Pokémon Scarlet and Violet sales surpass Splatoon 3 in the Japanese charts

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has surpassed Splatoon 3 to become the most popular game of the year in Japan, according to the most recent Famitsu Japanese statistics.

Pokémon Generation IX, which is now at the top of the charts, sold an additional 277,676 units between the weeks of December 5 and December 11, bringing its total sales to an astounding 3,702,482 units in less than a month. Additionally, Splatoon 3 continues to sell more than 50,000 units per week. Geez.

This week saw a brand-new installment of Japan’s most popular RPG, Dragon Quest Treasures, which debuted on the 9th and has already sold an incredible 143,650 copies to move up to second place. The other new release for the week is the visual novel Witch on the Holy Night from Type-Moon (the studio behind Melty Blood), with the Switch and PS4 versions coming in at fourth and fifth on the charts, respectively.

A very tiny decline in sales caused Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope to fall to ninth place, but Kirby and the Forgotten Land reentered the top ten.

Here are the complete charts for the week:

[NSW] Pokémon Scarlet / Pokémon Violet (The Pokemon Company, 11/18/22) – 277,676 / (3,702,482)
2. [NSW] Dragon Quest Treasures (Square Enix, 12/09/22) – 143,650 (New)
3. [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22, 11/18/22) – 51,315 (3,497,714)
4. [NSW] Witch on the Holy Night (Type-Moon, 12/08/22) – 39,759 (New)
5. [PS4] Witch on the Holy Night (Type-Moon, 12/08/22) – 26,585 (New)
6. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 21,583 (4,949,748)
7. [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 21,094 (2,898,728)
8. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo, 04/29/2022)– 17,187 (810,251)
9. [NSW] Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 13,466 (31,113)
10. [NSW] Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Nintendo, 03/25/22) – 11,239 (938,508)

This week’s hardware sales portray a recognizable picture: Switch OLED sales are growing and barely changed from last week’s figures (perhaps due to holiday gift buying?). and following a decline in PS5 sales, the entire Switch family grabs the top three spots. Amazingly, for the second week in a row, the PS4 outsold both Xbox consoles.

1. Switch OLED – 102,962 (3,390,128)
2. Switch – 30,608 (18,958,786)
3. Switch Lite – 24,536 (5,038,494)
4. PlayStation 5 – 16,615 (1,936,173)
5. PlayStation 4 – 3,150 (7,835,722)
6. PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 2,207 (301,901)
7. Xbox Series S – 1,306 (224,331)
8. Xbox Series X – 218 (172,045)
9. New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 64 (1,189,425)