week total of 45,178 copies sold.
On the hardware side, the Switch family sold 69,374 units, the PlayStation 5 family sold 11,194 units, the Xbox Series family sold 5,012 units, and the PlayStation 4 family sold 11 units. Next-generation consoles continue to face stock issues.

Software Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

1. [NSW] LIVE A LIVE (Square Enix, 07/22/22) – 71,137 (New)
2. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo, 04/29/22) – 24,869 (598,527)
3. [PS4] Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rebirth (Koei Tecmo, 07/21/22) – 23,425 (New)
4. [NSW] Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak Set (Capcom, 06/30/22) – 22,871 (200,263)
5. [NSW] Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rebirth (Koei Tecmo, 07/21/22) – 21,753 (New)
6. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 11,976 (4,734,067)
7. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo, 03/25/22) – 9,746 (812,708)
8. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 9,542 (2,717,993)
9. [NSW] Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo, 10/18/19) – 9,380 (3,221,140)
10. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 5,841 (4,930,600)

Software Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

[NSW] LIVE A LIVE (Square Enix, 07/22/22) – 71,137 (New)
[NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo, 04/29/22) – 24,869 (598,527)
[PS4] Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rebirth (Koei Tecmo, 07/21/22) – 23,425 (New)
[NSW] Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak Set (Capcom, 06/30/22) – 22,871 (200,263)
[NSW] Nobunaga’s Ambition: Rebirth (Koei Tecmo, 07/21/22) – 21,753 (New)
[NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 11,976 (4,734,067)
[NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo, 03/25/22) – 9,746 (812,708)
[NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 9,542 (2,717,993)
[NSW] Ring Fit Adventure (Nintendo, 10/18/19) – 9,380 (3,221,140)
[NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 5,841 (4,930,600)
[NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo, 03/20/20) – 5,807 (7,291,603)
[NSW] Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes (Koei Tecmo, 06/24/22) – 4,403 (132,220)
[NSW] Mario Party Superstars (Nintendo, 10/29/21) – 4,281 (1,000,080)
[NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa mo Teiban! (Konami, 11/19/20) – 4,103 (144,229)
[NSW] Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles (Aniplex, 06/09/22) – 3,682 (144,229)
[NSW] eBASEBALL Powerful Pro Baseball 2022 (Konami, 04/21/22) – 3,558 (204,535)
[NSW] River City Saga: Three Kingdoms (Arc System Works, 07/21/22) – 3,146 (New)
[NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 2,933 (2,055,306)
[NSW] Mario Strikers: Battle League (Nintendo, 06/10/22) – 2,920 (69,777)
[NSW] Pokemon Legends: Arceus (The Pokemon Company, 01/28/22) – 2,530 (2,273,875)
[NSW] Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (Nintendo, 06/05/20) – 2,518 (998,583)
[NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo, 07/21/17) – 2,041 (4,101,377)
[NSW] Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl (The Pokemon Company, 11/19/21) – 1,961 (2,570,356)
[NSW] Pokemon Sword / Shield (The Pokemon Company, 11/15/19) – 1,907 (4,356,525)
[NSW] Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (Nintendo, 02/12/21) – 1,623 (1,062,107)
[NSW] Kirby: Star Allies (Nintendo, 03/16/18) – 1,557 (993,927)
[NSW] Human Fall Flat (Teyon Japan, 06/25/20) – 1,466 (272,731)
[PS4] River City Saga: Three Kingdoms (Arc System Works, 07/21/22) – 1,449 (New)
[NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun (Bandai Namco, 07/19/18) – 1,437 (728,366)
[NSW] Monster Hunter Rise Best Price (Capcom, 12/16/21) – 1,431 (81,876)

Hardware Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

1. Switch – 30,182 (18,526,938)
2. Switch OLED Model – 28,715 (2,055,364)
3. Switch Lite – 10,477 (4,816,631)
4. PlayStation 5 – 9,804 (1,512,433)
5. Xbox Series X – 2,884 (127,800)
6. Xbox Series S – 2,128 (146,237)
7. PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 1,390 (252,212)
8. New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 125 (1,187,874)
9. PlayStation 4 – 11 (7,819,769)

Source: https://www.gematsu.com/2022/07/famitsu-sales-7-18-22-7-24-22
Chart coming soon

 

[Topher]

Hardware Sales (followed by lifetime sales)

1. Switch – 30,182 (18,526,938)
2. Switch OLED Model – 28,715 (2,055,364)
3. Switch Lite – 10,477 (4,816,631)
4. PlayStation 5 – 9,804 (1,512,433)
5. Xbox Series X – 2,884 (127,800)
6. Xbox Series S – 2,128 (146,237)
7. PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 1,390 (252,212)
8. New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 125 (1,187,874)
9. PlayStation 4 – 11 (7,819,769)

I like it that they break this out by the various models.

 

[Porcile]

That is pretty surprising number for Live-A-Live, a remake of a fairly obscure Super Famicom game. It is pretty damn expensive too. 150k units would definitely be a win!

 

[Walter Matthau]

_

 

[Captain Toad]

PS4 still selling double digits. Nice.

 

[mckmas8808]

Switch Sports having good legs so far. Sales are up two weeks in a row.

This might be the week that we see both Clubhouse Games and Mario Party Superstars pass a million. Will need to wait to see the full top 30.

Weird to see the base Switch outselling the OLED this week.

Super weird.

 

[Zathalus]

Man, that Switch train is still not stopping.

 

[Nautilus]

Wow, Live a Live has sold quite well! Great to see this game finally getting the recognition it deserves, 25 years after its original release!

 

[Lognor]

Live a Live is another example where a lower budget jrpg does very well on Switch. And I didn't realize there wasn't a PS4/5 version. I wonder why that is. I'm guessing that SE realized there wasn't a market for the game on PS consoles.

EDMIX , this is what I'm talking about. There is a reason SE only released this on Switch and it's not because Nintendo cut them a check. It's because that is where the market is.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Live a Live is another example where a lower budget jrpg does very well on Switch. And I didn't realize there wasn't a PS4/5 version. I wonder why that is. I'm guessing that SE realized there wasn't a market for the game on PS consoles.

EDMIX , this is what I'm talking about. There is a reason SE only released this on Switch and it's not because Nintendo cut them a check. It's because that is where the market is.

[PS4] Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2017.11.30} (¥8.800) - 35.027 / NEW <40-60%>
[NSW] Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2017.11.30} (¥8.800) - 5.786 / NEW <40-60%>

[PS4] Nobunaga's Ambition: Rebirth # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.07.21} (¥9.800) - 23.425 / NEW
[NSW] Nobunaga's Ambition: Rebirth # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.07.21} (¥9.800) - 21.753 / NEW

For many games that were traditionally always on Playstation, the Japanese are slowly moving away from Playstation toward Nintendo. It's been a trend for a while now.

 

[Mr Moose]

[PS4] Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2017.11.30} (¥8.800) - 35.027 / NEW <40-60%>
[NSW] Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2017.11.30} (¥8.800) - 5.786 / NEW <40-60%>

[PS4] Nobunaga's Ambition: Rebirth # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.07.21} (¥9.800) - 23.425 / NEW
[NSW] Nobunaga's Ambition: Rebirth # <SLG> (Koei Tecmo) {2022.07.21} (¥9.800) - 21.753 / NEW

For many games that were traditionally always on Playstation, the Japanese are slowly moving away from Playstation toward Nintendo. It's been a trend for a while now.

Switch has sold 2x+ PS4 in Japan. It also released in 2017, when that game came out.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Switch has sold 2x+ PS4 in Japan. It also released in 2017, when that game came out.

Install base might play a role, but it doesn't explain why the PS4 numbers are dropping hard. People are indeed switching (heh) over.

 

[crunchyBiscuits]

How does one pronounce Live A Live? Are they both Live (as in "happening now") or??

 

[reksveks]

There was an interesting graph on the trend towards Switch on IBF. There was an interesting question there, if Sony bought SE, what would they do with the HD2D/Asano teams?

 

[Mr Moose]

How does one pronounce Live A Live? Are they both Live (as in "happening now") or??

 

[Danjin44]

There was an interesting graph on the trend towards Switch on IBF. There was an interesting question there, if Sony bought SE, what would they do with the HD2D/Asano teams?

That would require Sony to actuallly care about Japanese games, because this generation first party Japanese game is almost non existence to them and they are mostly concentrating in western market.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

How does one pronounce Live A Live? Are they both Live (as in "happening now") or??

I always assumed it was a wordplay: Live (the act of being alive) Alive (the state of living).

 

[crunchyBiscuits]

Thanks!

I always assumed it was a wordplay: Live (the act of being alive) Alive (the state of living).

I thought so as well but then I started wondering why it wasn't Live a Life or something. Anyway, cool to see it doing well. Might pick it up later this year!

 

[Walter Matthau]

Live a Live is another example where a lower budget jrpg does very well on Switch. And I didn't realize there wasn't a PS4/5 version. I wonder why that is. I'm guessing that SE realized there wasn't a market for the game on PS consoles.

EDMIX , this is what I'm talking about. There is a reason SE only released this on Switch and it's not because Nintendo cut them a check. It's because that is where the market is.

I think there's some type of agreement in place for timed exclusivity. It's unlikely that Nintendo is cutting checks directly, but they do handle publishing duties in the west for many of the exclusives and do a great job promoting them.

 

[Lognor]

I think there's some type of agreement in place for timed exclusivity. It's unlikely that Nintendo is cutting checks directly, but they do handle publishing duties in the west for many of the exclusives and do a great job promoting them.

You're right. I checked and Nintendo did publish Live a Live in the US. But that goes back to Nintendo cultivating this audience on the Switch. Sony does not take similar actions to cultivate this audience. And because of that they aren't getting some of these games on PS4/5. Octopath was published by Nintendo in the west as well, I believe. The same is likely true for Bravely Default 2. Nintendo makes it easier for developers to make these types of games for Switch, whereas Sony does not. And with these types of actions that indie-like jrpg is going to thrive on Switch.

 

[Labadal]

Happy for Live A Live. Not bad for a fairly nich jrpg that is almost 30 years old.

 

[Woopah]

You're right. I checked and Nintendo did publish Live a Live in the US. But that goes back to Nintendo cultivating this audience on the Switch. Sony does not take similar actions to cultivate this audience. And because of that they aren't getting some of these games on PS4/5. Octopath was published by Nintendo in the west as well, I believe. The same is likely true for Bravely Default 2. Nintendo makes it easier for developers to make these types of games for Switch, whereas Sony does not. And with these types of actions that indie-like jrpg is going to thrive on Switch.

It seems to be that Sony is closer to the Sony side and gets exclusives from them (FFXVI and Forspoken) while Nintendo is closer to the Enix side and gets exclusives from them (Dragon Quest and Team Asano games).

It's not completely accurate but it works as a general rule.

 

[EDMIX]

Live a Live is another example where a lower budget jrpg does very well on Switch. And I didn't realize there wasn't a PS4/5 version. I wonder why that is. I'm guessing that SE realized there wasn't a market for the game on PS consoles.

EDMIX , this is what I'm talking about. There is a reason SE only released this on Switch and it's not because Nintendo cut them a check. It's because that is where the market is.

yea I know, more cherry picked shit.

Cause no one on PS buys jrpgs /s

 

[Lognor]

yea I know, more cherry picked shit.

Cause no one on PS buys jrpgs /s

Dude. For at least the second time, I never said there wasn't a market for jrpgs on ps. There's just not a market for these lower budget jrpgs. Sony games seem to prefer these big flashy jrpgs with huge budgets (ff, persona, etc)

 

[reksveks]

Top 30 games added in initial post.

 

[lh032]

lol ps4 sales

 

[TheTony316]

Live a Live is another example where a lower budget jrpg does very well on Switch. And I didn't realize there wasn't a PS4/5 version. I wonder why that is. I'm guessing that SE realized there wasn't a market for the game on PS consoles.

EDMIX , this is what I'm talking about. There is a reason SE only released this on Switch and it's not because Nintendo cut them a check. It's because that is where the market is.

Nintendo publishes the game in the west and the original was a SNES exclusive. 2D JRPG's sell much better on Nintendo platforms but there's obviously money and nostalgia involved with this game. Ít's more or less what Sony did with FF7R minus the publishing.

PS does have a market for smaller JRPG's, just not as big as Nintendo.

 

[Orbital2060]

There was an interesting graph on the trend towards Switch on IBF. There was an interesting question there, if Sony bought SE, what would they do with the HD2D/Asano teams?

This one? Its one hiska-kun made a some months ago but are there any updates to this half way through the year?

Its going to be interesting to see this year in the context of 2017-2021 and if the trend continues.

 

[reksveks]

This one? Its one hiska-kun made a some months ago but are there any updates to this half way through the year?

Its going to be interesting to see this year in the context of 2017-2021 and if the trend continues.

From PillFencer

Obviously the bigger the install base on Switch the bigger the split of game sales on it. That Hiska-kun one is probably the better one to show the recent decline on full-game sales in japan.

 

[Lognor]

Nintendo publishes the game in the west and the original was a SNES exclusive. 2D JRPG's sell much better on Nintendo platforms but there's obviously money and nostalgia involved with this game. Ít's more or less what Sony did with FF7R minus the publishing.

PS does have a market for smaller JRPG's, just not as big as Nintendo.

Okay, I concede your final point there. But that goes back to the fact that Nintendo supports these games by publishing them in certain territories. Like I said, they cultivated this audience. Sony really hasn't. So developers will want to release these games on Switch and *maybe* PS4. Skipping Switch would be detrimental. You can't say the same about PS4/5. The Switch is a jrpg machine. If you love jrpgs you gotta have a Switch. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of XB3 but I stupidly ordered from Amazon so it might not even arrive today. fuuu

 

[Rykan]

Live a Live is another example where a lower budget jrpg does very well on Switch. And I didn't realize there wasn't a PS4/5 version. I wonder why that is. I'm guessing that SE realized there wasn't a market for the game on PS consoles.

Considering how relatively inexpensive it is to port it over, I think its part of a licensing deal between Square and Nintendo in which these games are specifically not released on Playstation consoles. I don't think it's a coincidence that every single game developed in this style has skipped the PS4. Octopath, Triangle strategy and now Live a Live. Even Xbox got a version of Octopath.

 

[Lognor]

Considering how relatively inexpensive it is to port it over, I think its part of a licensing deal between Square and Nintendo in which these games are specifically not released on Playstation consoles. I don't think it's a coincidence that every single game developed in this style has skipped the PS4. Octopath, Triangle strategy and now Live a Live. Even Xbox got a version of Octopath.

Well I thought it was obvious that Microsoft paid for Octopath. Maybe if Sony was willing to pay to have it ported to PS it would be released there. With it being a years old game and a sprite based jrpg, I'm not sure there's much of a market for it on PS at this point though. Maybe if they did like MS and put it on their subscription service to bolster it?

 

[Rykan]

Well I thought it was obvious that Microsoft paid for Octopath. Maybe if Sony was willing to pay to have it ported to PS it would be released there. With it being a years old game and a sprite based jrpg, I'm not sure there's much of a market for it on PS at this point though. Maybe if they did like MS and put it on their subscription service to bolster it?

Both could be true, we don't know the details behind it. The reason why I suspect that there might be a licensing deal for those games is because the Dragon Quest 3 remake hasn't been announced for any platforms yet. This might be Square waiting to see if Nintendo is willing to strike an exclusive deal so that the Switch would be the only platform you could get these games on.

There is a market for lower budget PS4 RPG games though. Trails of cold steel IV opened with 84k sales according to Famitsu. YS IX sold about 45k in its opening according to the same source. It's also worth mentioning that Persona 5 isn't actually a triple A RPG. It's also fairly small budget compared to the big franchises out there.

 

[Lognor]

Both could be true, we don't know the details behind it. The reason why I suspect that there might be a licensing deal for those games is because the Dragon Quest 3 remake hasn't been announced for any platforms yet. This might be Square waiting to see if Nintendo is willing to strike an exclusive deal so that the Switch would be the only platform you could get these games on.

There is a market for lower budget PS4 RPG games though. Trails of cold steel IV opened with 84k sales according to Famitsu. YS IX sold about 45k in its opening according to the same source. It's also worth mentioning that Persona 5 isn't actually a triple A RPG. It's also fairly small budget compared to the big franchises out there.

The Nihon Falcom games are interesting. They did cultivate that audience on PS so that's why they did see a lot of the success there. I mean, they were clinging to the PS Vita when it was all but dead and were so slow to move to Switch when it was a proven success. And Nihon Falcom is a small developer so they had to pick and choose where they released their games. So yeah, when the audience is cultivated games can sell well. But we don't see much of this for the smaller jrpgs from anyone other than Nintendo. I don't think Sony had any type of deal in place with Nihon Falcom.

And good point about Persona. It's gotta be Atlus' most expensive game to develop, but clearly not in the same league as a Final Fantasy. But it does have the flash of a AAA jrpg!

 

[Woopah]

Okay, I concede your final point there. But that goes back to the fact that Nintendo supports these games by publishing them in certain territories. Like I said, they cultivated this audience. Sony really hasn't. So developers will want to release these games on Switch and *maybe* PS4. Skipping Switch would be detrimental. You can't say the same about PS4/5. The Switch is a jrpg machine. If you love jrpgs you gotta have a Switch. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of XB3 but I stupidly ordered from Amazon so it might not even arrive today. fuuu

They don't have the same approach as Nintendo, but PlayStation still gets a lot of AA JRPGs. And some of them, like Soul Hackers 2 and Star Ocean 6, aren't launching on Switch.

 

[TheTony316]

Okay, I concede your final point there. But that goes back to the fact that Nintendo supports these games by publishing them in certain territories. Like I said, they cultivated this audience. Sony really hasn't. So developers will want to release these games on Switch and *maybe* PS4. Skipping Switch would be detrimental. You can't say the same about PS4/5. The Switch is a jrpg machine. If you love jrpgs you gotta have a Switch. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of XB3 but I stupidly ordered from Amazon so it might not even arrive today. fuuu

Playstation and Switch share the vast majority of JP AA software. With everything else, it really just depends on what you prefer.

I'm more of a FF, Persona, Nier, Yakuza, Tales of guy, so Playstation is my go-to system for JRPG's. But i do own a Switch for Xenoblade, lol.

They're both great for JRPG's in the end and neither is really better or worse. The only system i can't recommend for these type of games is Xbox.