Famitsu has launched its annual gross sales charts for 2022, and Pokémon Scarlet & Violet — unsurprisingly — has topped the 12 months’s gross sales, promoting an unbelievable 4,338,931 items since its launch in November (thanks, Nintendo Every thing!).
Should you’ve been following the headlines and the weekly Japanese charts, then this would possibly not come as a shock to you. Pokémon at all times does effectively — in 2021, Sensible Diamond & Shining Pearl was the second best-selling sport of the 12 months, for instance. Scarlet & Violet bought over 2.5 million copies in its first week, and the momentum hasn’t actually stopped.
You most likely should not be stunned, then, that Splatoon 3 takes second place. Splatoon 3 broke a number of gross sales data when it launched in September and bought simply shy of two million copies in its launch week. Its whole 2022 gross sales equal 3,687,814 items, which is totally not a quantity to sneeze at.
Proper behind Splatoon 3 with 2,314,806 items bought is one other Pokémon sport — this time, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This new twist on the Pokémon formulation additionally bought a staggering variety of copies in its first week, nearly cracking 1.5 million items. Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Nintendo Swap Sports activities spherical out the highest 5 — and Kirby is not far off of 1 million, both. Just one non-Swap sport made it into the highest ten, which is FromSoftware’s Elden Ring.
Sufficient from us, then — listed below are the highest ten best-selling video games in Japan in 2022:
[NSW] Pokemon Scarlet & Violet (The Pokemon Firm, 11/18/22) – 4,338,931 (New)
[NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 3,687,814 (New)
[NSW] Pokemon Legends: Arceus (The Pokemon Firm, 01/28/22) – 2,314,806 (New)
[NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo, 03/25/22) – 969,047 (New)
[NSW] Nintendo Swap Sports activities (Nintendo, 04/29/22) – 887,722 (New)
[NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 742,018 (5,014,375)
[NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 548,415 (2,960,006)
[NSW] Mario Get together Superstars (Nintendo, 10/29/21) – 485,594 (1,114,132)
[NSW] Tremendous Smash Bros. Final (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 441,053 (5,065,191)
[PS4] Elden Ring (FromSoftware, 02/25/22) – 356,711 (New)
In one other unsurprising stat, the Swap can be the best-selling console of the 12 months in Japan. Combining the unique mannequin, the Lite, and the OLED, the console bought 4,804,549 items in 2022 — greater than 4 instances that of the PS5, which bought over 1.1 million items over the identical interval. This was the 12 months that the Swap outsold the 3DS in Japan, too, and we expect 2023 shall be one other record-breaking 12 months for the Swap.
Swap (incl. Lite and OLED) — 4,804,549 (27,724,047)
PlayStation 5 (incl. Digital Version) — 1,154,054 (2,377,389)
Xbox Collection X|S — 269,737 (398,395)
PlayStation 4 — 22,823 (9,417,767)
3DS — 10,449 (24,597,897)
Are there any surprises for you in Japan’s best-selling video games? Share your ideas within the feedback!
