We knew this week would be big for Nintendo domestically, but the launch of Splatoon 3 is utterly gigantic. The Famitsu Sales chart for the week of Sep. 5 to Sep. 11 has been released, and the numbers are staggering. The Nintendo Switch held 92% market share of console sales this week, and Splatoon 3 sold 1.93 million units physically. We’d like to thank the fine folks at Install Base for compiling the charts in a readable manner.
To further contextualise the console domination Nintendo held this week, the Switch sold roughly 183,000 consoles, split across 148,000 OLED models, 28,000 base models and 7,000 Lite models. The PS5 only managed to close in on 3,000 console sales due to ongoing stock issues, and the Xbox Series line fell just shy of 500 sold. With this news, the Switch has hit 26 million consoles sold in Japan.
The sales of the Switch this week came from the roaring success of Splatoon 3. With a physical first week sales debut of 1.93 million, the game is off to a flying start. The third entry in the series ironically has almost triple the physical debut of Splatoon 2, which sold 671,000 on the Famitsu Sales Chart of July 17 to July 23, 2017.
These physical numbers also give us an idea of how Japanese gamers are choosing to play Splatoon 3. With a confirmed record-breaking launch weekend of 3.45 million sales digitally and physically, we can estimate that 40% of players chose to purchase the game digitally. A combination of factors could explain this choice, such as the game’s online multiplayer focus and the popular Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers scheme.
Are you surprised by the success of Splatoon 3? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more Splatoon coverage.
